Most Important Skills for a Consultant at Big 4 Consulting Firm
For a Consultant at a Big 4 Consulting Firm, the most important skills are "agility" and "resilience" for tackling constantly changing and challenging problems, along with strong communication skills for email writing, presentations, and client interactions. Relationship skills are also "sneakily really important" for being pleasant to work with, as firms prioritize consultants who are not only smart and capable but also enjoyable to be around.
Consulting Skills, Communication Skills, Resilience, Problem-Solving, Interpersonal Skills
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Jack Hirsch
Consultant
Big 4 Consulting Firm
Santa Clara University
Accounting
Consulting & Related Professional Services, Technology
Consulting
Honors Student
Video Highlights
1. Agility and resilience are crucial due to the ever-changing nature of consulting work, requiring individuals to persevere through challenging problems.
2. Strong communication skills, including email writing, client interaction, and presentations, are essential in consulting, often involving extensive use of PowerPoint.
3. Relationship skills are surprisingly important; being pleasant to work with enhances the consulting firm's brand and ensures projects are completed effectively and enjoyably.
Transcript
What skills are most important for a job like yours?
Agility is really important because things change so often. Resilience is also really important.
One of the best ways to succeed as a consultant is to be stuck with a challenging problem and really power through it. Be comfortable in being stuck and confused, and try to break down the complicated problem into smaller and smaller bits until you can process little bits at a time.
Communication is huge. A lot of it involves email writing, talking to clients, and presenting. That's also important.
I would also say that relationship skills are sneakily really important as well. You want to be able to enjoy being worked with.
There are a lot of smart people out there, and frankly, many will be smarter than you. However, not all of them are pleasant to work with. Many successful consulting firms brand themselves around being pleasant to be around. This means being smart and capable of solving the issue, accomplishing the project on time, and finishing it well, but also doing it in a way that doesn't make people miserable. The relationship aspect is something a lot of people would say is the most important thing.