The NUS MBA Consulting Club

Consultant Unplugged 2010

2010-03-04T00:58:00.008+08:00

Consultant Unplugged is an annual NUS MBA flagship event, which invites eminent business leaders from leading consulting firms, to deliberate on the latest trends, developments, achievements and opportunities in the consulting industry. The discussion would cover major streams of business and management where the industry experts share their views and experiences.

Event Details

Date: 17th March

Time: Registration starts at 5.30 pm.

Venue: Shaw Foundation Alumni House, 11 Kent Ridge Drive, Singapore 119244

For registration please click on

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGctWXJjUmRZWXFXTW5qbXpqazJBaEE6MA

This will be a wonderful opportunity for students, faculty and the alumni fraternity to interact with guests. We look forward for your participation to make the event a success

New Executive Committee

2009-12-08T18:00:00.000+08:00

It has been a fabulous year for the NUS MBA Consulting Club. We made numerous headways including executing Consultant Unplugged with a resounding success, gathering a wealth of Case Books on the group, setting a culture of peer information sharing by launching i-Speak series, promoting the club through liaisons with various schools and by launching the club t-shirts; to name just a few.As this year comes to a close and we look forward to another dynamic and vibrant year ahead, it takes us great pleasure in welcoming the New Executive Committee on board to takeover the reins of the NUS MBA Consulting Club for Calender Year 2010.

President

Himabindu Rudraraju

Executive Committee

Rituraj Singh

Please join us in congratulating the team on their new roles!

We are confident that the new team will do a good job in carrying forward the Club's legacy and will also infuse new energy and ideas into the club. We hope that you all will be as supportive and encouraging to the new ex-co as you have been to us in the past one year.

Wishing good luck for future!

Best Regards,
Former Executive Committee

NUS MBA Consulting Club

Club T-shirts Launched

2009-11-20T17:03:00.004+08:00

Dear All,

As a part of our ongoing endeavors to take this club to the next level, it gives me great pleasure to announce the formal launch of

NUS MBA Consulting Club T-shirts

Special thanks to Hima, First Year Fulltime MBA student, who came up with the design and managed the logistics of this project.

i-Speak Session-19Oct09

2009-10-27T02:12:00.006+08:00

The i-Speak session is a unique initiative by the NUS MBA Consulting club in which current students who have worked in the consulting industry prior to their MBA share their experiences with the rest of their batchmates. The intent of this is to provide some background and information about the industry to those who seek to join it after their MBA.

This semester’s session took place on the 19th of October. Though this was a hectic time for many with projects and submissions due, the session was well attended. The speakers were Arthur Leung from Canada, Hyun Sik Ko from Korea and Arpan Bagchi from India. The session began with a small introduction from Rituraj, the emcee for the afternoon. He gave us an overview of why this initiative was started and how it helps students to understand the industry from an insider’s point of view.

The first speaker to talk about his experiences was Arthur. Arthur was a consultant for Accenture in Canada and the US prior to his MBA. He has a dual degree in Engineering and Business and had joined Accenture as a fresh graduate. Arthur talked about his diverse experiences working for different clients across various industries, the kind of role he was expected to play, his career progression etc. Along with this, he also shared his insights about Accenture as a whole, their work culture, environment and importantly, their recruitment processes.

Next up was Hyun Sik Ko who had some very insightful comments about I.T. consulting in Korea and what it takes to become a consultant. He told us how the mindset in Korea is different from what one expects in the US or other developed countries and that it might be difficult for non-Koreans to adjust to this. He talked about the importance of client satisfaction and forming long term relationships with one’s clients.

Lastly, Arpan talked about his journey since starting off as a I.T. Techie in Infosys India to becoming a data analytics consultant for GE. Arpan talked of the drive and commitment needed to succeed in this industry. He also talked briefly about the specific skills needed for his role within GE. Those of us who have started small and have lofty aims walked away with a great deal of inspiration from his words.

The session ended with a round of questions to the speakers who addressed specific issues like training for consultants and the need and demand for MBA’s within their companies. They were then given small tokens of appreciation from the club for taking time out in their schedules to chat with us. As is the norm in NUS, the session was followed by snacks where the audience could interact with the speakers informally. Kudos to the organising team who did a great job with the arrangements and logistics. It was a good learning experience with lots of positive takeaways for the audience.

-Rajas Karandikar

Class of 2011

i-Speak Session

2009-10-14T03:09:00.002+08:00

Talking to the Interns

2009-09-29T00:47:00.005+08:00

The MBA program at the NUS Business School is renowned for its practical approach towards academics. Like the leading business schools, NUS relies heavily on the case method to develop sound analytical, persuasive and business skills, and develop capability to deal with incomplete knowledge in the participants. But is that all it takes to make a successful career in the Strategy/Management consulting world? Who else could answer this better than the peers/seniors who have been exposed to this challenging world through internships and prior experience?

The Consulting Club-Intern talk at NUS Business school was the first event to give the new entrants to the MBA program a good flavor of what it takes to make it to the demanding world of management consulting. Organized on the 15th Sep 2009, the event was an amazing success in terms of participation and the experiences shared by the students who have had opportunity to work at the leading Management consulting firms. The list of firms included the who’s who is the consulting world namely, McKinsey, PricewaterHouse Coopers, E&Y, KPMG and IMaCS. The diverse background coupled to the colorful experiences of the participants made the session very interesting and useful. The attendees were an equally diverse and receptive bunch of medical practitioners, engineers, IT specialists, investment bankers, consultants and marketeers.

The seniors shared their experiences that stretched from long drawn out preparations for the extensive interviewing with management consulting firms to actual experiences at work. They advised serious introspection and understanding oneself before plunging into the internship hunt. One must know one's passions and career goals. If one can answer these questions in advance, the ensuing confidence shall be a great help in the entire process.They emphasized that "practice" is the key to success in tackling management consulting interviews. In addition, they also underlined the importance of improving analytical, communication and networking skills to make it click at management consulting. Through real life experiences the seniors ensured that the ideas were communicated effectively and were of use to the attendees. The Q&A session, that followed, was a reflection of the interest and curiosity that the seniors had managed to unleash. The thought provoking replies and assurances to assist the new entrants ensured that the next few events of the consulting club are headed to be livelier and even more useful.

The discussions and Q&A continued to the delicious snacks waiting outside. This provided a nice opportunity to go one-on-one with the seniors and deliberate with them on specifics of ones career and path ahead.

We are sure that the participants and the attendees had a great time interacting and the events of the Consulting Club shall continue to be even more informative and useful. So, please be on the lookout for the next one.

- Michelle Sung and Karunesh Pandey

Class of 2011

2009-09-09T11:57:00.002+08:00

Kick-Off '09

2009-08-27T00:55:00.004+08:00

The activities of the Consulting Club started this semester with the Club kick-off on 20th Aug 2009. And the response to this event was commendable, something that speaks volumes about the enthusiasm of the new batch.

NUS consulting club plays a very important role in life of aspiring students: may it be by equipping the student body with resources to make informed decisions on consulting careers, providing tools necessary to build successful careers in consulting or by providing opportunities to promote extra-curricular excellence.

This session gave us a flavor of what the club is all about and how it can assist us in fulfilling our dreams of developing successful careers in this consulting industry.

The session started with a short presentation by Shipra, the current President of the club. She ran us through the history of the club, its objective, mode of operation, the various events held in the past etc.

She then took us through some of the more specific examples from events that were organised in the past one year, including career interest groups, interview preparation workshops, the new initiative called i-Speak, and the NUS MBA flagship event, Consultant Unplugged.

Shipra’s Presentation was followed by a presentation from Bani. She gave us insight on the recruitment process of different companies like McKinsey, BCG and A.T. Kearney etc.

Most of the discussion was centred around the kind of work consultants do in general with focus on strategy firms. What is consulting? What kind of work the consulting firms do? How is a typical day in a consultant’s life? What is the usual work-life balance and the amount of travel involved? All these and many more such were effectively answered.

A consultant’s typical day was also discussed and it was emphasized, that though consulting careers give one a great opportunity to constantly learn, innovate and challenge oneself, it’s a tough job at the end of the day and one needs to be geared always to succeed.

All in all, it was a great session, informative and comprehensive; and gave us good insights on both the club as well as the consulting industry; just the kick-off we had hoped to get!

-Payal Keswani
Class of 2011

Welcome!

2009-08-26T13:13:00.004+08:00

Dear Members,

Heart-felt Greetings!

As, the summer fades and we all come back from our respective internships and vacations to be together once more and embark on our final semester of this enthralling 17-month journey; I, on behalf of the NUS MBA Consulting Club Executive Committee, would like to extend a warm welcome to you all.I would also like to extend my greetings to our distinguished alumni who continue to be the source of support and encouragement to us by still being a part of this club and being actively involved in & supportive of all our endeavors.

In addition, today my sincerest and warmest welcome goes to the newest members of this club, the NUS MBA Class of 2011, the S3Asia MBA Class of 2010 and the IMBA Class of 2010 and our new members from other exchange and double degree programs!!

As a club, we have, over the past years, achieved many successes, each time taking this club to the new levels of commitment and camaraderie.

As the President & a privileged member of this club, and one who has benefited tremendously in terms of the learnings imparted through the club & its initiatives; I hope that our new batch, comprising all the different cohorts, will work together as a team; and with its zeal and pro-active participation in all our activities, will take our endeavors and efforts to the next level; thereby setting new benchmarks for the club.

I also hope that all our existing members and alumni will continue to extend their support & encouragement to the new batch, as generously and unfailingly, as they have been to us in the past.

With these words, I once again extend my welcome to all our members and wish you all great successes in the months ahead.

Warm Regards,
Shipra Gupta
President

2009-08-14T23:49:00.001+08:00

From Interview to Offer

2009-04-11T14:29:00.007+08:00

Govindan Sendhuran writes the Last part of his 3 part series on "Finding Jobs in the Consulting Industry"

[ For those who missed the earlier parts, here are the links to Part1 & Part 2 ]

From Interview to Offer

In this blog post, I’ll discuss several key things that will help you convert the interview into an offer. First, we’ll talk generally about interview preparation, then elaborate on consulting interview formats. Then we’ll finish with two simple but important tips on the actual interview.

General Interview Preparation

The first thing to do when you get an interview call (and preferably you should start before that), is to find out everything you can about the firm’s interviews. This applies to pretty much every industry, not just consulting. The things to find include (but aren’t limited to):

- Format of the interviews: How long is it? How many will there be? Is it going to be case interview? Group discussion? Etc.

- What the firm/interviewers are looking for: Relevant experience, knowledge of finance, analytical skills, etc.

- Frequently asked questions: Tell me about a time when you lead a team? What are you strengths & weaknesses?, etc.

The best sources for this kind of information are people who have recently interviewed with the firm and the alumni/friends who work there. The recruiter can also be approached regarding the format of the interviews, and what the firm is looking for. But it would be inappropriate to ask about frequently asked questions.

This information will help you better prepare for the interview. Prior to the interview, you should prepare answers for the frequently asked questions. This will help you feel more relaxed in the actual interview. Additionally, if there is some special interview method used at the firm, you can get ready for that too.

Consulting Firm Interviews

Most top management consulting firms will have interviews that are a mix of behavioral interviews and case interviews. Each is used to assess different aspects of your candidature:

1. Behavioral Interviews: These are used to assess your experiences, attitudes, leadership skills and other relevant skills. Additionally these interviews check for fit with the firm.

To prepare for these, check with others who’ve interviewed with the firm recently, or alums who work at the firm, to get the inside scoop on the frequently asked question. Also, ensure that you prepare your answers to these questions beforehand and practice them with others.

2. Case Interviews: These are used to assess your analytical skills, your creativity, and your general business judgment.

The only way to prepare for this is to practice, practice, and practice some more, at least 50 – 100 cases before you interview. This means you have to start practicing long before you even get your interview call. Also practice with different people, practice with different types of cases (investments, market entry, operations, etc.) Quantity and variety are key! “Crack the Case” (www.mbacase.com), by David Ohrvall is the best resource I’ve seen for case interview practice. In my opinion it’s a MUST.

A few consulting firms will also use other methods to evaluate your candidature, including group discussions, presentation, etc. So make sure you investigate this before the interview.

The Actual Interview

Be confident and SMILE!
By the time you go for the interview, you should have prepared enough to be confident of getting the job. And if it helps, realize that the firm has invited you to interview because they think you are a good candidate. They already believe that you are smart enough and have the right background and experiences to succeed as a consultant!

Be relaxed and SMILE. When you are tensed up or nervous, your brain starts wasting mental cycles. You’re slower to respond, you’ll forget things, and you’ll do poorly, especially in the case interview. So relax, take a deep breath if you need and SMILE. Smiling can actually make you feel more relaxed! Smiling will also help you be more personable. If you’re stiff and don’t smile, it could harm your chances. Remember, consulting is hard work, and the interviewer is also looking for a new colleague who can be fun to work with through those long days. So relax, SMILE and be personable.

-Sendhuran Govindan
MBA Class of 2009
UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School
NUS Business School (exchange)

Consultant Unplugged 2009

2009-03-30T11:12:00.014+08:00

On March 19, 2009 at 2:30 am, as I finally flopped on my bed, and in the 2 seconds before I fell asleep, all I could remember were Srikanth's words, "Just make sure you hold Consultant Unplugged"

The day was Dec 6, 2008. I wasn’t even a month old as the Club President when at the annual ART dinner, one of our alumnus, Srikanth Sridharan caught hold of me and Srinivasa, our student council President, and told both of us that we must hold “Consultant Unplugged”. Our outgoing ex-co had said the same thing and it was already somewhere vaguely in my mind and hence, of course I agreed. I hadn't even planned the event calendar for the year and I was going home for a month. So I lodged it in the back of my head and promptly forgot about it. Back in January, I started planning the events, and thinking about Consultant Unplugged. After much deliberation and consultation, we, the club ex-co, decided on March end. We had 3 months to plan, but no idea what we were in for.

For the next 3 months, at painstaking pace we moved from one step to the next. Talking to people day and night, identifying possible speakers and going through all possible channels to invite other business schools, we were sending what seemed like a countless number of mails.

It is an NUS MBA flagship event and the smallest details mattered. 8 days for designing the registration flyer, followed by faculty invitation cards, publicity email blasts, 5 different versions of the panel guides: each for a different target audience, numerous iterations of each version; every single word, logo and punctuation mark in every single document and e-mail was scrutinized by at least 5 independent pairs of eyes.

There were setbacks, failures and sacrifices. We had to give up looking for internships, going for recruitment talks and even studying for tests. I remember studying only a few hours before my mid term and of course I bombed in it. The last 20 days were the hardest to keep going. Except actually attending classes, we were doing nothing but planning the event. Endless trips to the programs office to finalize the logistics, recruiting volunteers, assigning escorts for outside teams & panelists, countdown reminder flyers, customized reminder emails, 25 versions of the banner, detailed volunteer plans with clear time lines and tasks, down to pasting chits at the points where volunteers were supposed to stand, 250 name tags to be prepared, checked and printed; audience question templates, Panelists introduction briefs, thank you notes and welcome speeches, emcee's scripts, I was exhausting all my writing skills as the team worked full steam. "Consultant Unplugged 2009" had become our lives; the atmosphere was frenzied.

On March 19 at 7:15 PM, as I finally sat down in one of the reserved seats with the volunteers and the rest of the team, and listened to the panelists speak for the next 90 minutes or so; the constant laughter and applause from the audience echoing in my ears, I knew that we had done it!

Appreciation mails have been pouring in since the event. We had created a lot of publicity before the event and its success increased the event's visibility manifold. The bar is now much higher for all future NUS MBA events, especially for "Consultant Unplugged 2010"

Click here for the pictures

-Shipra Gupta

President - NUS MBA Consulting Club

Class of 2010

The NUS MBA Consulting Club

2009-03-22T13:37:00.010+08:00

Shipra Gupta, President - NUS MBA Consulting Club, writes for the IIM Calcutta Magazine, "The Joka-Strategist" ...

People pursue MBA programs for a variety of reasons: switching industries, climbing the next rung of the corporate ladder, taking a study break to go back to the joys of being a student and taking a sabbatical to figure out the next step in life; constitute a few of those. A large proportion of these categories of students explore consulting as a prospect career option. Add to this a large number of students who harbor an informed preference towards this field, and the result is almost half of every new batch that wants to consider a career in consulting. It is this very half that the NUS MBA Consulting Club aims to assist in their journey towards the career of their preference.

Being an entirely student-run body, our mission is to help our members get an insightful picture of the Consulting industry and make informed career related decisions. Working towards this purpose we organize various events of differing scale and magnitude throughout the year. These events can be classified as different points on a 3-dimensional plane; with the actual dimensions being: scale (small vs. large), subject (industry insights vs. career related) and speaker (internal vs. external).

i-Speak is an example of a series of small scale internal speaker events focusing on industry insights provided by students from within the batch who have extensive prior experience in the Consulting industry. These sessions provide an informal platform for students to share their concerns, experiences and opinions about the prevalent work culture, the specific processes, training programs, projects and skill sets.

Diametrically opposite to i-Speak is Consultant Unplugged. An annual NUS MBA Flagship event, it takes the form of a panel discussion between elite members of the Consulting industry in Singapore; with the actual subject of the discussion ranging widely from the panelists’ experiences to insights about the trends in the industry etc.

Between these 2 ends of the spectrum lie a whole plethora of events including talks by alumni on a wide range of topics; resume reviews, mock interview and case analysis sessions; periodic blog and website updates, career interest groups and fun consultant-meets to name a few. All these events serve specific purposes; so while resume reviews & mock interview sessions are intended to better equip our members in their internship/job hunts; fun-consultant meets are just an opportunity for members to let their hair down and de-stress.

As a club we try to attain the optimum balance between the various events, so that at the end of the program, our members feel better informed and equipped to build a career in the consulting industry, while ensuring that they relish the experience of having been a part of the program and a member of the club

-Shipra Gupta
President- NUS MBA Consulting Club
Class of 2010
[ Click Here for the Original Joka-Strategist Edition]

Getting the Interview Call

2009-03-13T12:03:00.012+08:00

Govindan Sendhuran writes the 2nd part of his 3 part series on "Finding Jobs in the Consulting Industry"
[ For those who missed the first part, here is the link ]

Getting the Interview Call

In my opinion, getting an interview call from a top tier consulting firm is probably the hardest part of getting the job for many people. If you have a 750 GMAT, great undergraduate GPA, and go to a high-ranked business school, it gets a bit easier, but still there is lot more involved. The way I see it, there are two ways to get the interview call, one is through the formal application process, and the other is through informal networking.

Formal Process: All the top consulting firms, and many smaller firms too, have a formal application process (normally online application). Most top firms look for four things in the application:
1. High undergraduate/graduate GPA
2. High GMAT Score (at least 700, preferably in the 750 range)
3. Reputed MBA program
4. ‘Killer’ Resume
Not having one of the first three mentioned above does not mean, you can’t get an interview call, it just gets much harder. So if you need to, re – write the GMAT. And put your GMAT score if it’s a good one on your resume.

Now on to the resume. Your resume has to highlight several important key characteristics:

1. Impact/Achievement
Eg. Each of your achievements/accomplishments needs to be clearly quantified. How much business did you generate? How much did you save? How big was the project, in $$ terms, were you responsible for?

2. Leadership Experiences

3. Teamwork Abilities
Eg. how did you work across cross-functional teams? In international teams? Etc.

4. Something interesting about yourself

This is quite important. Everyone has great impressive professional experiences to talk about. But you need to differentiate yourself from the pack to be more interesting. Here are some examples.
“Shot down 3 enemy aircrafts in dogfights over Iraq”
“Directed documentary about robotic camel jockeys in the Middle East”
“Authored, ‘Running with the Buffalos’, book about the Colorado Men’s Cross Country Team”

If there are two resumes with similar experience and only one can be chosen for an interview, you can bet it’s going to be one that is more interesting… It’s nice to have interesting colleagues right?

Check out some excellent tips on resume writing from McKinsey & Company:

Informal Process: By the informal process, I mean being able to have someone in the firm forward your resume to the people responsible for hiring. This generally works only for smaller consulting firms. But there are exceptions. I know a person who got an interview because a Senior Partner at a top consulting firm was impressed with him. He didn’t even have to go through the online application process! The informal process is particularly useful in-case the formal process becomes difficult (low GMAT, low GPA, etc.)

So how do you start? You first find the firm you are interested in and then network to find someone in the company who you can talk to. Remember LinkedIn? Get out there and find ex-colleagues, ex-classmates, alumni from undergrad, alumni from grad school, etc. and get talking with them. Once you find a person to talk to, you have three goals in your communication with them:

1. Learn more about the firm and what your role would be once you join

2. Impress upon the person that you are a fantastic candidate

3. Get them to forward your resume to the appropriate people to get an interview

For many smaller firms, this is your best chance because recruiting works on trust. They can’t afford to make mistakes in their recruiting so a referral works strongly in your favour.

Next time, we’ll talk about how to convert that interview into an offer.

-Sendhuran Govindan
MBA Class of 2009
UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School
NUS Business School (exchange)

2009-03-11T10:44:00.002+08:00

Do you have the talent to make something boring look relevant and new once again? Are you fond of finding unique solutions to strategic problems? During this time of crisis where companies are more challenged to differentiate themselves, strategic brand consulting is becoming more and more in demand Find out more if you have what it takes to be the next up and coming brand consultant from: Shauna Li Roolvink. CEO, Brandhub

Consultant Unplugged 09

2009-03-11T02:29:00.002+08:00

The NUS MBA Consulting Club is proud to present

Consultant Unplugged 2009

Consultant Unplugged is an annual NUS MBA flagship event, that invites eminent business leaders from leading consulting firms, to deliberate on the latest trends, developments, achievements and opportunities in the consulting industry. The discussion would cover major streams of business and management where the industry experts share their views and experiences.

Registrations have been closed.
Please write to nusmbaconsultingclub@gmail.com if you'd like to attend

This would be a wonderful opportunity for students, faculty and alumni fraternity to interact with the guests.

We look forward to your participation to make the event a success!!

Regards,

NUS MBA Consulting Club

Executive Committee

2009-02-22T19:13:00.001+08:00

First Step in getting a management consulting job?

2009-02-11T23:39:00.009+08:00

Second Year exchange student Govindan Sendhuran shares his strategy for finding jobs in the Consulting Industry....

First Step in getting a management consulting job?
Find the jobs that are out there!

The way I see it, there are basically 3 steps in getting a management consulting job.

1. Finding the jobs that are out there
2. Applying for the jobs you like and getting interview calls for those
3. Converting the interviews into offers

In this blog entry, I’ll discuss the first step, finding the jobs that are out there. Many people, when they think of management consulting, think it’s just McKinsey, BCG and Bain. However, there are many other firms as well. And in this economic climate, it’s important to cast your net wide. Below are three good references you can use to find other management consulting firms.

1. Wetfeet and Vault Guides to the Consulting Industry
This is a great start. Your university’s career management center will normally have hard copies or access to the soft copies of these. Theses guides usually have a list of top 50 consulting firms ranked in terms of reputation, functional area expertise, quality of work/life balance, etc.

http://www.vault.com/nr/consulting_rankings/consulting_rankings.jsp?consulting2009=2&ch_id=252

http://shop.wetfeet.com/Browse/Consulting-Careers/25-Top-Consulting-Firms.aspx

2. LinkedIn
Vault and Wetfeet will only get you information on the top 50 consulting firms. But what about the rest? The smaller boutique firms? There are thousands out there! LinkedIn is a great source for this. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account yet, get one now! It’s an essential tool for all MBAs!

If you browse “Management Consulting”, you will find thousands of results for management consulting firms across the world. Just click on the names to learn more and find if you are connected to any of the firms’ employees.

3. Google
And let’s not forget good ol’ trusty google. If you have a background in a particular industry, just google for consulting firms in those industries. It can be quite powerful, but you’d need to filter out the noise. Just searching “Management Consulting – Telecom”, lead me to the following firms:

a) Consequi Group:
http://www.consequi.com/pages/1/index.htm

b) Greenwich Consulting:
http://www.greenwich-consulting.com/templates/home.php?NodId=57

c) Teleconvergence:
http://www.teleconvergence.com/en/Strategic_Telecommunications_Marketing

d) Dao2:
http://www.dao2.com/

I suggest you create an excel file to store the information you collect about the companies. Be sure to capture, their names, their industry focus, their website address, recruiter contact, application process, and very importantly, the resume/application deadlines. This will allow you to plan your application process in order to give yourself enough time to prepare the applications and also to ensure you don’t miss any deadlines.

Sendhuran Govindan
MBA Class of 2009
UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School
NUS Business School (exchange)

Memoirs of a President

2009-02-01T20:37:00.003+08:00

When I started my MBA, I was not very sure of the career that I wanted to pursue post MBA, let alone stand for Consulting club President. My inspiration to contest elections for the post came from "Consultant Unplugged", an event which was organized by the club in September 2007 and had made everyone associated with it feel proud. This event made me realize that the consulting club had a lot of potential.

Before being chosen as the President I had a broad outline of what I wanted to achieve with the help of executive committee and club members. I should be candid in stating that when I was chosen, I did not imagine the amount of detailed planning and effort each event could involve. Even after sound planning, execution was filled with a number of challenges at times. Conducting events keeping in mind the timetable of students, MBA office & CSO events and schedules of external speakers; and yet ensuring a good attendance turned out to be a humongous task. I personally felt a lot of satisfaction with the successful execution of each event and appreciation received afterwards.

We started the season with a speaker session in which Mr.Torgeir Kruke the regional Director of CapGemini Norway, spoke about technology consulting and his experiences in Cap Gemini. He was an exchange student at NUS MBA with around 20 years of work experience and we realized that NUS MBA offers numerous opportunities to learn from fellow batch mates who come with a lot of practical work experience which if shared using a common platform can be highly useful.

We organized external speaker sessions where our alumni working in various top management consulting firms were called to share their experiences. Our alumni have been very supportive in sparing time from their hectic schedules and their encouragement made us all believe that with the right kind of preparation and attitude it isn't tough to get into top notch consulting firms like Mckinsey, BCG etc.

We had always felt that case practice was an area in which many people lagged and when they got interview calls from consulting firms, getting through the first few rounds could be a tough battle without gaining the required skills and practice. Keeping all these things in mind we tried and successfully organized two Case workshops -one done by the alumni and other done by an external professional. These events were time consuming and tiring but they were worth the effort.

Consultant Unplugged 2008 was one grand event that my team and I did try to organize but we could not make it happen due to numerous reasons that were beyond our control. We look forward to the next team to make it happen.

Apart from the events that I have stated above, consulting club tried to bring people together so that they could share their experiences and perspectives about management consulting in whatever ways they could(internships, past jobs, google group).

My experiences as the Club President have been very fulfilling. The responsibilities were challenging at times, but with the support of ex-co, faculty, MBA office and my batch mates I achieved success and I can say this because of the sincere appreciation that the club received from everyone.

I have full faith in the new team that is heading the club and I wish to see club rising to new heights and taking more initiatives to create a mark for itself and the school.

On behalf of Executive committee-2008

Former President, Consulting Club,

Isha Gupta

2009-01-31T11:04:00.002+08:00

Case Interview Workshop

2008-10-11T18:58:00.001+08:00

Consulting club invites you all to a session by Vikash Mishra this Friday, 17th October 6 - 7 pm. Venue for the session is Conf-room F.

Vikash is a NUS MBA alumnus working as a petroleum associate, with Mckinsey and Company, Singapore. He has agreed to come down to campus to take a session on

-Resume writing tips.
-How to prepare for case interviews
-His learning from various interviews that he had to undergo.

Vikash was here to address us last semester and the session was highly appreciated by everyone.

For those who missed his earlier session and for people in new batch who are seeking a career in Management Consulting, it would be a good opportunity to interact with him.

We look forward to seeing you all at the session.

Thanks and Regards
NUS MBA consulting club

Internships Sharing Session

2008-09-02T18:49:00.000+08:00

A Session by the Regional Director of CapGemini(Norway)

2008-03-19T16:55:00.000+08:00

A Session with Matthias Goertz

2007-10-07T12:00:00.000+08:00

Consultant Unplugged

2007-10-07T11:03:00.000+08:00

Workshop on Mergers and Acquisitions

2007-08-21T12:54:00.000+08:00

Workshop: Mergers and Acquisitions

Trainer: Mr Nishant SaxenaRegional Finance Manager, Procter and Gamble (P&G)

Date/Time: 1 September 2007 Saturday, 9:00am - 1:15pm

Venue: Lecture Theatre 18 (near Seminar Room 8 - BIZ 2 building, level 3)NUS Business School (Click here for location map)

Admission: Admission is Free. Tea break refreshment will be provided.

Register Here

About the Workshop

Mr Nishant Saxena played a key role in the historic acquisition of Gillette by P&G (15th largest ever in the world and largest in FMCG industry) first as Head of India integration, and then as Regional Finance Manager on Asia-Pacific integration. He will share what he knows of the exciting world of M&A as follows:

Ø Part 1: M&A Background Starts the discussion providing a rich historical flavour, the need for an M&A, when and how exactly is value created and some critical learning points.

Ø Part 2: Pre-integration Process walkthrough Outlines the process of an M&A from the idea to the actual share exchange - including accounting and legal perspective.

Ø Part 3: Synergies Exhaustive discussion on various sources of synergies. Includes potential "dissynergies" and a suggested process to find synergies.

Ø Part 4: Illustration using P&G-Gillette merger (based on public info) Uses one of the largest successful acquisitions of recent years to show the process, rationale, synergies, accounting and stock price impact.

Ø Part 5: Post-Merger Integration Guidelines to ensure a stellar integration (which is blamed for 70% of failed mergers). Includes key learning points from author's own experience.

Ø Part 6: M&A Defense and Other Restructuring Quick look at various M&A defenses like poison pill and also non M&A restructurings like Spin-offs, carveouts etc.

Pre-Workshop Reading Material

It is important to read through the powerpoint slides before attending the workshop to have a fruitful discussion. Mr Nishant Saxena will share his personal insight and experience rather than covering all the theoretical background in the slides. As this workshop will focus on discussing questions that participants have, Saw Centre will solicit questions and participants' expectations a few days before the workshop by email. Hence, it is important to register in advance.

Click here to download the powerpoint slides.

About the Speaker

Mr Nishant Saxena has eight years of experience in Corporate Finance with Procter & Gamble – including Strategic/Financial Planning, M&A, Value creation, White-space expansion, GAAP Accounting, and Internal Controls/Audit etc. He has worked across various geographies in Asia (Japan, Philippines, India and Singapore) and across various business units. He also teaches as guest/adjunct faculty in various business schools like NUS, IIM Lucknow/Bangalore, SP Jain Mumbai/Dubai covering very highly rated courses like Corporate Valuation, Business Policy and Financial Management. Nishant has won various awards/recognition inside and outside the company. These include "Leaders-in-Making" (Business World), Distinguished Speaker (IIMB), Business Leadership Award (P&G), Stewardship Captain (P&G), Unsung Hero etc. He has written in various magazines/papers and presented in conferences (including the World Business Dialogue, Cologne)

Robert Walters Industry Talk Series- Consulting & Human Resources

2007-08-21T12:51:00.000+08:00

Rescheduled to Friday 24th August/Conf Room B/12-2pm

Robert Walters Industry Talk Series -Marketing/Branding & Supply Chain Management

2007-08-17T12:45:00.000+08:00

When: 22 August 2007 - 03:00PM to 06:00PM

Where: Seminar Room 10

What: Robert Walters Industry Talk Series -Marketing/Branding & Supply Chain Management

Have you ever wondered: ·What are the employers looking for? ·What does it take to be a (private banker, marketing professional, IT Project Manager Etc) ·Which sectors are actively hiring for the areas you specialise in? (FMCG, Retail, Financial Services, IT & Telcom, Manufacturing, Creative agencies, etc) ·What are the key challenges in some of these roles? What responsibilities should candidates be prepared to take on? ·How do recruiters rate a candidate? What’s the Agenda? -Marketing/Branding & Supply Chain Management Highlights of the Briefing: ·Tips on how to move up to the next level in your career ·Hot Jobs and the kind of talents required to fill these roles (technical knowledge, exposure, experience, soft skills, personality traits, education etc) ·Career opportunities – various roles available and salary ranges ·Opportunities for overseas work/careers ·Practical advice on career search – bullet points

How to Register

Link (Will ask you to log in..Use you HT Number and Pin and select Student)

Robert Walters Industry Talk Series- Consulting & Human Resources

2007-08-17T12:40:00.000+08:00

When: 20 August 2007 - 04:00PM to 06:00PM

Where: Conference Room B

What: Robert Walters Industry Talk Series- Consulting & Human Resources

Have you ever wondered: ·What are the employers looking for? ·What does it take to be a (private banker, marketing professional, IT Project Manager Etc) ·Which sectors are actively hiring for the areas you specialise in? (FMCG, Retail, Financial Services, IT & Telcom, Manufacturing, Creative agencies, etc) ·What are the key challenges in some of these roles? What responsibilities should candidates be prepared to take on? ·How do recruiters rate a candidate? What’s the Agenda? - Consulting & Human Resources Highlights of the Briefing: ·Tips on how to move up to the next level in your career ·Hot Jobs and the kind of talents required to fill these roles (technical knowledge, exposure, experience, soft skills, personality traits, education etc) ·Career opportunities – various roles available and salary ranges ·Opportunities for overseas work/careers ·Practical advice on career search – bullet points

How to Register:

Link (Will ask you to log in..Use you HT Number and Pin and select Student)

Invitation for Inaugural Meeting

2007-08-14T12:22:00.001+08:00

FY 2007-08 Inaugural Meeting

2007-08-12T13:40:00.000+08:00

We will announce the date and venue for FY 2007-08 Inaugural Meeting very soon. Watch out this space for more details

Agenda for the meeting:

1) Introduction to the Club
2) New Members Recruitment (Batch of 2007)
3) A Flavor of Case Workshop

Expect the posters to be out in a day or two....

Trends and Challenges of the Industry

2007-07-06T19:06:00.000+08:00

Here a link for people to update themselves on the trends and challenges in the consulting industry...

This was a supplement distributed with Times by MediaPlanet

CLICK HERE

Enjoy reading and share your thoughts in the comments section!

(Source: First seen at Top-Consultant.com)

thE waL*marT waY bY doN soderquisT

2007-03-14T02:02:00.000+08:00

Totally Awesome !

If there is a soul who wants to know what is this Wal*Mart all about, this is the book to pick (besides "Made in America" by Sam Walton which is more of an autobiography than Wal*Mart Story). After reading this book, I started to respect Sam more than what I did after knowing him through his own eyes in his book !

The book begins with a soft introduction followed by listing 12 factors which led to the Wal*Mart Success story ( as per Don....the list obviously is what he thinks were the main reasons ). While the list may not be exhaustive but it sure is compelling.

After listing the factors, the book is neatly divided into 12 chapters. Yes ! you guessed it right...One chapter for each factor. Written in a part preaching-part memoir way, It is very authoritarian and humble at the same time. It keeps you on the toe and you want to know more about it all the time !

There are so many fine points mentioned in the book which I loved. Some of them are :

1) Quoting Don : " I wouldsuggest to you that nothing will demoralize those who work for you more quickly than when you no longer have an active knowledge of what's going on in the business"

2)Fred Smith, founder and CEO of Federal Express commented that every person, at one time or another in his career, will have five questions that he asks himself or heself.

a) "What is expected of me?" - What is my job? On what basis will you measure me? What am I supposed to be doing?

b) "How am I doing?" - Am I doing what you asked me to do? Are the results what you wanted? Is it good? It is basically getting a continual feedback rather than judging yourself with the year end evaluation.

c) "How can I get ahead?" - How can I be promoted? How can I take on more responsibility? How can I grow? How can I be challenged further?

d) "Where can I get justice?" - Where do I go when things are going badly, when I think I am being treated poorly, when I think something has been done unfairly?

e) "Is what I am doing important?" - Knowing if you are contributing to the well being of the organization

(I wonder if Fred Smith never asked these 5 questions to Mr Madan Birla as he never cared to mention about these in his book "FedEx Delivers")

There are numerous little examples and teachings which will simply put you in awe ! Like Sam declining to come to Cincinnati for meeting P&G CEO because the room which was booked was costing one hundred dollars a day! These little things tells about the character of a person and what values he would have instilled in his company.

No wonder Wal*Mart has evolved as the largest company in the world and still growing like a start-up does !

A Must read !!

welcomE

2007-02-28T10:22:00.001+08:00

Hi All,

Welcome to the all new NUS MBA Consulting Club.

The objective of the blog is to enhance our skills in solving business problems and keep everyone updated with the trends in the consulting industry.

We, at the club, would like to invite everyone to contribute to the blog by posting a business problem, a solution, book review etc. Any interesting news you have, new skills you have come across, feel free to share this with us. (mail your entries to nusmbaconsultingclub@gmail.com or nusmba_consultingclub@nus.edu.sg)

Visit this blog frequently to know what is going on at the NUS MBA Consulting Club.

We also look forward to your valuable comments and a lively discussion on the posts.

gooD tO greaT bY jiM collinS

2007-02-28T10:00:00.000+08:00

I will keep coming with my book reviews. Hope you find it interesting. I would strongly encourage all of you to use the comments to share your thoughts.

Introduction: Faced with the question – Can a good company become great and if so, how? (Probed by Bill Meehan, Managing Director of McKinsey & Company, San Francisco), Jim Collins embarked on a five year research effort, a journey to explore the inner workings of good to great.

Phase 1: The Search

A 21 member team formed by Jim Collins, working on the project, started the daunting task of sifting the Fortune 500 companies from 1965 to 1995.

Criteria for selection:

The company shows a pattern of good performance (a cumulative total stock return no better than 1.25 times the general stock market for the fifteen years prior to the point of transition) punctuated by a transition point, after which it shifts to a great performance (a cumulative total stock return of at least 3 times the general stock market for fifteen years from the point of transition)
It should be a company shift and not industry shift
The company should have operations for at least 25 years prior to the transition point
Transition had to occur before 1985 (so that 15 years cumulative returns can be calculated. This is where GE could not make it)
Company should still be good enough (It should appear in 1995 Fortune 500) and having an upward trend in stock returns.

Several other criteria were applied and the screening was done at 4 stages.

Cut 1
1435 Companies
Fortune 500 1965-95
Cut 2
126 Companies
Stock Prices
Cut 3
19 Companies
11 more criteria
Cut 4
11 Companies
Industry Analysis

Phase 2: Compared to what?

After 11 companies were selected for the research, “comparison companies” were also selected to facilitate comparisons. There were 2 sets of comparison companies. The first set consisted of “direct comparison” – companies that were in the same industry as the G-G companies with the same opportunities and similar resources, but did not show the leap from good to great.

The second set consisted of “unsustained comparisons” – companies that made a short term shift from good to great but failed to maintain the trajectory. In all, this gave a set of 28 companies: 11 good-to-great companies, 11 direct comparisons, and 6 unsustained comparisons.

Good-to-Great Companies ________Direct Comparisons
Abbott _________ Upjohn
Circuit City _________ Silo
Fannie Mae ________ Great Western
Gillette ________ Warner-Lambert
Kimberly-Clark ________ Scott Paper
Kroger _________ A&P
Nucor __________ Bethlehem Steel
Philip Morris __________ R.J. Reynolds
Pitney Bowes __________ Addressograph
Walgreens ___________ Eckerd
Wells Fargo _________ Bank of America

Unsustained Comparisons
Burroughs
Chrysler
Harris
Hasbro
Rubbermaid
Teledyne

Phase 3: The research (What’s inside the BLACK BOX?)

Once the companies were selected, the deep research began. 6000 articles dating 50 years or more, 2000 pages of interview transcript (with the business leaders of these companies), analysis, strategy study, acquisition analysis, executive compensation research et al became the became the back bone of the study and consumed 10.5 people years of effort

Phase 4: The Concept

Level 5 Leadership:

Compared to high-profile leaders with big personalities who make headlines and become celebrities, the good-to-great leaders seem to be totally different. Self-effacing, quiet, reserved, even shy – these leaders are a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will.

First Who….Then What:

Good-to-great leaders DO NOT begin by setting a new vision and strategy. Instead, they first get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats – and then they figure out where to drive it.

Confront the brutal facts (Yet Never Lose Faith):

Every Good-to-great company embraced what we came to call the Stockdale Paradox: You must maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, AND at the same time have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.

The Hedgehog Concept (Simplicity within the Three Circles):

Good-to-great companies do things which fit their hedgehog concept, the intersection of the three circles.

What are you deeply passionate about?
What you can be the best in the world at?
What drives your economic engine?

A Culture of Discipline:

All companies have a culture, some companies have discipline, but few companies have a culture of discipline. When you have disciplined people, you don’t need hierarchy. When you have disciplined thought, you don’t need bureaucracy. When you have disciplined action, you don’t need excessive controls. When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great performance.

Technology Accelerators:

Don’t use technology as the primary means of igniting a transformation. Technology was used as a catalyst but not as a reactant.

The Flywheel and the Doom Loop:

Those who launch revolutions, dramatic change programs, and wrenching restructurings will almost certainly fail to make the leap from good to great. Good-to-great transformations never happened in one fell swoop. There was no single defining action, no grand program, no one killer innovation, no solitary lucky break, no miracle moment. The process resembles pushing a giant flywheel in one direction, turn upon turn, building momentum until a period of breakthrough, and beyond

thE McKinseY waY by ethaN M. rasieL

2007-02-27T23:15:00.000+08:00

If you are interested in strategy consulting, this is a must read. This is a must read not only for strategy consulting it’s a must read for everyone who will be working on solving problems, working on customer facing projects. It is also a good read for people who have no clue about consulting; the book will help you make the decision,if consulting is the career path you want to take.The tips and insights Ethan gives you are really good, it will give you a new outlook for dealing with business problems.

Just to quote a few of the rules and tips given in the book

80/20 ( one of the most popular rule )
Don’t boil the ocean ( read it as don't try to solve world hunger overnight)
The elevator test ( also called elevator pitch)
Pluck the low hanging fruit ( build your credibility by solving the easy ones first)
Hit Singles ( A term from base ball, don't always go for the home run)
Just say “I don’t know” ( if you are not sure, say you don't know)
Make your boss look good: “If you make your boss look good, your boss will make you look good”

The book also goes on to explain about life in McKinsey and gives some useful tips for people on the run.

The McKinsey Way is available at NUS Libraries, just log on to read the e-book.
The Consulting club members can log on to the share point to download the presentation on The McKinsey Way.

thE consultinG spectruM - parT 1

2007-02-27T22:13:00.000+08:00

Is there a world beyond Mckinsey, BCG, AT Kearney, Bain & Company and Booz Allen when you talk of consulting? It's a resounding yes.

Ironically, most of us keep trying for these big firms and never even look for myriad other firms which are out there. Not to mention, these other firms are also established names in their own right and its just that they are recognized better for something else than consulting. Let's look at some of the familiar names:

IBM Business Consulting: IBM has a Business Consulting arm under its global services division. They claim to have expertise in Financial Management, Human Capital Management, CRM, Strategy and Supply Chain Management. They also have an extensive hiring program both for experienced professionals and university graduates (us!). For people interested in process reengineering and supply chain consulting, it might be one of the companies you should target for.

This is their careers page. There are lot of opportunities for fulltime regular job. Go through their requirements. Another point to note is that they prefer candidates having eliginility to work in the US. While most of us doesn't fit the bill but please do not get discouraged by these "prefer" statements. What you can work instead on is your GPA. Though they "prefer" 3.2 or higher, concentrate on the term "higher". And yes, it's out of 4. Having an engineering background helps and a technical experience is even better.

Keane: Keane, Inc. is one of the world’s leading providers of business and IT services. Specifically, they deliver business services that include business consulting, business process outsourcing, strategy, and program management services. They have operations in the United States, India, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Someone with a technical experience would find the company interesting and hopefully, the company does it as well. There is a current openings link on the careers page. Else, you can always send them your resume.

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We will come back again very soon with details on 2 more consulting firms. Keep Exploring