I would like to move into management consultancy- I am a high achieving middle manager in the public sector, and am completing my MBA, part time in June 2009. I have done significant research and would like to move into the strategy or business processes area of management consultancy. However, as I would be an "experienced hire" I am not sure how to apply for positions, and I also do not have an awareness of how attractive I would be, and to which firms? Also, I would like to undertake some work experience, even if it were just for a day, to ensure that this would in practice be what I would like to do for my career- does anyone have any suggestions of how I could achieve this? Also (sorry for the list of questions!), what level would I be entering at- most firms state MBA entry level but I do not know what this actually is i.e. in monetary terms, etc. Any advice would be very welcomed, and very gratefully received

You should consider a secondment to a management consultancy. They tend to be attractive for all concerned:- Good for you, to get no-risk experience of a different career- Good for your current employer, to get an injection of external private sector perspective (and potentially to encourage you to stay once you've tried other organisations and sated your curiosity) - Good for the consultancy, to build networks with you as a potential buyer of their services in the futureApplication to experienced hire positions is usually by means of a CV - either one you send in response to external adverts (e.g. on this site) or one that you register with an agency/headhunter (e.g. see the recruitment channels survey from top-consultant.com).Applying by word of mouth and recommendation is great, and tends to be a very successful, but if you don't know anyone in the business isn't exactly easy to do. However, if you've ever worked with consultants (as a client or team member) then don't be shy of picking up the phone to them for an informal chat.The most natural consulting role to look to would be in a specialist public sector consultancy, or the government practice of a larger firm. Without knowing your experience to date, I wouldn't hazard a guess at whether you'd be best to enter at the conventional post-MBA level or not (those positions tend be targetted to full-time MBA graduates). In monetary terms, consulting pays about the same as the private sector (and public sector) in general - as a rule of thumb, take your current salary and add 10% for an incentive to move.

Hi Samantha,You probably need to start by thinking about your core skill set. The MBA is a door opener, but many consultancies place considerable stock in the real-world world experience that it sounds like you also have - the "attractive" element you reference will probably be your current operating environment experience.You don't say whether you've done anything outside of the Public Sector but if you haven't then any Consultancy would probably look to hire you and sell you on the basis of your track record in whatever part of the public sector you've been working in. Longer term, with some experience under your belt, you could move sideways to other parts of the public sector or possibly to private sector work.In terms of your monetary value, without knowing what your definition of "high achieving" means i.e. how many years experience, budget / headcount, demonstrable track record of achievement etc etc, it's very difficult to say what you would be worth.You sound like you might have the sort of experience that PA Consulting would be interested in - we have a pretty big public sector team that includes lots of people who've had careers outside consulting. At a guess, you might be hired at associate / manager level (or consultant / principal consultant level in PA. Sites like Vault.com and glassdoor.com give some feel for salary but if you've got 8 or so years of work experience you might be looking at £50-60K ish.

Nice helpful responses - thanks guys!On a separate note, I wonder if she would have received the same level of helpfulness if she had posted the same somewhat presumptuous message under a male name such as "Dave", and also if she had not included the NLP-style references to "positions", her "attractiveness", and where she would be "entering at".

Probably, yes, for the simple reason that the person asked a clear, well-written and concise question.Whether male (countless examples), female (Clare), or castrati (ZB), if you ask a dumb question or make dumb comments, you won't get the best out of this forum.

Thanks so much for the comments, they are very useful to me. As I don't know anyone who is a management consultant I didn't have anyone to pose these questions to! Do you think that I should wait until completing my MBA next year before applying, or apply now whilst still completing it? For info, I have 7 years experience in the public sector. You refer to firms that focus more on public sector work as an entry- are there some that you could recommend? Many thanks again

Thanks so much for the comments. In response to your questions, by high achiever I mean that: I am on a national body for my area of work, I am 10 years younger than all the other candidates that I meet at job interviews-as I have deliberately worked hard and have a real desire to achieve. My experience is that I have worked in the public sector for 7 years, the largest project I have managed had a £12m budget, I have a demonstrable track record of project and programme management, and have managed 4 teams (totalling 12 people). On the potential negative side, I do not have commercial experience- but I am a fast learner! I am interested in project and programme management, strategy, and business processes and operational improvement- what job (titles) do you think I should look out for? Many thanks- oh, and I have had a look at PA's website and it looks very interesting.

You could look at RSe, Oakleigh, and SQW Consulting.

You'd be surprised how well connected you are to people in the consulting business, especially if you're involved in all the forums and have access to other members of your EMBA cohort. You should get on LinkedIn and do a search on your extended network - I would put money on you finding a generous handful of people to talk to, and your direct contacts may well be able to recommend you right into a job.I commonly recommend that when you're looking for a lateral career move, and don't know where to start, putting the word out among your friends can lead to more opportunities than you'd realise. Your friends may not think they have any consulting contacts, but once they know you're looking they'll be more attuned to spotting things for you - more eyes = more opportunities.

Might be worth looking at thread 28848 - I found it useful.My suggestion would be to start looking now and talk to a lot of people and choose your company carefully.When you're learning the job, your immediate line manager will be important - or whoever will be guiding you - so make sure you understand what structures are in place.You will likely join at Consultant or Senior / Principal Consultant. Get your own Department / Agency etc to show you the Catalyst day rates, which will also have generic job titles.This is a stab in the dark - depending on your age, current role, level of credibility at interview and sector you look to get into, I would guess you might be looking at a consultant position with a salary of c. £40k to £55k + car, BUPA, etc.

Hi Samantha, I work on Public Sector assignments for PA and would be happy to answer any further questions you have. I'm sure we can also find a recent joiner from the Public Sector to give you their personal / balanced view of the pros and cons of consultancy if that would be helpful.My email is PALurker (AT) live.co.uk (I haven't posted my work email address for obvious spam reasons).