I'd value some thoughts on a reasonable direction to enter the consulting market in.I'm leaving the military in the near future following sixteen years as a combat system engineer officer with experience of engineering operations, programme and project management, training and procurement. I'm an MBA, Chartered Engineer and Member of the IET and ICMI appreciate that probably suggests that either the big systems integrators (ACN, IBM) or a niche firm like Detica would be in the frame but I'm wary of being stovepiped into the defence market, I'd prefer to move into something else; private sector preferably but I'm not averse to public sector outside Defence.The main point of the question is what direction to come in from? Is it optimal to move into the defence market then try to break out elsewhere once I'm in consulting, or better to try to make the break completely now?TIA

As an ex-services individual myself I understand where your coming from and your fear of being pigeon-holed in to defence. However, consultants are employed for their expert knowledge ( witht the exception of the Accenture puppy-farm) and so after 16 years your experience is clearly related to the defence field. I think it will be much more difficuly to get a good role in consultancy outside this field. That being said, you probably have very strong project management experience, so you could join a consultancy with a specialist project management discipline and become a generalist within that.I would focus on getting into a consultancy first and then worry about broadening out after that.

Thanks for taking the time to respond, I appreciate the point about playing to my strengths, clearly I can't go into depth about my background; I have a fairly strong emphasis on information analysis, knowledge management, data mining etc. so coupled with the PPM side that should allow me into the marketplace and then migrate from there.

Would I stand a chance with the Accenture puppy farm with 2 years of non-technical project management experience with an FMCG firm overseas? What is the basic minimum experience that they typically look for? My experience involves business analysis, strategy and project management.Thanks in advance.

It sounds possible - it will depend heavily on your educational qualifications - but if you are a good graduate with a couple of years industry experience then there is probably a good role for you.

Hi Random,I'm ex-military (been out a while longer than you) & have just started working for Detica.Whilst you may initially start off in Defence, they do offer internal opportunties to transfer to other Government work or commercial clients. Given my previous experience with other unhappier firms they do come across as a "happy ship" or a place where they actually practice what they preach.I suspect that other consultancy firms will say the same - the only problem is figuring out which ones actually mean what they say or not. This comes down to a gut call at the end of the day, but don't forget judgement calls are what you were trained for!I would suggest you put your CV into Detica (as well as other consultancies) and see what they say. Best of luck!