I have recently graduated from Manchester Uni and am working as a planner in an ad agency. I want to apply to the large consultancy firms, to pursue a career in strategic consultancy, but am unsure whether they'll even look at me. I have no consultancy experience, but I have the analytical experience of my current job and have worked (for 2 summers) for Tenon insolvency- this was a bit of an advisory role!Will the large firms consider me, having no direct experience in consultancy?

If you've got solid academics as per their minimum requirements (and ideally from a top Uni) then you might get a first interview for a grad scheme.

What about a first in International Business, Finance and Economics?

Yes, I would be interested in that.

I would also suggest trying to get onto one of the grad schemes based on your academics. Some people I work with had 1-2 years of real world experience before joining consulting on the grad scheme so I suspect you would be no worse off. You would not need prior experience of consulting.A tip: "strategic consultancy". A lot of people when they look at consulting get excited by the term 'strategy'. There are a lot of different parts to consulting which you may find suit you best so I'd suggest you try to look deeper at the industry through associations e.g. MCA, doctorjob has a publication they produce etc. Hope that helps.

Is consulting something that has recently interested you or did you try getting into the industry upon graduation?

When you talk about "the industry", exactly which industry are you talking about? Or do you just mean "industry"?

Consulting, I may have worded it wrong.

thanks ex-nott that is helpful. With regards to the post by prospective consultant, I have been interested in consultancy, and before I looked into advertising, that was the career path I intended to follow. As of yet, I have not applied to any consultancy fields..I presumed most people had internships.I have another query: is an MBA a good idea to get into the field? or is it better to get straight into a firm?

I have been advised that to get the most out of an MBA you should ideally have a few years of work experience. Contact a few consultancy firms with a view to joining their grad scheme. If you put in a good application I think you will be fine. You don't need prior experience in consulting just the right raw skills and intellect.