INSEAD FOR CONSULTING
In terms of sheer numbers, no school sends more students into consulting jobs than INSEAD. With graduates leaving the school each year in May and December, the latest available employer information from INSEAD is for its 2014 graduates, 41 percent of whom took jobs in consulting. Except for a dip in 2013 to 34 percent, close to 40 percent or more of each of the past five graduating classes headed into consulting.
With INSEAD’s 2014 class of more than 1000 MBA graduates, the 41 percent bound for consulting jobs amounts to a whopping 414 students accepting positions at places like McKinsey (which hired 120 INSEAD grads in 2014), BCG (which took 70), Bain (44) and Strategy& and Accenture (which each took 19). While the major players obviously find INSEAD grads appealing, the school notes that its business development efforts are also geared toward attracting smaller companies as well in an attempt to offer many options to the diverse INSEAD population.
Perhaps unsurprising since INSEAD’s campuses are spread across France, Singapore and Abu Dhabi, its graduates fan out across the globe in their post-MBA work as well. In its 2014 employment report, the school noted that students continue to be attracted to the U.K. market—where diversity mirrors the diversity on campus—and that there has also been a significant increase in the number of students securing jobs in Singapore and the Middle East in 2014.
INSEAD also features an alliance with the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, allowing INSEAD students to spend one of their five periods studying at the U.S. school, as well as a similar campus exchange with Kellogg. These exchanges afford INSEAD students access to those schools’ career management centers as well, which can be especially valuable in terms of making connections to U.S. recruiters for students who are interested in working in consulting in the United States after graduation.
In terms of what its consulting grads command in salary, INSEAD also shows strong numbers, albeit lower than Kellogg’s. For 2014, the overall mean salary in consulting was €94,100 ($102,595), the overall median salary was €95,000 ($103,577) and the overall annual median sign-on bonus was €19,400 ($21,151), with 72 percent of salaries coming with a sign-on bonus.
Proud of its success in helping career switchers enter new industries, INSEAD shares data about how many of its graduates heading into consulting started out there and how many used business school to make a pivot. Of those graduates taking jobs in consulting after INSEAD, 64 percent held pre-MBA roles in consulting as well. But 24 percent of those who were financial services professionals also successfully switched to consulting, as did 36 percent of former corporate sector professionals.
How Consulting Is Taught at INSEAD
Though individual professors choose their own teaching methods, which means students at INSEAD learn as part of a combination of lectures, case studies, class discussion and computer simulations, the students work as part of five- to six-person study groups throughout. Working together in these groups makes teamwork central to the INSEAD experience, preparing them well for productive work with consulting teams and clients. INSEAD’s diversity—the school boasts 80 different nationalities in every class and no dominant culture—too forces students to learn to navigate cultural, communication and other differences that often arise as part of a consultant’s work.
Three main core courses at INSEAD are critical training for would-be consultants. The first, “Uncertainty, Data and Judgement,” steeps students in data-driven decision making. The second, a two-part “Organizational Behavior” course, delves into how power, politics and culture contribute to organizational change. The third, “Strategy,” encourages students to examine performance, the competitive environment and the process of creating and sustaining competitive advantage—filling students’ arsenals with analytical tools and frameworks of value in many consulting engagements. Students pursuing careers in consulting can then augment these core courses with a range of elective offerings within the Strategy and Organizational Behavior departments. No major or concentration is required.
Who Trains Consultants at INSEAD?
There are almost 20 resident strategy professors across INSEAD’s three campuses, as well as dozens of visiting faculty members. Of these, several are former consultants, bringing experience straight from the trenches at McKinsey, Monitor Group and Accenture, among other leading firms.
Two INSEAD professors, W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, authored a best-selling book called Blue Ocean Strategy, which spawned the 2007 launch of the INSEAD Blue Ocean Strategy Institute. The Institute offers several programs and electives that support the development of aspiring consultants, including a mini-elective “Blue Ocean Strategy Simulation,” which lets students apply the trademark Blue Ocean Strategy toward managing a fictional company.
Beyond the Classroom at INSEAD
INSEAD’s accelerated 10-month program can make it hard for some student groups to gel, but despite this obstacle, the INSEAD Consulting Club seems to have an active campus presence. Much like at Kellogg, the Consulting Club at INSEAD provides resources to help INSEAD students prepare for consulting interviews and careers, including workshops, networking and recruiting events with consulting firms. It also publishes the INSEAD Consulting Club Handbook, free to Consulting Club members, which offers an overview of the industry, profiles of individual firms and sample cover letters, résumés, interview tips and practice case questions.
INSEAD also features regular consulting case competitions, including the A.T. Kearney Global Prize competition. As many as 15 teams from INSEAD compete against each other, with winners advancing to represent INSEAD in a regional competition against seven other European business schools. The winning European school then battles the winning North American school for the Global Prize.
