MBA Careers in Consulting Q&A: IESE Business School

Released earlier this year, the QS MBA Rankings by Specialization 2019 reveal which MBA programs provide the best preparation for careers in a range of different fields, from finance to technology.

IESE Business School – University of Navarra is ranked third in Europe and 12th in the world for careers in consulting. To learn more about how the MBA program at IESE can prepare you for a career in consulting, we spoke to Will Fawson, Associate Director for Consulting at the IESE Career Development Center.

What elements of the MBA program at IESE are ideally suited for preparing students for a career in consulting?

There’s huge diversity in the class in terms of nationality, education and professional background, and at IESE every student is put into a team to work on cases and projects during the first year. I think this is a great training ground for aspiring consultants as it challenges the way you think about problems and gives you experience working in teams with different strengths and personalities, reflecting how consultants often work with clients on projects.

Why should prospective students interested in a career in consulting consider your school? What can IESE offer which makes it distinct from other business schools?

We have a smaller class size compared to other top business schools, which I think is a big advantage. We are big enough to attract the most interesting and best strategy consulting firms to campus, but small enough for the Career Development Center to manage the students as individuals.

We also have wonderful support from our consulting club, which consists of more than 50 second year students who went through recruiting the previous year and have volunteered to help the next class, something unique at IESE. These students provide mentorship, support and training to the next group of students, and reflects the strong culture here.

If you were an MBA student interested in a career in consulting, what do you think you’d enjoy most about the MBA program(s) at IESE?

At IESE we use the Case Method in classes, making best use of our diversity, and creating a more practical learning environment. The content is important of course, but I think the real strength of the Case Method is that it teaches you how to solve problems across business and industry disciplines.

What proportion of recent graduates are going to work in this sector? How has this changed over the last decade?

It’s about one-third of the class, or almost 100 students. The overwhelming majority of these students are career changers and have never worked as consultants before. Our numbers have increased a lot in recent years as we have figured out how to leverage the strengths of IESE in a recruiting context, and the market is also booming, making it a great time for people to break into the sector from business school.

What feedback has the school received from employers in this sector about the skills required by today’s graduates?

Strategy consulting is becoming more focused as firms are helping clients face more complex and specific problems. At the same time, companies nowadays generally have great strategy teams, hiring out of strategy consultancies and business schools. The largest strategy consultancies are growing more defined practices, for example with offerings that help companies find opportunities related to digital changes. In terms of recruiting, strategy consultancies are looking for a mixture of specific skills reflecting these opportunities, together with strong general strategy toolkits.