Behavioral / Fit Interviews
How do I explain choosing consulting over engineering without dismissing engineering?
I graduated from an engineering school and want to move into strategy consulting. How should I answer 'why not get operational engineering experience first?' or 'why consulting rather than engineering?' I especially worry about sounding dismissive when the interviewer is an engineer too.
Ian’s Answer
Honestly, I would need to actually speak with you to create the optimal response here (it's highly dependent on you).
Both of these questions are essentially "Why Consulting". For this, you need to do the following:
You need to summarize what you did before along the theme of consulting aspects you liked and consulting aspects that were missing
You then combine those two - i.e. I know I like + am good at x, y, and z which is required for consulting, and I really am excited to get a, b, and c
You finish with a "mini" why x company
To your specific question, you need to highlight what you like about engineering AND these aspects should be things that are valuable to consulting (i.e. problem solving, critical/structured thinking, etc.).
Then, you have to talk about what aspects consulting has that appeal to you (larger scale, bigger impact, client facing, etc.). You need to emphasize that you enjoy this and are good at it (and flag past experiences, internships, etc.)
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