By Michael W. McLaughlin
We all have stories about interviews, both the triumphs and the bombs. When I was first considering a career in consulting, I had an epic flameout. I won’t bore you with all the details, though they still live on my memory. What I learned about consulting that day left an indelible impression.
There I was, sweating through the interview across a massive desk from the Big Firm Partner. As the interview was wrapping up, he threw out the standard question, “Do you have any questions you’d like to ask before we conclude?” I didn’t. In fact, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to be a consultant, whatever that was. I mumbled something inane like, “What does it take to be successful in this business?” He’d probably heard the question hundreds of times, but he didn’t act like it. He answered with three basic points that I remember to this day:
1. Get comfortable being uncomfortable. It’s normal to feel tense and nervous at a job interview. That’s how you’ll feel every time you meet a new client, deliver a proposal, or begin a project. It’s a fact of life in consulting: you are in the spotlight, and it isn’t always comfortable or easy. You will constantly be thrown into new situations, with new people and cultures to decipher. You’ve got to do that fast, and get comfortable even when you’re not.
2. Have something to say and someone to say it to. It’s table stakes that you have to be competent to deliver on everything you promise. To be the best, however, you really need a compelling point of view that is valuable to clients. And someone, preferably a buyer, has to be willing to listen to you. The best consultants perpetually re-think and refine their message, not just to meet client needs, but to anticipate them; then they find places to deliver it.
3. You are always selling. It’s a myth that only some consultants sell. We all sell, all the time. You sell and re-sell every project you’re working on every day. You sell yourself, your ideas and, if you do it right, your services. This is a sales business, no matter how you look at it.
I wasn’t surprised when, a week or so after that interview, I received the dreaded thin rejection letter. I was naively gratified that the letter said they would keep my resume on file for future openings, but I never did hear from that firm again.
That lost opportunity was instructive though, and those three things carried me through other interviews.
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