How did you end up getting the chance to produce this report? Is this the sort of thing you typically work on at BCG, or was some kind of “flex time” involved?
If it is the sort of thing you typically work on, were you hired for that work, or did you make your way into that area after being hired?
This is the first case I’ve seen of someone familiar with EA working in an elite consulting firm and focusing on a core EA cause area. I wonder if this is a path other would-be consultants might be able to follow? (Though I’m not sure what range of EA-ish topics are also consulting-ish topics.)
In this case, it was a client project with Blue Horizon, so for a while it actually was my job to work on this report. That said, within three years at BCG, this is the first time I work on something so closely EA-related. I am putting in quite a bit of “flex time” now that the report is published and I am staffed on a different topic, to position myself for more work in this space.
I was hired as a generalist consultant after my biotech PhD, so I usually do a lot of pharma work, and some cases in other sectors. I made my way into this project by reaching out to the partners who had the client relationship—lots of internal networking, which is the usual way for consultants to get staffed on cases they want.
As to how replicable this sort of step may be for other EA-aligned management consultants, I think there are a lot of moving parts that need to “click” together: I had the biotech background, the right level of experience, I was free at the right time, I found out about the case and I had support from my network. If you need this kind of thing to happen within three years to be satisfied with your choice of going into consulting, it seems like an overly risky bet. As part of a portfolio of reasons to go into consulting, next to great personal fit, it seems fine. To increase the odds, the key factor is your network—there are now EA groups at all of the major firms; happy to point anyone already working there in the right direction.
Thanks for sharing this!
How did you end up getting the chance to produce this report? Is this the sort of thing you typically work on at BCG, or was some kind of “flex time” involved?
If it is the sort of thing you typically work on, were you hired for that work, or did you make your way into that area after being hired?
This is the first case I’ve seen of someone familiar with EA working in an elite consulting firm and focusing on a core EA cause area. I wonder if this is a path other would-be consultants might be able to follow? (Though I’m not sure what range of EA-ish topics are also consulting-ish topics.)
my pleasure :)
In this case, it was a client project with Blue Horizon, so for a while it actually was my job to work on this report. That said, within three years at BCG, this is the first time I work on something so closely EA-related. I am putting in quite a bit of “flex time” now that the report is published and I am staffed on a different topic, to position myself for more work in this space.
I was hired as a generalist consultant after my biotech PhD, so I usually do a lot of pharma work, and some cases in other sectors. I made my way into this project by reaching out to the partners who had the client relationship—lots of internal networking, which is the usual way for consultants to get staffed on cases they want.
As to how replicable this sort of step may be for other EA-aligned management consultants, I think there are a lot of moving parts that need to “click” together: I had the biotech background, the right level of experience, I was free at the right time, I found out about the case and I had support from my network. If you need this kind of thing to happen within three years to be satisfied with your choice of going into consulting, it seems like an overly risky bet. As part of a portfolio of reasons to go into consulting, next to great personal fit, it seems fine. To increase the odds, the key factor is your network—there are now EA groups at all of the major firms; happy to point anyone already working there in the right direction.