Just a thought - how many of you out there who claim to be a "management" consultant have actually advised the management of a company?Seem to be a lot of powerpoint producers, data analysts, other (junior) roles etc. etc. who claim management consultancy as their title.Only curious so don't take offence. All of the above have valid purposes just wondering how many actually do advise management.

NRAMC makes an interesting point but at the same time, partially misses the point in my supremely arrogant and evil opinion.I create and edit powerpoint in my job and I do a fair bit of data analysis; however these are both tasks which are pretty much vital to making good recommendations to the management teams of my clients, up to and including the C-level execs whom I occasionally have the chance to advise. If I turned up to meetings without anything pretty specific and useful to say, above "I think that you need to establish and communicate your vision for [INSERT NAME OF ORGANISATION HERE]." Then I'd probably get given very short shrift.My challenge is this; if you don't do, for example, data analysis and other "junior" roles, then what are you, other than a very expensive and rather ineffective mouthpiece spouting useless generalities?On the other hand, the fair point that he does make is that in order to reasonably claim to be a management consultant, you should actually consult with management, at least occasionally.EC

Some of us are senior, like me, and have regular meetings with senior managers / CEOs who listen to us and take our contributions seriously.The senior management consultants need support however. That's where the more junior guys come in. Some of them can lead a chunk of work on their own, maybe interacting with less senior management and leading a small client team. Others are more junior still and would lead some analysis or research.On all my projects, I try and bring the junior guys to 'important' meetings and get them involved. There's nothing worse than being an analyst doing all the grunt work whilst the senior guys apparently do nothing except hold meetings and swan around. Even if it means just taking notes and shaking their hand at a meeting, I'll always try and get the young ones to meet somebody senior and have some kind of a meaningful interaction.

CynicI am pleased to hear that you are practising the mentoring and giving exposures to your younger members. Keep up the good work as there are, many, mangers out there who only want all credits/glory to themselves. If the younger members aren't given exposures, a chance to express, to learn to build r/ships with clients, then they'll only end up in not learning much, let alone succession planning and maintaining client r/ships.

I have been working at one of the Big-4 prof services firms for the last couple of years. I went for my first interview elsewhere last week. The position had advertised for someone with management consulting experience. I thought they probably meant MBB, but I thought I'd apply and see what happened. When I got the interview I assumed they thought my background was suitable. However, at the interview within 5 mins, my Big-4 experience was ripped to pieces and I was essentially told that it was poor experience and too operational. I can't help but agree with them and I now consider myself a glorified administrator rather than a consultant, let alone a management consultant.

Daniel-San had to paint garden fences before he mastered the art of karate

It depends what you mean by consulting.I work for Acn and in a few of my roles have basically been brought in to Project manage something for a client who knew what they wanted to do and had more expertise in the area than I could ever bring but were, by their own admission, crap at project managing something. So I set all that up for them and 'consulted' them on how to set up and deliver a project. It's hardly providing strategic insight to a CEO but then at 25 I don't think I would be in a position to anyway.

I have to agree with anon at Acn (above). Depending on your role, the project and the industry you might be having a great position to actual deliver useful advice. Looking back at the first 4 years of my consultancy career it was absolutely rubbish (it was even a step back from my role in the industry where I started at age 23). Hardly any contact with high level management, nor great development outlook or even half decent advisory. For several reasons I stuck around but at some point I needed to get out (of the project or even the consulting career). I accepted another (last) project and surprisingly that catapulted my career sky high. That assignment was just made for me, everything I produced ended up directly and unedited on the boardroom. Now a year later I am in a position to actually sit with the CEO, CTO and/or CFO at one of the biggest financial institutions in the world on a weekly basis. And if you are really worth your money they will leave all the overhead out of the loop (partners, senior managers and other sales orientated overhead).On top of having most of their mobile numbers, they also share my number with their network. So far this has lead to follow up work at other mergers (even out of FS).Back to the point: you can't be advising on CxO level from the start of your career, neither will you end up in that position without being really good and charismatic (yes, it helps). And even with all that, some projects are just crap (client or even your own partners).

I think part of the problem is that there is a lot of kudos in the title "management consultant" and so a lot of firms use it to to attract employees irrespective of what they end up doing. There surely can't be any other job title that is used by so many different people in so many different jobs and roles? I can't think of one...

Architect springs to mind.

Same with "Recruitment Consultant".

Director seems to be the most widely used/misused

"Manager" is pretty meaningless - it went the same way as "Consultant" is going, except 10-20 years before