Hi, Recently, I graduated with Psychology degree. After a year of working in the field of research and psych, I realized that psych, as much as is interesting, it is not my filed! Therefore, I start looking into Consultancy, since dynamism of Consultant’s role and opportunities/development seems to be much more suitable for me ;-). However, I don’t have any business experience!(yet;-)) and, since I already graduated I am not qualified for summer placement with big firms. In this regard, does anyone know of any consultancy recruitment companies or any other path, which would allow me to gain relevant experience in the field (but not temp work), additionally, I am also interested in doing voluntary work in the beginning! Please, all suggestions will be greatly appreciated! Thank you, alex

Hi Alex,I am a recruitment consultant in the management consultancy sector and was an OD consultant for several years (possibly an area of interest with your psychology background).I receive a lot of queries of this type - consulting certainly is a very dynamic and challenging field to get into. Without knowing more of your background (e.g. what type of degree and academic research experience you have, what part of the world you're in, etc) it is difficult to say what the best route would be for you.If you have a PhD and some years of relevant research experience, you could look at consulting firms of occupational psychologists. Work experience opportunities tend to be rarer than fulltime positions though - as you'd expect it's a big ask for a firm to put someone without experience in front of clients and equally as difficult to get 30-year old trainees to knuckle down to doing monotonous back office chores.If your psychology experience isn't occupationally focussed though, or you only have a generalist taught degree (BSc, MSc equivalent) I would advise that you would be better off trying to get some work experience or a graduate/junior management job in industry to build up your business awareness. I don't know of any consultancies that are likely to take on staff without any experience and it would help build your knowledge and interpersonal skills for the consulting environment.Regards,Tom

Hi Tom,Thanks for your quick replay, it's great. Yes, I have only BA in Psychology and I just graduated a year ago from University of Southern California, and shortly after my graduation I moved to London (since I planned to do PhD in psych), where I currently live (originally, I am Polish). Moreover, research I have done in the past was only psychology related, since I was working at the University as a research assistant and also during my internships (while I still planned career in Psychology). I am definitely looking into entry level position or graduate position, such as Associate Consultant? And it doesn’t have to be psychology related! I think, along the way I will find my route in Consultancy field. Also I would be more than happy to do MBA, I really want to still develop practically and education wise. Therefore, I would like to find recruitment companies or any other path, which would allow me to gain relevant experience in the field, like you said a graduate/junior management position or, as I wrote before, I would be more then happy to do voluntary work, in the beginning, something to start off? or maybe an internship? But my general, basic problem is that I don’t know where I should start looking for those positions/internships here in London? Thanks for you help, Aleksandra.