Hello. I was wondering if anybody could help. I have a degree in civil engineering and 3 years experience in the UK water sector, working for a big engineering consultancy. I am planning to do an MBA in the next couple of years (aiming for INSEAD) and then switch to management consulting (hopefully with firms like McKinsey, Bain, BCG, etc). My problem is the following.The normal career progression route for engineers in the UK is to pursue the Chartered Engineer qualification. This mostly demands a breadth of technical experience and in my eyes limits the scope for acquiring project management experience and responsibilities in the time frame that I’ve set myself for an MBA & subsequent switch to consulting, i.e. after 5 years in engineering. Given these goals, project management is obviously very important and it’s where my real skills and interests lie however I need actual visible responsibilities to demonstrate this for my MBA application and future applications to consulting firms. There are ways in which I could potentially switch to pure PM positions within my current company but it would mean that I could no longer pursue the Chartered Engineer qualification. The dilemma is that I also know that MBA programmes and consulting firms value engineering experience and the related professional qualifications. So it seems that if I’m going to stick to my plan of MBA & switching to consulting after 5 years, I need to make a choice very soon. Either go for the engineering professional qualification or go for the pure project management responsibilities. I won’t be able to get both in the 5 year time frame. Could anybody advise which of the two would be better to go for? If you were recruiting for consulting, which of the two would you prefer if you could only have one? If there are any engineers who have switched to consulting out there, I ’m also very keen to hear your views. Thanks.

I'd stick with the engineering qualification if I were you. You'd stand a much better chance getting into INSEAD with a specific focus on engineering rather than being a Proj Manager. As long as you put together a good overall application (e.g. good academics; GMAT; academics; work history; essays, including reasons for why you want to do the MBA) then irrespective of whether you specialise in engineering or PM, there shouldn't be any problems getting into INSEAD.Remember the strats firm that you target don't do Proj Mgmt, so if anything it would count against you when the time comes to apply to these firms, whereas as technical qualification that demonstrates logical and strategical thinking is going to be much more attractive, since these are the skills that one will need on a day to day basis. You want to do PM, then go to somewhere like Accenture.INSEAD is a great school. Really intense, since it's only a year, but well worth it, given the opps and alumin network. It is also a school that is heavily favoured by the strats houses, especially Mckinseys, so I think you should do fine. Best of luck.

I would tend to agree. INSEAD will be most concerned with the experiences you can bring to the class (and your academics/GMAT) and the strat houses will look at those together with your commercial nous. I'd look more favourably on experience of managing the commercial interface on a project and some heavy-duty analytics (and a GMAT of 740 or above) than internal-facing project management. BUT I think we'd all hope we'd spot a good candidate either way, so you might be best spending the next two years doing whichever you would enjoy more and give you the best opportunities to excel. Good luck!

Thank you S and Strat for your advice. Very helpful insight - just what I was after. I take on board your point that PM experience is less crucial for strat firms. PM is not a specific ambition of mine. It's just that at the moment, in the engineering environment, I rarely get a chance to express my non-technical skills (commercial awareness, etc) and I feel under utilized. The challenge for me is finding ways in which I can put those dormant skills into practice in my current setting so that I can then demonstrate this via clear experience and responsibilities on future MBA/consulting applicatons. So PM is just one potential way of getting to that point but even that experience is not easy to get and as you say it's probably not worth sacrificing the analytical stuff for. Any tips or advice (from your own experience perhaps) on how to tackle this early career situation where after 3 years, and what seems like a sufficient amount of junior work under my belt, my career just doesn't seem to be taking off although I believe I have the necessary skills to take on more responsibility. Surely I need to have moved at least one step up the ladder to be a competitive INSEAD/Strat firm applicant.