MNGT507: Management

Employability Portfolio

Career Strategy
Anais Anais

31733942

Professional and Career Development Programme

Employability Portfolio - Career Strategy
Anais Anais
31733942
MSc Management - MNGT507

Career Innovation (2015) defines career strategy as a comprehensive and structured

approach that enable individual to pursue their career path by optimizing capabilities,
resources and tools in an organization. The objectives of this career strategy plan are:
1. To identify short term, medium term and long term career goals
2. To analyse the employment market outlook related to career goals
3. To perform SWOT analysis
4. To develop action plan

Career Goals
A. Short Term (Within 1.5 years)
Currently I am studying as one of MSc Management student in a triple accredited and top 10
UK business school based on Financial Times, Lancaster University Management School. In
this short term, the two main objectives are graduating with distinction and securing a job in
top management consulting firm located in South East Asia.

B. Medium Term (Within 3 years)

In this term, I am planning to join the management team in the company while also exploring
the opportunity of Global Mobility Program or International Assignment. This program is not
only a great career development tool, but also an opportunity to learn new language and
culture which will enhance my unique selling point.
C. Long Term (Within 7 years)
I believe whilst building my career in the top management consulting company, I will not only
succeed as a qualified senior consultant or team leader, but also owned a vast business
network that increase my opportunity to become a partner in the company.

Employment Market Outlook

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2015, p.6) reported that the proportion
of employers planning to recruit has fallen to 65% from 71% since 2014. However for South
East Asia labour market, the emergence of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) that launch in
2015, is predicted to create a positive impact on labour market in South East Asia. ASEAN
Economic Community is the initiative of countries in South East Asia region to integrate
production space with free movement of goods, services, and skilled labor (Hew, 2007). As a
result the high-skill employment growth from 2010 until 2025 could reach 41% and nearly
half of it would be in Indonesia (International Labour Organization, 2015, p.xii), my home
country. It also describe that the service industry including management consulting overtaken
the agriculture by 40.6% (ILO, 2015, p. xii). It is due to the nature of management consulting
firms that require high-skill employees which aligned with the mission of AEC that emphasise
on skilled labour.

Management Consulting
According to Wickham (2008, p. 5), management consulting is a special form of management
which aim to generate a culture change within an organization. The entry position is called
Analyst or Associate with annual salary range between 30,000 - 40,000. The application
process consist of three phases which are document selection (application form, CV, cover
letter), online tests (personality, verbal, numerical) and assessment (group exercise,
presentation, interview). Association of Management Consulting Firm (2014, p. 9) stated that
there are six key skills to be a management consultant which are problem solving, creativity,
numeracy, teamwork, communication and interpersonal. Management consulting firm
divided into three types (McGill, 2015) which are:
A. Top management consulting firms
Firm specializes in particular industries or functions with projects in a wide range of industries.
Representing firms include: Bain, McKinsey & Co., Accenture, Boston Consulting Group etc.
B. Big affiliated consulting firms
Big firms offering strategic business and operations advice but also offer specialized
consulting services such as regulatory requirements. Representing firms include: Deloitte,
Ernst & Young, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers.
C. Boutique strategy firms
Small firms that do the same thing as the big firms do but with more focus in a particular
industry, process, or types of consulting. Representative firms: Gartner, Putnam Associates,
FranklinCovey etc.

SWOT Analysis
A. Strengths
Enrolled in the Lancaster University Management School MSc Management program is an
advantage to pursue my career in management consulting. The program not only provide rich
modules that equip me with the skills needed in management consulting but also offer a
specific pathway that will develop my specialisation. I chose Management pathways since the
modules focus on the human resources and change management which is one of the services
that I am interested in management consulting firm. After taking two times of MBTI
psychometric personality test in 2013 and 2015, both of the test results are INTJ or The
Investigator which considered as the best personality type for management consulting jobs.
Regarding to work experience, I have 28 months of part-time and volunteer work and also 3
months of volunteer work in Canada. Moreover, prior to my study, I have worked for an
Indonesia representative office of boutique management consulting company based in USA,
FranklinCovey, for 15 months in the change management service for social sector. The
company offered a product manager position in social sector once I finish my study and return
to my home country. The job offer will become an alternative plan since my priority is securing
a job in a top management consulting firm.
B. Weaknesses
Regarding to the three selection phase, I have little exposure and practise in the second and
third phase which are online tests and assessment. My plan in imroving the readiness for
those two selection phase will be discussed further in the action plan part.
C. Opportunities
In this opportunities part, I will describe my suitability using the main three skills based on the
6 key skills required to be a management consultants by giving example for each skills.
Problem solving: when I was working in FranklinCovey as a product coordinator and
facilitator, one of my assignment is to facilitate a school in Bali to increase the performance
of the school by number of student registered. I helped the school to focus on improving six
elements which are modelling, curriculum, instruction, environment, tradition, and system.
After several traning and coaching sessions in a year, the school reported that they rise from
fifth into the second most favorite school in the region and currently the school has a waiting
list of students wanted to register.
Numeracy: I worked part-time as a classroom action research reviewer for a research
competition during my undergraduate study. The task is to help the main reviewer of the
competition by analyzing and synthesising a large numerical scientific data set from the
quantitative research submitted by participants. The six months part-time work enhance my
numeracy skill since I exposed to many quantitative data that needs to be analyzed and
synthesised.
Teamwork: Recently, I participated in the FLUX Business Challenge Qualifier and I was put in
a team with 5 people that I barely know from various backgrounds and nationalities. Our task

as a team is to create a business proposal and present it to the judges that consist of successful
entrepreneurs in various sector. Eventough we barely know each other, in only two and a half
days, we managed to work well together by focusing on each other strengths and being open
minded. As a result, we passed the qualifier and became the official Lancaster University
representative in Flux National Business Challenge in 2016.
D. Threats
In a management consulting firm, the environment tend to be fast-paced and stimulating
which involves long hours. Usually, fifty to seventy-five hours work week required as analyst
or associate. Travel is also another important aspect as a management consultant. It is
common to work three to four days each week to work in the clients site and alaso possibility
in working at weekends. Personal time management in balancing work and life balance is
paramount in a management consulting firm.

Action Plan
1. Research and create a list of top management consulting firms with open deadlines
recruitment in South East Asia by the end of December 2015.
2. Apply to the big consulting firm with open deadlines researched before by spring 2016.
3. Win the FLUX National Business Challenge as Lancaster University representative in January
2016 to enhance the six key skills required especially problem-solving, teamwork and
communication skills.
4. Secure a place to International Summer University Program in Copenhagen Business School
to enhance enhance the six key skills required especially interpersonal and teamwork. It also
enhance international mobility.
5. Secure distinction grades for MSc Management Program and Summer Program.
6. Apply to top management consulting firms for South East Asia region between end of
summer and early autumn.
7. Participate actively in Lancaster Consulting Society to familiarise with the selection process,
increase the commercial awareness and expand network during the MSc Management
program.
8. Practise frequently during my study in MSc Management, on psychometrics test, interview
and assessment simulation provided by the Lancaster University Careers and Employability
and also careers webpage of the top management consulting firms.
9. Expand network on social media such as LinkedIn by joining group related with
management consulting in South East Asia and contacting current employee, employers or
alumni of the management consulting firm in the group to ask about insight on recruitment
process.

References
Careerinnovation.com, (2015). Career Strategy | Career Innovation. [online] Available at:
http://www.careerinnovation.com/tools-and-services/career-strategy/ [Accessed 27 Nov.
2015].
Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development, (2015). Labour Market Outlook Summer
2015. [online] London: Royal Charter. Available at: https://www.cipd.co.uk/binaries/labourmarket-outlook_2015-summer-2015.pdf [Accessed 27 Nov. 2015].
Consulting Career Connection, (2015). Resume Writing for Management Consulting. [online]
Association of Management Consulting Firm, p.9. Available at: http://amcf.org/2014/2.25.14CCC/CCC_Resume%20Writing.pdf [Accessed 27 Nov. 2015].
Hew, D. (2007). Brick by brick. Canberra, ACT, Australia: Asia Pacific Press, Australian National
University.
International Labour Organization, (2015). ASEAN Community 2015: Managing integration for
better jobs and shared prosperity. [online] Bangkok: Asian Development Bank, p.xii. Available
at:
http://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/42818/asean-community-2015managing-integration.pdf [Accessed 26 Nov. 2015].
Mcgill.ca, (2015). Consulting | Career Planning Service (CaPS) - McGill University. [online]
Available at: https://www.mcgill.ca/caps/students/explore/industry/consulting [Accessed 27
Nov. 2015].
Wickham, P. and Wickham, L. (2008). Management consulting. Harlow, England: Financial
Times/Prentice Hall.