Consulting Careers.
Consultants work in a variety of settings. These include large general consulting firms with many areas of expertise, smaller boutique consulting firms with specialized industry or functional expertise, as well as in-house for singular organizations. Across all sectors, companies use consulting services to improve efficiency, address complex challenges, discover and implement new strategies, and navigate rapidly changing business landscapes. With these needs, the consulting field has grown steadily due to the increasing need for specialized expertise, technological advancements, and globalization.
‘Healthcare consulting’ typically focuses on providing operational, strategic, and financial advice to organizations within the healthcare realm, which includes everything from hospitals, government, pharma, payers, and med device and biotech companies. Factors driving demand for healthcare consulting include increasing healthcare costs, evolving regulatory landscapes, changing patient expectations, technological innovations, and a focus on improving healthcare outcomes.
Key areas of focus for many healthcare consulting firms include:
- Technology & Digital transformation – working with clients to adopt and adapt to digitization of their systems.
- Operational Improvement – optimize operational efficiencies, reduce costs, and improve patient care.
- Strategy & Planning – one of the most common areas of healthcare consulting works to develop growth strategies, market assessments, and building long-term plans for clients.
- Regulatory Compliance & Risk Management – helping clients understand and meet compliance around health regulations and policies related to things like patient safety, quality of care, and policy compliance.
- Healthcare Policy & Advocacy – helping clients understand changes to policy on local, national, and federal level.
- Financial Advising – working with clients to develop revenue enhancement strategies, cost reduction initiatives, financial modeling to improve their financial performance.
Consultants work on a variety of consulting engagements. They research and identify opportunities, evaluate decisions (new offerings, programs, policies, interventions, etc), and generally solve problems for clients. They may also implement their recommendations and act as project managers to see them through.
5 Common types of consulting for public health graduates
Types of Companies |
Types of Work |
Common Titles |
Consulting Firms Hiring BUSPH Grads |
Hospitals & Health Providers |
- Improve quality, patient safety, & satisfaction
- Streamline operations
- New EMR system
- Reimburse faster
- Implement patient-centered medical home model
- Care coordination
|
- Analyst
- Associate
- Consultant
- Project Specialist
- Project Manager:
- Health IT
- Revenue cycle management
- Quality improvement
- Process improvement
|
- Athenahealth
- COPE Health Solutions
- Cognizant
- Deloitte
- EY
- Manatt Health
- PA Consulting
- PwC
- Huron
- RTI Health Advance
|
Life Sciences: Drug & Device Companies |
- Is there a market?
- Burden of disease?
- Better outcomes than competitors?
- More cost effective than competitors?
- Are we in compliance?
- Will new ICD 10 codes hurt reimbursements?
- Clinical trials – how can we better recruit?
- Got to market strategies
|
- Analyst
- Associate
- Consultant / Senior Consultant:
- Analytics
- Commercialization
- Health Economics Outcomes Research (HEOR)
- Market access
- Value-based pricing
- Risk
|
- Analysis Group
- Avania
- Deloitte
- Evidera
- EY
- GfK
- IQVIA
- Precision Xtract
- PwC
- Trinity Partners
- Panalgo
|
State/Federal Govt & Non-Profit |
- Evaluate government policies or programs
- Have they improved patient outcomes?
- Are they cost-effective?
- Are they equitable?
- IT strategy & implementation (ie health exchanges)
- ACO implementation
|
- Analyst
- Associate
- Consultant
- Project Specialist
- Project Manager:
- Health IT
- Process improvement
- Population health & analytics
- Strategy, Business development
- Commercialization
- HEOR
|
- Abt Associates
- Education Development Center (EDC)
- Health Resources in Action (HRiA)
- John Snow Inc. (JSI)
Lewin Group
- Mathematica Policy Research
- Public Consulting Group (PCG)
- RTI International
|
Developing Countries (Govt & Other Funders) |
- Country, community, or population specific
Capacity building
- Strengthen health systems
- Coordinate with ministries of health and community
- Implement interventions
- Monitoring and evaluating programs
- Improving access via telehealth
- Often 5+ year engagements
|
- Analyst
- Coordinator
- Specialist
- Manager:
- Supply Chain (logistics, vendor, mgmt, etc.)
- Program Mgmt (budgets, back stopping, etc.)
- M&E
- Business Development (USAID, Gates, etc.)
|
|
Internal Consulting Hospitals, Insurance, Life Sciences |
- Commercializing new treatments & services
- Improving systems & workflows
- EMR & IT applications, telehealth
- Evaluate growth opportunities
- Identify population health strategies
- Health to me “value” case for life sciences
|
- Analyst
- Consultant
- Project Specialist
- Project Manager:
- Health IT / Informatics
- Revenue cycle management
- Quality improvement
- Process improvement
- Managed care
- Integration
- Value based care
|
- Kaiser Permanente
- Geisinger
- Blue Cross Blue Shield of MA
- Point32Health
- Beth Israel Deaconess
- Boston Children’s Hospital
- Mass General Brigham
- Alnylam
- Boston Scientific
- Sanofi
|
Strategy vs. Management vs. Internal consulting
Very basically, these are some of the differences between the largest areas of consulting. Please note there are many variations to consulting.
|
Strategy |
Management |
Internal |
High level difference |
Big picture thinking to make “go or no-go” decisions
|
Executing initiatives to ensure success & attainment of strategic goals
|
Provide strategic &/or management consulting services to one specific organization
|
Types of projects |
- Setting business strategy
- Competitive assessments
- Assessing market/product opportunities (e.g. acquisitions, new product due diligence assessments)
- Pricing & market entry
|
- Project management
- Project delivery- eg acting as part of the client team to increase efficiency reduce costs, or improve performance
- Org restructuring & other implementation-based initiatives
|
Similar projects of strategy or management consultants, but for a specific organization
|
General rules of thumb |
- Less travel (mostly essential meetings)
- Multi-project staffing model (~2-4 projects at a time)
- Shorter projects (~4-12 weeks)
|
- More travel (to facilitate projects & support implementation)
- Single project staffing model
- Longer projects (~8 weeks – 1 year)
|
- Little/no travel
- Multi-project staffing model is typical depending on size of projects
- Timing of projects can vary depending on needs
|
Learn more about the consulting landscape
Is consulting the right fit for you?
Consulting might be a good fit for you if you:
- Enjoy group projects and collaboration
- Love public-speaking and giving presentations
- Thrive in a fast-paced environment, juggling multiple projects
- Enjoy trying new things and asking questions
- Have confidence in uncertainty
- Like to brainstorm, think outside the box, and are okay with there not being one specific answer
- Like to problem solve and use logic and analytics to understand various challenges
- Are good at managing your own time, navigating deadlines, being proactive, and working closely with others
- Enjoy hard work and are okay putting in long hours to get a job done
- Are adaptable
- Are a self-starter
- Are assertive without being overbearing
3 important application pieces that make a great candidate
On the most basic level, there are 3 important application pieces to make a great candidate
- Networking and engagement with the company plays a vital role in the recruitment process and increases your chances of landing an interview.
Be proactive and conduct multiple informational interviews. Attend networking events and information sessions, reach out to alumni, and utilize social media platforms like LinkedIn to establish connections with professionals in the consulting industry.
– Employee referrals go a long way
– Attend external networking events featuring consultants as guest speakers. Propel Careers (https://www.propelcareers.com/#/events/list) and Boston Young Healthcare Professionals (https://www.byhp.org/) often host great events.
- Application (i.e. resume and cover letter)
- Interviews (i.e. behavioral interviews and case interviews)
Consulting resumes & cover letters
For specific templates see the resume and cover letter section of our website, including: Consulting template & tip sheet; how to incorporate course deliverables into a resume.
Resumes
- Clear, concise, and results-driven
- Only include the most relevant information to consulting / their firm
- Tailor EVERY resume for every job you’re applying for: Match to the job posting; if limited info, research their projects and use that as a guide to position yourself against
- Use their language, particularly when highlighting transferable skills
- Showcase analytical, technical, project management, presentation, and teamwork skills; describe experiences with results vs. listing tasks
- Use a descriptive job title, include measurable outputs, clear action verbs
- Academic achievement
- Need impeccable formatting and attention to detail
Cover letters
- Focus on why are you are good fit for them
- Know and discuss why consulting and why you want them (but not just bc they are the best firm… unless you can connect the dots with the previous bullet)
Interviews
Interviews are rigorous and typically include 2 types of interviews, with non-traditional interviews becoming a more common practice too. All are equally important to your success and it is highly suggested you start preparing early and practicing your case and behavioral interviews as soon as you know you’re interested in consulting. Be sure to look at specific company websites for what to prepare for — many have examples.
- Case interviews. These help the company understand how you approach a problem. They will present to you a business problem and ask you to walk the interviewer through how you would approach finding the answer. They are not looking for the exact answer, but to understand your ability to structure problems, how well you communicate, your adaptability, and test your thinking. Learn more about how to prepare for case interviews.
- Behavioral interviews. This helps with understanding your interests in the company, industry, and role and what skills and experiences you have that translate into the work. Learn more about how to prepare for behavioral interviews.
- Nontraditional interviews are becoming more popular across the industry. Here is what Management Consulted is predicting you could see during the consulting recruiting cycle:
- Digital assessments – these are often given after you apply but before being invited to interview
- Video game like simulations or GMAT-style timed tests
- Include verbal reasoning, quant problem-solving components
- Used at places such as Deloitte, Accenture, McKinsey, BCG, and others
- Presentation case interview
- You have 1-48 hours to build a ~5 slide deck from ~50 pages of data
- You present live to multiple interviewers
- Utilized across firms – often healthcare firms; given generally towards the end of the interview process; ZS Associates almost always uses them
- Group case interview
- Case prompt structured and solved by 4-6 candidates
- Common in final rounds
Dive deeper into applying for consulting roles, general timelines, & what companies look for in interviews & applications
Specific considerations for consulting applications & interviews
- Every firm has their own application process, so be sure to do your homework on the companies you want to apply to.
- Anything on your resume is fair game for interviewers – expect them to ask about it all.
- Have at least 3 experiences / stories you can use to answer each interview question. Using the STAR format (Situation, Task, Action, Result).
- Having a strong LinkedIn page is very important to your consulting application. Expect firms to explore your page. Make sure your page is:
- Active
- Up to date
- You are following the companies you’re applying to
- Is just as polished as your resume and cover letter
For tips on how to improve your LinkedIn page, check out our Networking & LinkedIn section of the website.
What firms look for in candidates
- A clear passion for consulting and enjoyment of the aspects of the role
- Energy, enthusiasm, excitement
- A passion for their industry (healthcare consulting, pharma, biotech, etc)
- Solid awareness of the firm, the types of work they do, a clear desire to be in this firm specifically (with good rationale on why)
- Interesting examples and stories to share that are relevant to their questions
- Confidence in the case interview and ability to think through problems while presenting solutions clearly
- Follow up after the interview
To better understand what you could do in Year 1 as a consultant, polish your skills in important areas needed in consulting, & project examples check out this video from our Healthcare Consulting Series.
What does an MPH bring to consulting firms?
You are both a generalist (MPH degree) and a specialist (certificate)
Understanding of and experience with:
- Population health framework
- Social Determinants of Health
- Quantitative analysis: claims data, medical records data, registries
- Behavior change strategies to engage with diverse stakeholders; important for changing global landscape Monitoring & Evaluation, Program Evaluation, Quality Improvement, digital health and technology to improve outcomes, access, cost
- Stakeholders and how the health system works
- Health reform, regulatory, and the reimbursement landscape
Skills in:
- Qualitative research: developing and implementing surveys, interviews, and focus groups
- Epidemiology for literature reviews (research existing interventions, outcome data, best practices, possibly meta-analysis)
When to expect to apply for Full-Time & Internship roles
It is very important to keep track of specific firm’s deadlines. The below only give you a general idea of timelines.
Full-time roles
General guidelines for BUSPH candidates on when to apply for full-time consulting roles
Mid-Large consulting firms:
Master’s (non-MBA) students with ~3 years of work experience or less: Apply in the summer to early fall before the final year of your program.
-
- Typical start dates are June or July following graduation, although there may be room for negotiation.
Students in PhD & Advanced Degree programs: Apply in the summer to early fall of your final year
-
- Typical start dates are June or July following graduation, although there may be room for negotiation.
Boutique & In-House consulting firms
- Depends on their needs – it could be anytime
- Some hire around May graduation
Summer internships
General guidelines for when to apply for consulting summer internships:
- Master’s (non-MBA) students with ~3 years of work experience or less: Apply in the first year of your program. Some applications open in the Fall, others Winter and early Spring.
- When applications open depends on the firm so be sure to research your organizations of interest to stay up to speed on their timelines.
- MBA/MPH students: Apply in the fall of the first year of your program.
- Students in PhD & Advanced Degree programs: Apply in the winter of your penultimate year for the full 10-week summer internship, or in the spring of your penultimate year for shorter summer internships.
- Recognize that not all large consulting firms will guarantee a public health specific internship. It is important to do your research and talk with the recruiter and alumni who’ve interned with the company to learn more.
Salaries for Entry-Level MPH Grads
It is important to note that salaries vary based on a candidate’s experience level, geographic location, and the state of the job market. The more in demand you are, the higher the salary.
The typical salaries the CPO has been seeing for MPH graduates are as follows.
- Large “General” Firms
- $70-95K range (varies across firms)
- Signing Bonus: Some Firms ($3.5-7K)
- Road Warriors – paid more
- Boutique Firms
- In-House Consulting
- Global Health Consulting Firms
In terms of salary negotiation, you should always try to negotiate, but recognize many of the larger consulting firms batch hire and often do not negotiate starting salaries, however there is often opportunity for salary growth when milestones are reached.
For salary negotiation tips, follow this link.
Select healthcare consulting firms & consulting firms with healthcare-related practice areas
Other resources
- Management Consulted – provides great insights into the industry and free resources.
- Check out the CPO MyMedia page to watch the 4-part Crash Course on Healthcare Consulting series to get an in-depth understanding of what it takes to be a consultant.