Why econ consulting

Second, supporting other experts is excellent preparation for becoming an expert, but it goes the other direction as well. I found that testifying has in turn also made me a better consultant. Third, my support team was critical. I would not have been as confident in my testifying role without a team of extremely talented individuals who shared my inquisitiveness and desire to get things right.

What advice would you give to someone interested in pursuing economic consulting? When I interview candidates, I look for an ability to collaborate. This could come in the form of previous consulting experience or working as part of a research team in graduate school.

Expert spotlight: Economic consulting as a career. What attracted you to the economic consulting industry? What have you enjoyed most about economic consulting? How did your first testifying experience come about? How did you prepare?

What surprised you the most? What are a few lessons you learned? Practices Life Sciences. The critical thinking also spills into learning superior writing and communication skills. You can also build some hardcore quantitative skills in economic consulting. Compared to management consulting, economic consulting often seems friendly.

The only travel you might encounter would be for training or outings similar to any non-consulting firm. Although the hours can be a little unpredictable, if you can manage the variance then the lifestyle can feel pretty smooth.

Unexpectedly, economic consulting often pays better than management consulting. This is especially true on a per-hour basis, but at some firms the salary and bonus for an analyst coming out of undergrad is higher than for the Big 3 consulting firms. More money for an average of fewer hours and no travel can be quite an attractive offer.

I legitimately think that economic consulting can be a great career move, and I sincerely enjoyed my time there. First, more training on interpersonal skills and client interaction. Although Cornerstone would give me training in this, management consulting seems to require much more of it much more quickly and with business people I might be working with in the future.

Second, economic consulting is primarily fixing problems that have already happened instead of trying to find solutions for future or current problems. You receive plenty of feedback in economic consulting—more than some people like—but I want something akin to an overabundance of feedback to help me grow and progress as quickly and completely as possible. So if you think you can get into economic consulting, it might be a great choice for you. The perks are great, and it can set you up well for some great exit opportunities.

If you want more help on getting in to economic consulting firms, my next consulting post will include tips on how to break into the econ consulting world. Who am I? Why am I here? I think large human systems and their interactions are fascinating, so I have always been drawn to subjects like Sociology, History, and, ultimately, Economics. In a way, finance is the system that underscores and ties together that last system, which is what drew me to that field.

I knew I wanted my first job to have intellectual rigor—no matter what task large or small, short or long, should challenge my thinking in a way that stretched your knowledge and made you reassess what you knew.

Fortunately for me, I was going through the Economics Honors Program at this time, the central focus of which was writing a senior thesis. Conversations with my advisor led me to research this field called economic consulting and the top firms in that field, which led me to CRA—and eventually this blog but that came much later.