Healthcare Consulting Questions

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ghost dog

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Hi Folks,

I am a Canadian physician with 8 years clinical experience who runs his own chronic pain clinic. I was wondering if I could trouble you for some information in regards to a potential business career (which I know nothing about).

At the present time, my practice is quite profitable and as such I have no intention of giving it up. However, I would like to see if there are other opportunities out there for me.

I have quite a bit of experience with public speaking, as I have given quite a few lectures over the years to other physicians on chronic pain (in addition to my responsibilities teaching med students, residents, RNs and IMGs). I hold a Teaching / faculty position at my nearby University. I have performed a few hundred independent medical asessments for insurance companies and lawyers for motor vehicle accident related injuries / chronic pain cases, and have testified as an expert medical witness in court.

I attended the University of Toronto for medicine and residency training.


My questions are as follows:

1. Am I suitable candidate for medical consulting?

2. Is it possible to do such work in a part time capacity ?

3. Can anyone expand on the various facets of this business ?


I appreciate any feedback people could provide.

Cheers.

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I am an MD graduate who recently applied for jobs in the consulting arena. I got some interviews from McKinsey, Bain, Gallup. However, I am very rough behind the ears when it comes to business, and it definitely showed during my phone interviews. I was not asked to do a single in-person interview. Sometimes they asked questions like "Tell me about your portfolio management skills." Or, "Has your business ever declared bankruptcy?" Or my personal favorite: "Are you familiar with activity-based costing?" I was like, UMMM....YAAAH.

Lots of people blindly marvel at how easy it is to get a job in consulting, but as someone who has actually tried, I don't think it is that easy, especially if you don't have business acumen or know-how to begin with. Given the way the economy is headed, competition for these positions is definitely fierce and must include MBAs, not to mention the relatively poor job security as compared to medicine with firms downsizing left and right. I am actually trying to get back into residency after this experience. Just my two cents.
 
I am an MD graduate who recently applied for jobs in the consulting arena. I got some interviews from McKinsey, Bain, Gallup. However, I am very rough behind the ears when it comes to business, and it definitely showed during my phone interviews. I was not asked to do a single in-person interview. Sometimes they asked questions like "Tell me about your portfolio management skills." Or, "Has your business ever declared bankruptcy?" Or my personal favorite: "Are you familiar with activity-based costing?" I was like, UMMM....YAAAH.

Lots of people blindly marvel at how easy it is to get a job in consulting, but as someone who has actually tried, I don't think it is that easy, especially if you don't have business acumen or know-how to begin with. Given the way the economy is headed, competition for these positions is definitely fierce and must include MBAs, not to mention the relatively poor job security as compared to medicine with firms downsizing left and right. I am actually trying to get back into residency after this experience. Just my two cents.

I wonder what sort of business / consulting postion (if any) I would be able to obtain with a pain specialist background?

Anybody?
 
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@Bold, I'm surprised to hear that you were asked those types of questions during your interviews. I've heard that the major consulting firms don't expect much in the way of business knowledge from their advanced degree applicants. Were you asked those questions from McKinsey and Bain?

As a medical student thinking about making the switch to management consulting, I'm curious to know whether I should be brushing up on some of these concepts.

Good luck with your path back to residency.
 
@Bold, I'm surprised to hear that you were asked those types of questions during your interviews. I've heard that the major consulting firms don't expect much in the way of business knowledge from their advanced degree applicants. Were you asked those questions from McKinsey and Bain?

As a medical student thinking about making the switch to management consulting, I'm curious to know whether I should be brushing up on some of these concepts.

Good luck with your path back to residency.

McKinsey and Bain have what they call "case interviews", for which you are given a series of business cases and you are asked to make recommendations for the business on operations, strategy, management, etc. The claim is that one can do well on these interviews by reading case preparation books, but I think it is difficult to do well on these interviews without some solid business background. Gallup and BCG were the firms that asked the most difficult questions about previous business experience.

To the OP and others interested in consulting, McKinsey and some other programs offer programs geared towards MD graduates interested in healthcare consulting. These programs are a week long and are meant to introduce MDs to the healthcare consulting field. I would check the website for application information.
 
@Bold, I'm surprised to hear that you were asked those types of questions during your interviews. I've heard that the major consulting firms don't expect much in the way of business knowledge from their advanced degree applicants. Were you asked those questions from McKinsey and Bain?

As a medical student thinking about making the switch to management consulting, I'm curious to know whether I should be brushing up on some of these concepts.

Good luck with your path back to residency.

They generally would throw relative soft balls at their advanced degree applicants, but don't expect them to ask you what supply and demand is. You still have to perform at a McKinsey, BCG, or Bain analyst level to be hired. The MD behind your name doesn't really mean much to them, unless it is a value add on top of having a good basic grasp on business fundamentals.

Bold, good luck with everything, man. It takes some balls to go try out at these big name firms. I think if you took some time and really studied the style of their case interviews, you would have landed a gig. It's not exactly rocket science. It just takes some time to learn... though I am kind of perplexed by their asking you about portfolio management.
 
@Bold, I'm surprised to hear that you were asked those types of questions during your interviews. I've heard that the major consulting firms don't expect much in the way of business knowledge from their advanced degree applicants. Were you asked those questions from McKinsey and Bain?

As a medical student thinking about making the switch to management consulting, I'm curious to know whether I should be brushing up on some of these concepts.

Good luck with your path back to residency.

The answer is yes, you should definitely be preparing for the interview process, and the sooner the better. My boyfriend currently works for McKinsey and occasionally interviews applicants. The process is incredibly rigorous-- they expect you to prepare accordingly.

One book that he recommends to some of the applicants who make it past the first round (where you are interviewed by a partner of the firm) is to read "How to Interview Like a Top MBA." If you're really interested in healthcare consulting, I'd pick up the book and go through it to get a baseline of what they're looking for.
 
Do you guys think it's better to apply for these consulting jobs right after medical school or to complete a residency first?

Do consulting firms prefer a certain specialty?
 
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