Hilary Thomas had a distinguished career in medicine as a clinician, academic and medical manager when she started to think about a career switch. But it was a diagnosis of breast cancer that gave her the “psychological impetus to become a management consultant.
希拉里·托马斯(Hilary Thomas)开始考虑改行时，已在医疗领域取得了杰出的职业成就，她曾担任过临床医生、学者和医疗管理人员。但一纸乳腺癌诊断书为她带来了改行作管理顾问的“心理动力。
“I finished my treatment and I worked throughout, which made it clear how much work defined me, says Ms Thomas, who joined KPMG in 2009 and is now a partner and the most senior clinician in its UK public sector healthcare advisory practice.
托马斯2009年加入了毕马威(KPMG)，如今她不仅是毕马威英国公共部门医疗卫生咨询业务合伙人，还是里面最资深的临床医生。她说：“治疗结束后我做了彻底的思考，弄明白了工作在多大程度上影响着我。
“Like a lot of journeys in life, it wasn’t exactly planned. If you’d said to me 10 years earlier that I would be a management consultant, I wouldn’t have believed it. I don’t think it was even clear in my mind what the term meant exactly.
“就像人生中的很多旅程一样，这件事并未经过精密筹划。如果十年前你跟我说我会作管理顾问，我是不会相信的。我想我连这个词到底是什么意思都不清楚。
She found the change bewildering at first: “My first three months was a culture shock. I came from organisations where you can’t exercise a lot of autonomy and suddenly my environment was very different, where there wasn’t a lot of hierarchy or structure.
一开始，托马斯发现这种改变给自己带来了困扰：“头三个月我经历了文化冲击。我过去所在的机构里，人们没有多少自主权。突然之间，我就来到了一个截然不同的环境中，在这里，没有那么多等级与架构。
“As a doctor or medical director, the lines are clear. But an associate partner in an organisation with 10,000 people has very different drivers. My first three months were very shaky and I thought I’d made a mistake but when I started to win work and to enjoy the client interface, I delivered.
“作为医生或者医疗主任，条条杠杠都清清楚楚。但在一个多达万人的机构里作副合伙人，则有着完全不同的行为方式。头三个月我遇到了很多坎，我曾认为我的选择是错误的。但当我开始赢得业务并开始享受与客户打交道的乐趣时，我总算是熬过来了。
She not only delivered but was joint winner of the business services category in this year’s prestigious First Women Awards, sharing the honour with Aimie Chapple, managing director of Accenture. The awards recognise trailblazing women across industry.
她不仅仅是熬过来了，还与埃森哲(Accenture)董事总经理艾米·查普尔(Aimie Chapple)分享了著名的“杰出女性奖(First Women Awards)今年在商业服务类别的奖项。这些奖项用来奖励业界女性中的那些开创性人物。
Management consulting firms caution those thinking of making such a career switch to think long and hard – not only about whether they have the right skills but whether they can change gear from more traditional command and control structures to work more autonomously.
管理顾问公司提醒那些做类似改行打算的人要经过长期而慎重的考虑——不仅要考虑自己是否拥有恰当的技能，还要考虑一点：自己能否从更传统的命令与控制架构下走出来，转换角色、适应自主性更强的工作环境。
For those who can, the rewards are manifest in terms of diversity of challenge, achievement and, of course, financial.
那些能够做到这一点的人，将在挑战的多样性、成就感、当然还有金钱方面收获可观的回报。
“Clients are attracted to management consulting firms with staff who know their companies and industry and the challenges they face, says Alan Leaman, chief executive of the Management Consultancies Association, which represents more than 60 per cent of firms in the UK.
艾伦·利曼(Alan Leaman)是管理顾问协会(Management Consultancies Association)的行政总裁，该协会代表着英国逾60%的管理顾问公司。利曼说：“一些管理顾问公司之所以吸引客户，是因为它们拥有了解客户公司、行业以及客户所面临挑战的员工。
“A lot of people want to be management consultants. While a lot of others are staying put because of the economy, there are still more applications than places because it’s so attractive.
“很多人都想成为管理顾问。尽管也有很多人出于经济形势的原因选择呆在原职位不动，但管理顾问职位巨大的吸引力仍然导致申请该职位的人数大于职位空缺数。
A large cohort of people enter the sector after university while still in their early 20s, he says. A growing number of apprenticeships are also on offer for those with good A-levels.
他说，大批进入该行业的大学毕业生才20岁出头，此外还有越来越多的“学徒岗位提供给在高中课程(A-Level)考试中表现出色的学生。
But the sector is also open to mid-career specialists with a proven track record who can demonstrate a good command of “soft skills.
不过，对于那些处在职业生涯中期的专业人士，如果他们拥有良好的履历能展示他们对“软技能的出色掌控，该行业也是相当欢迎的。
“You might think you know how to be a management consultant but it’s very difficult. You have to manage or work in a consulting team, deal with demands from clients, and know how to work with a client who’s convinced they have the right solution but actually has to rethink. It’s like diplomacy, he says.
利曼说：“你也许以为你知道如何作一名管理顾问，但实际上这项工作是很难的。你需要管理或加入一个咨询团队，处理客户的需求，并弄明白如何与自认为有正确解决方案而实际上需要重新考虑的客户打交道。这项工作就像是外交。
“Management consulting firms are very good at drawing in people from industry or the public sector and putting them through their own bespoke training and linking them with mentors and great teachers.
“管理顾问公司非常擅长将业界或者公共部门的人吸引过来，让他们置身于为他们量身定制的培训、并与行业指导以及优秀的教师建立起联系。
It is impossible to describe a “typical background of new recruits to Boston Consulting Group, says Patrick Roche, principal and recruiting director for the firm in London.
波士顿咨询集团(Boston Consulting Group)伦敦主管及招聘主任帕特里克·罗奇(Patrick Roche)说，想描述该集团新成员的“典型背景是一件不可能做到的事。
“The common theme in what we look for in candidates is more around a transferable skillset and an ability to demonstrate impact in their career to date. The average age of our experienced hires works out to be around 30 but the range is large and reflects the breadth of levels at which we hire, he says.
罗奇说：“我们在候选者身上考察的重点一般集中在可转移技能上，还有他们在迄今为止的职业中展示影响力的能力。我们招募的有经验员工的平均年龄为30岁，但年龄区间很大，这反映出我们所招募人才的级别差异。
“The majority of our experienced hires would have between three and seven years of industry experience but we also have senior advisors working at BCG who may be former chief executives with more than 25 years of industry experience.
“我们招募的有经验员工大多拥有三到七年的行业经验，但我们集团中也有些高级顾问是拥有25年以上行业经验的前行政总裁。
Particular sectors of interest are transport, extractive, utilities, power, renewable energy, technology, medicine, and telecoms, says Gerard Gallagher, markets leader in Ernst and Young’s advisory services arm, who himself made a career switch from chartered engineering.
安永会计师事务所(Ernst and Young)咨询服务部门市场主管杰拉德·加拉格尔(Gerard Gallagher)说，他们感兴趣的求职者背景包括运输、采掘、公用事业、发电、可再生能源、技术、医疗以及电信。加拉格尔自己就是从特许工程行业转行过来的。
“Financial services remains very relevant but I think that bubble will slow down, he says.
他说：“金融服务业的背景仍很对口，不过我觉得该行业的泡沫会放缓的。
The management consulting sector saw fee income growth of 14 per cent from the private sector last year, compared with 12 per cent the previous year, according to an MCA report. There was also a rebalancing effect on the consulting industry’s activities from public to private sector. The ratio was 80:20 private to public, with further private sector growth foreseen by most consulting firms, it said.
管理顾问协会一份报告指出，管理咨询业去年来自私人部门的服务费收入增长为14%，而前一年则为12%。此外，咨询业还表现出一种再平衡效应，公共部门业务减少，私人部门业务增多。报告指出，私人部门与公共部门业务比例目前为80:20（本次经济衰退前为30:70——译者注），而且多数咨询公司都预期私人部门业务还会继续增长。
“People need to prove their expertise and large transformational project skills, their ability to work in a risk environment, and to deal with strategic risk, says Mr Gallagher. “Practical IT skills and financial skills are needed for all our units.
加拉格尔说：“求职者需要证明他们的专业技术、大型转型项目技能、在风险环境下工作的能力、还有应对战略风险的能力。实用的IT技能与财务技能也是我们各部门都需要的。
He recommends the path he took -- which involved taking an MBA before switching to management consulting, a view echoed by Mr Roche.
他建议求职者走他自己走过的道路——在改行作管理顾问之前先去读一个MBA学位。对于这一建议，罗奇也表示赞同。
“At BCG, we recruit for, and at, all levels – from associate right up to partner level. While our associates and a proportion of our junior consultants typically come straight out of university, the majority of our recruits come with some form of industry experience, he says.
罗奇说：“在波士顿咨询集团，我们从各级别求职者中招收各级别职位所需人才——从助理一直到合伙人。尽管我们招募的助理和一部分初级顾问通常是大学刚毕业的年轻人，但我们新人中的大多数都拥有某种形式的行业经历。
“Many of these individuals choose to use an MBA as a stepping stone to help aid the transition and these people would usually join us as consultants [two levels above the associate entry level].
“许多求职者选择把MBA学位当作转入这行的垫脚石，这些人通常会以顾问的身份入职（比入门级的助理高两级）。
Mr Gallagher says flexibility is vital. “We look for insight into a person’s sector as well as consulting skills but we always prefer the first as we can teach the second.
加拉格尔表示，灵活性非常关键。“我们既希望求职者具备对于其所在行业的深刻了解，也希望其具备咨询技巧。不过我们始终更重视前者，因为后者我们可以教会他们。
“When I started, I was very confused about the management structure. Often there was no line manager and if there was one, it would change for different jobs and clients, he says. “You have to apply insight in a practical way and the work is output-based. I would say it took me about nine months to feel comfortable.
“我刚改行干这个的时候，曾对管理架构感到非常困惑。工作中经常没有直接主管，即使有，也会因任务和客户的不同而变来变去。你必须将洞察力运用到实践中，而且工作是基于产量的。我花了大约九个月时间才适应。
Ms Thomas says she learned about the challenges of being a “change agent at CareUK, which delivers health and social services to half a million people each year and which she joined after 23 years in the NHS.
托马斯表示，她是在CareUK了解到作为一名“变革推动者所面临的挑战的。CareUK每年为50万人提供医疗与社会服务，托马斯在英国国民保健服务(NHS)部门工作了23年后加入这家公司。
But becoming a management consultant posed some specific challenges. “I’d never done a time sheet before, she says. “I had to learn techniques such as how to pull together proposals and to make a pitch, although it helped that I had been on the other side of the table. Sometimes with all the adrenaline I think this is maybe like being a surgeon.
然而，改行作管理顾问为她带来一些具体的挑战。她说：“我过去从来没列过工作时间记录单。其他一些技巧我也需要学习，比如如何把各种提议综合起来去做宣传，尽管我过去曾身为客户的经历会对此有所帮助。有时候，所有这些挑战带来的亢奋感让我感觉我像是在作外科医生。
James Callander, managing director of FreshMinds Talent recruitment agency, says the prerequisites for making a switch are having a “top-class degree and being very clever.
人才招聘机构FreshMinds Talent的董事总经理詹姆斯·卡兰德(James Callander)说，改行做管理顾问的先决条件是“拥有顶级学位并且人非常聪明。
“Just because you’ve worked in media for five years doesn’t mean you can consult to the media sector, he says. “If you’ve got specialist skills you need to find niches and to market yourself really well. Management consulting is not unlike accountancy or law or banking in that you’re shaped in the fires of your early career.
他说：“在媒体行业工作了五年并不意味着你就能作媒体行业的顾问。即使你具备了专门的技能，你也需要找到对口的方向，而且还得有效地推销自己。管理咨询工作与会计、法律或银行业工作的不同之处在于，你早期的职业经历对于你从事这项工作有深刻影响。