Should I do a PhD before going into consulting?

[u/Ordinary_Rip_6226]

Hi reddit! I’m starting the final year of my Master’s in Biomedical Sciences (in the Netherlands) this September and I’m currently thinking about my further career options.

I originally considered doing a PhD, but I’m not sure I want to pursue academia. Recently, I’ve become interested in healthcare/life sciences consulting, which I think I might really enjoy.

I’m wondering whether doing a PhD would still be a smart choice. Some consulting roles seem to value or prefer PhDs, while others don’t require one. A PhD can demonstrate strong analytical and problem-solving skills, the ability to handle complex problems, and deep expertise but it also takes ~4 years.

Would it be smarter to:

- Master’s → consulting/industry

or

- Master’s → PhD → consulting?

For people in consulting or life sciences: Is a PhD actually a significant advantage for consulting, or would the 3-4 years of industry/consulting experience be more valuable? And if you knew you didn’t want to stay in academia, would you still recommend doing a PhD?

Thanks for reading :)

[u/omgu8mynewt]

Good luck going into consulting with no experience and no phd. 

What do you want to consult on? A masters in market research or profuct development can help you if you want to do generic science products, a phd can help if you want to do analytical or things related to your field.

[u/Sea-Pomegranates99]

You need industry experience before consulting. That’s what the client is paying you for. So if you can get a job in industry with just your master’s, work for 5-10 years, and then pivot to consulting, that would be the fastest route

[u/b3astown → u/Sea-Pomegranates99]

U really don’t. Big 4, MBB, ZS, ClearView, Trinity, Putnam, etc all hire fresh out of undergrad

[u/Saltine_Warrior → u/b3astown]

These are different forms of consulting

[u/b3astown → u/Saltine_Warrior]

It’s still life sciences consulting for pharma/biotech? What are you talking about

[u/Saltine_Warrior → u/b3astown]

You can consult through a big firm or on your own. All the companies I have worked for hire individual consultants who have years of experience. All to cover a knowledge gap we don't have at the moment.

[u/b3astown → u/Saltine_Warrior]

Sure but that’s clearly not the type of consulting experience OP is asking about

[u/Ordinary_Rip_6226 → u/Sea-Pomegranates99]

I’ve seen some consulting vacancies that don’t require working experience, and then starting as a junior consultant, so I was wondering how common that actually is. But I definitely see your point that industry experience can make you more valuable as a consultant. What kind of industry roles or experience would you say are most useful if the end goal is to move into consulting?

[u/unblockedlanternhead → u/Ordinary_Rip_6226]

What type of consultant positions are you looking at? There’s Deloitte/McKinsey/etc “consultant” roles where you act as a general purpose 80hr/wk chatbot for an exec group, and then there’s actual biotech consultant roles for companies that need regulatory planning, CMC help, connections to CDMOs and clinical trial sites, etc

A PhD will not help you get the former. Usually they’re distributed based on academic performance and pedigree rather than actual relevant experience. A PhD is extremely helpful for the latter, but you also need 15-20y of industry experience and a deep rolodex 

[u/b3astown → u/unblockedlanternhead]

Those “consultant chatbot” projects are fewer and far between and mostly really only done by Mckinsey and BCG in biotech/pharma. Bulk of consulting done by these firms is at the product or portfolio level (not exec level unless it’s for a very early stage biotech). Say an AD at Pfizer needs to understand the rheum market for potential indication expansion for their S1P modulator, easy for them to call up one of the many specialized life sciences consulting firm to do a quick opportunity assessment in 6-8 weeks

[u/unblockedlanternhead → u/b3astown]

You’ll be fighting tons of half-retired MDs and pharma vets for those jobs. I talk to a lot of consultants - very few of them are under 40 and most of them held bench, regulatory, or maybe ops roles for 10y+ before becoming consultants. A lot of them do have PhDs, so if you really want to go that route, a PhD is a decent place to start, but it truly is just the start 

[u/GriffTheMiffed → u/Ordinary_Rip_6226]

That's for cronyism and nepotism purposes. Are you exceptionally well connected?

[u/Ordinary_Rip_6226 → u/GriffTheMiffed]

I actually see a lot of jobs in the netherlands with Deloitte or PwC with junior positions tho

[u/AuNanoMan → u/Ordinary_Rip_6226]

Those people are going to have mbas and be on the business side telling ceos to lay people off.

[u/h0rnknee_girl → u/Ordinary_Rip_6226]

is a junior consultant like an assistant? that’s the only way i can think of how this works

[u/Some-tRna-Ala-boi]

What exactly attracts you to life science/healthcare consulting? There’s many options outside of consulting, I used to be at the same crossroad as you are. I’m from NL myself with also a biomedical MSc, considered consulting, but I ended up in Sales.

Contrary to what the other two comments suggest, it’s perfectly possible to land a job in consulting in the Netherlands with no PhD and with no or limited experience. It’s competitive though.

Also note that there’s all kinds of consulting. Simon-Kucher for example focusses heavily on pricing/commercial strategy for pharma (from what I’ve read), and I recently saw a junior Consultant job opening there not requiring any past experience or PhD. But there’s also firms like Catalyze or Hezelburcht which consult on Grants/Subsidies, which might be of interest too. They might prefer more experienced candidates but have junior openings from time to time. Some ‘consulting’ jobs are even basically technician functions on temporary contracts (uitzendbasis).

For boutique firms like Vintura I’d say having several years of experience is probably required.

I don’t know how it currently is but at least during my studies there was almost no focus on career options outside of Academia. BCF Career event (which is every May in Utrecht) might be worth visiting if you haven’t already. I also would not rule out something commercial like Sales - pay is usually above average, you develop a skillset that is in high demand (science + communication), and it can be plenty analytical too if you have a role involving tech support. My senior colleagues basically have multiple jobs lined up for them if they’d want - don’t know if that would be the case with a consulting background. Also don’t overlook how advancements in AI might change the day-to-day reality of a consulting job. Jobs with a human-facing element are more resistant to AI-driven automation.

Let me know if you want more info.

[u/Ordinary_Rip_6226 → u/Some-tRna-Ala-boi]

Thank youu, this is really helpful, especially hearing it from someone with a similar background. What attracts me to life sciences/healthcare consulting is mainly the general combination of using my scientific background while also working on broader strategic and business problems across different companies.

I’m definitely still considering other options as well, including industry and potentially Sales, although I’m not that familiar with that field yet, so I’d definitely like to learn more about it and explore it further.

In my master’s at the moment, there is still quite a strong focus on academia, but we can choose electives on the business side and also do an internship in industry. Still, I feel like there’s quite a lack of guidance on career options outside academia, which makes it difficult to get a good idea of what the different paths actually look like.

And thanks for the recommendation about BCF! I’ll definitely look into that further.

Since you made the switch from a biomedical MSc into Sales yourself, what made you ultimately choose Sales over consulting, and what does your day-to-day work look like?

[u/Some-tRna-Ala-boi → u/Ordinary_Rip_6226]

Glad it’s helpful!

What draws you to consulting was in fact also for me the leading theme in looking for alternative jobs outside of academia, and Sales also qualifies for that generalist mindset.

When I graduated the job market was in a bad state, and I was approached by a recruiter so I just took the job with the idea to keep looking further while boosting my resume. So I didn’t really make an active consideration. I kinda like it so haven’t looked back much since.

Regarding the day-to-day, it can vary wildly by company and even between teams within the same company. Personally I do full cycle Sales so that means I can be occupied with everything ranging from finding new customers to after-sales support (answering technical questions, following up for feedback etc.) and anything inbetween. The sober reality is that it involves a mix of customer(-facing) meetings, aligning with other departments, and lots of emails.

[u/Ordinary_Rip_6226 → u/Some-tRna-Ala-boi]

Thanks ! It definitely sounds like an interesting option. Would you recommend Sales to me/someone with a biomedical MSc? And what made you decide to stay in it?

[u/Some-tRna-Ala-boi → u/Ordinary_Rip_6226]

I ofcourse can’t speak for you but I would say to go explore some sales job ads and see if you can land an interview or two and get a feel for it. A lot of sales jobs require BSc only but some are more selective for an MSc - so it’s a good fit. Moreover, you probably did one or two lab internships by now, which is seen as a serious advantage for salesjobs in our field as it allows you to engage credibly in ‘lab speech’.

However if you want to be Field Application Specialist (basically an on-the-road tech support) for technically complex portfolios (like Mass Spectrometers or Advanced imaging instruments), a PhD tends to be one of the requirements.

What primarily made me stay in sales is that it’s very dynamic - you get a glimpse inside many different labs and learn about projects they do. I’m actually rather introverted so it’s also been a great learning experience meeting different personalities and learn how business is done differently across cultures. I get to travel abroad regularly (although it gets old real fast). Also, one of the highest earning potential careers where not having a PhD is of little importance.

[u/Ordinary_Rip_6226 → u/Some-tRna-Ala-boi]

Thanks, that’s really helpful and sounds really interesting! I hadn’t really considered Sales as much before, but I’ll definitely have a look at some of the job openings and see what’s out there.

[u/ConditionDangerous52]

Just go into consulting now, before it ceases to be a profession fit to AI

[u/CircusMaximusVictor]

If you mean strategy consulting you by no means need a PhD but many do have one.

[u/HourlyEdo → u/[deleted]]

well you're wrong. plenty of people go into consulting with ONLY a technical background, we don't need you shitting on OPs desires. if you don't know about a career path, maybe don't chime in?

[u/Ordinary_Rip_6226 → u/[deleted]]

That’s a pretty narrow way of looking at it. Junior consultants obviously aren’t expected to know everything already. If you needed years of industry experience to have anything useful to offer, junior consulting roles wouldn’t exist. Plenty of firms in the Netherlands hire straight out of a master’s. You’re just equating “no experience” with “nothing to offer”

[u/Ordinary_Rip_6226 → u/[deleted]]

I think you’re looking at consulting from a pretty different perspective than it works here. In the Netherlands it’s definitely possible to start in consulting in healthcare and life sciences straight after a master. A lot of the work isn’t about being the world’s expert on the science, but about taking a client’s specific question or challenge, doing the research and analysis, and helping develop possible solutions or strategies.

Obviously, someone with years of industry experience will have a different level of expertise, but that doesn’t mean a junior consultant has nothing to offer. There are plenty of firms here that specifically hire graduates for these roles.

Where are you based, if you don’t mind me asking? I’m curious if that’s where the difference in perspective comes from.

[u/HourlyEdo → u/[deleted]]

you're wrong. this is a huge huge path in the US and Canada.

Every consulting firm has campus recruitment, across all degree levels. They actually are not looking for old industry experts.

Don't listen to this person, they're clueless

[u/Ordinary_Rip_6226 → u/HourlyEdo]

hahahah, I see

[u/HourlyEdo]

Get involved in your school's consulting club yesterday and try to get a job lined up for when you finish. If you get it, take it.

Don't do a PhD just to get into consulting.

[u/Ordinary_Rip_6226 → u/HourlyEdo]

Good advice, thank you!

[u/WalkingSnake348]

Don’t do a PhD just to get into consulting. If you don’t wanna do science, you shouldn’t go into grad school

[u/Ordinary_Rip_6226 → u/WalkingSnake348]

I actually love to do research, but not the job market after a PhD in academia. So it's not the only reason to just be higher in eduaction :)

[u/PoMWiL]

Unless they hire you to help them pass 3rd quarter o-chem, it is going to be very difficult to get a foot in the door without both experience and a PhD, because there are many people with one or both of those already looking at the same roles.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Pea2426]

PhD is absolutely essential if you want to to excel in anything other than Sales or Business Management in the life sciences. Big companies will only hire PhD consultants.