having fun while doing a great job would be killer, right?

Craig Roth from Gartner wrote a great post on his blog about the “Sent from my iPhone / BlackBerry” lines that are automatically attached to emails you write on those devices by default. He argues that they are often abused as apologies for not writing coherent, complete and spellchecked email replies. Damn right he is!

A short while later today, Hugh McLeod published a drawing with the slogan “I don’t have a career. I have a blackberry.” – inspired by people like us, I guess, who stand around at airports and yack away at their BlackBerries. He wonders what work really gets done in those moments…

This is enough. Apparently, it needs to be said. Out loud.

YOUR BLACKBERRY IS NO EXCUSE FOR BAD EMAILS!

That means:

• Still, one-line emails are not considered polite
• Speling mistokes are still bad form
• The recipient should not notice a difference in the way you reply to his/her mails, regardless of what you typed them on
• Nobody cares that you are at the airport, in the taxi or on the loo
• There is no law that says that an email answered shoddily from the BlackBerry is always better than a delayed reply

So you should:

• Get rid of this stupid footer line – or do you think that people find it cool that you have a BlackBerry???
• Only reply to an email on the go when you have the required concentration and time to write it in correct grammar, in a polite and complete manner (if you would only write “Hi Jim! Yes, we got the deal. Regards, Peter” on your computer in the office, that is of course still fine!)
• Refrain from the “VP style” at all cost(not addressing the recipient, not saying thank you, not punctuating, not using UpperCase letters, etc.) – it really is just bad and unrespectful, I can’t say that often enough!
• Instead of writing a bad email, when under time pressure, CALL the recipient, or send a short message telling her that you will answer her request when you get to the office ->remember, there still are people out there who DO NOT get their mails on their mobile devices, and they somehow manage to survive!

That’s it. Easy, right?

Now go out there and be good!

[This is a guest post from Mohit Kant, founder of the Consulting Network, a great platform that brings together aspiring and practicing consultants, with a focus on India. Today he will share his views on consulting in India with us. Thanks a lot, Mohit!]

US President Barack Obama in his first meeting with Indian PM Manmohan Singh remarked that India is a critical player on the world stage. Being an Indian, I take pride in knowing that to be true, however, a simple translation of what Mr. Obama meant is that India is poised to grow at a considerably faster rate as compared to the rate at which more developed nations would grow. The reasons for such an assumption are obvious, as companies strive to be more competitive, they are more likely to seek out newer markets, India with its over 1 billion population and an emerging middle class provides a perfect setting for prolonged periods of growth.

Phew! That sets the context for the main purpose of this article, as more Indian companies seek out unexplored global markets and as more global companies seek out Indian markets, one Industry that is likely to greatly benefit is the “Consulting Industry”. Yes you heard it right. Mr. Consultant in India does not have to worry about slowdown in the Consulting Industry for the next years.

So one question that comes to mind is how difficult is it for a prospective Indian candidate to break into consulting compared to his global counterpart? Answer is “considerably more difficult”. Reasons for such a contention are obvious; India probably churns out more graduates each year than any other country in the world. Strong emphasis on studies by parents plays a major role in more students pursuing studies diligently. So in the end, the applicant pool for Consulting Jobs in India is extremely competitive.

Thus the major proportion of the consulting job opportunities is grabbed by students graduating out of tier-1 schools and colleges, and even among those students graduating from tier-1 schools and colleges the competition is extremely high. Irony in all of this is that even if you do break into a consulting firm, life does not get easy. Any practicing consultant will tell you that the work pressure is tremendous, timelines are tight, there are always things pending and at the appraisal time, you are pitted against the same hard working, extremely bright and highly competitive peers.

Second question that comes to mind is what are the major differences between an Indian consultant and his global counterpart?

The answer in this case is “it depends”, if you manage to break into the top 3 consulting firms, i.e. McKinsey, Bain, BCG then the difference is marginal, the reason is that these firms tend to promote global engagement teams; each engagement you work on will include people from different geographic areas and skill set. Hence, over a period of time, an Indian consultant tends to pick up skills to match his global counterpart.

However, if you break into other big consulting firms i.e. the famous Big 4’s (I avoid calling them Big 4 Accounting firms because significant portion – 50 percent in some cases – of the revenue is now derived from advisory services and hence it would be unfair to tag them as purely accounting firms) or firms such as Capgemini, Diamond Consulting etc., the business model for these firms is very location focused. They tend to promote country specific knowledge as their USP and hence interaction with global peers tends to be limited. Thus this category of consultants tends to be a little different in their style of working and depth of knowledge from their global counterpart. However, such differences are often mitigated over a period of time due various in-firm measures such as secondments etc. This second category of consultants tends to have a much deeper knowledge of the local markets than the other category described above (or so is my opinion anyway).

Though I’ve tried to generalize the differences between Indian and global consultants, there are some other extremely relevant factors that can make a mockery out of my generalizations, these include adaptability, opportunity, Intent etc. How easily an individual can adapt to new working styles, whether the service he or she specializes thrives on expertise in local markets or demands a more global outlook, whether an individual wants to travel and explore new environments – These are some questions that need more probing before a more conclusive generalization can be developed.

About the Author:
Mohit is a consultant at a leading big 4 firm, he specializes in advising clients on mitigating non financial risks during investments and business dealings. Mohit is also the founder of Consulting Network, a leading portal for aspiring consultants, Consulting Network focuses on providing in depth knowledge and mentoring services to aspiring and practicing consultants and promoting networking and job opportunities. Visit http://www.consultingnetwork.co.in/ for more on Consulting Network.

Disclaimer: Views expressed by the author on this article are completely his personal views and in no way reflect the views of his employer or any other parties mentioned in this article.

Although everyone knows since grammar school that spelling is important, it still sometimes is underestimated – as you see with this lovely decorated cake.

For consultants, producing work that is free of spelling errors is critical. Why? Because we hardly ever have tangible products or results to show our clients. The closest they get to that during a project are the things we present to them. Thus, consulting clients tend to put a disproportionately high attention on even the smallest details when they receive a something from you – the latest PowerPoint deck, for example. In the worst case, you lose credibility and trust, because your client perceives you as working inaccurately. Even if that does not occur, you might still waste crucial face time with your client trying to gloss over a stupid mistake he noticed.

Spelling correctly whilst producing your deliverables quickly and often with many revisions is a challenge. Here’s 5 tips to help you out. [Read more →]

Folks,

after I got a great email today from Martin from Germany, and from  Akarsh from India earlier last week, it is time to put a big thank you note up here. It gives me a lot of joy to see that I what I write for the KillerConsultant really is of value for some people out there, and the occasional email that I get with positive feedback and further questions on the subject are invaluable.

Let me tell you, it is absolutely awesome to reply to a sceptic friend who asks me why the heck I run this website something along the lines of “you know, there’s Pete, a student from the US, and he just told me that the things I put online really helped him in making the decision to go into consulting – I helped someone in real life. So, you know, it’s kinda worth it.”

Thus: Thanks everybody, really. You make this a worthwhile thing to do, and I do appreciate every piece of feedback I get.

Vacation, especially if you have almost forgotten the true sense of being on one, is awesome! I recently did a road trip through the Loire valley in France, right up to the Atlantic Ocean, with my girlfriend and the dog. It was epic! As the region is famous for its wines, we made a point of tasting  the local specialties that we came across. Mix this with great French cheese and baguette… yep, I got both: Living like God in France, and a little extra weight to carry around. The latter, I want to lose now – of course whilst back on the road.

Enter my newest discovery: STAIRS! (*gasp*)

No-seriously! Try it out!
I am on a mission to avoid elevators and escalators at all cost for two weeks now, and it starts to pay off. The rule is strict – no exceptions for “but I am carrying my briefcase AND my suitcase!”. No exception for “but the office is on the 6th floor!”. No excuse for “But there are only fire stairs in the hotel!”. No excuse for “my colleagues are looking at me funny!”. I am just taking the stairs. Of course this is no complete workout yet – but lifting my luggage all over the place sure feels like on, it costs close to no extra time and serves as an instant feel-good moment.

Maybe their is a staircase just waiting for you?