Business English Certificate (BEC) Higher Level C1 / Reading / Part 1
PART ONE
Questions 1 – 8
Look at the statements below and at the five extracts from an article about working in the field of management consultancy.
• Which extract (A, B, C, D or E) does each statement (1-8) refer to?
• For each statement 1-8, mark one letter (A, B, C, D or E) on your Answer Sheet.
• You will need to use some of these letters more than once.
• There is an example at the beginning, (0).
Example:
0 Consultants may be able to work for a specialist firm.
The answer is B
[start-answers-block type=2]
1. Consultants must be prepared to change the way they have evaluated a project.
[answer="A#B#C#*D#E"]
2. Consultants need to value the colleagues they work with.
[answer="A#B#C#*D#E"]
3. Large consultancies often have a background in accounting.
[answer="A#*B#C#D#E"]
4. Consultants need to be able to assess each person's contribution accurately.
[answer="A#B#C#D#*E"]
5. You can become a consultant even if you have no management experience.
[answer="*A#B#C#D#E"]
6. Mentoring is often used to help trainees become more effective at the job.
[answer="*A#B#C#D#E"]
7. Consultancy work is satisfying because you see the end result of a project.
[answer="A#B#*C#D#E"]
8. Consultants must not be frightened of being honest.
[answer="A#B#C#D#*E"]
[end-answers-block]
A A good proportion of people entering consultancy do so after several years of industry experience. Those who have gone through a big graduate programme, have climbed the career ladder quickly and who have an MBA behind them tend to be favoured. But fear not - if you are a team player with sharp intellect, ambition and good communication skills, consultancy firms may be willing to train you up themselves. New' entrants will usually join an intensive induction and training period under the guidance of an experienced consultant. During that time, you'll develop your skills and experience and gain ever more responsibility for the detailed day-to-day conduct of an assignment.
B Employers, like consultancy work itself, are very varied. You could opl for a generalist consulting firm, which offers a wide range of services from strategy consulting and human resources to IT and, in some cases, outsourcing on a global basis. Many of these firms grew' out of audit firms, while others developed within IT service companies. Alternatively, you could join a strategy consultancy. These Lend to he much smaller than the generalist firms and the majority are American. As the term suggests, they primarily offer strategic advice to companies on a project-by-project basis.
C Fiona Czemiawska, director of the Management Consultancies Association Think Tank, believes there's never been a better time to become a management consultant. "When you describe what's involved in management consultancy - going to meetings, gathering data and writing reports - it doesn't exactly sound exciting," admits Czenii.nvska "But in fact, consultants get to spend a lot of time really listening to clients, helping them to articulate the issue they are grappling with and resolving the problem. If you take the analogy of a doctor, it's like being able to both diagnose a health problem and do the surgery."
D Cathy Monghan, head of the HR consultancy EES, adds that consultants need resilience: "You need to be able to prioritise and then inevitably reprioritise in accordance with the client's needs," she says. Meanwhile, Peter Walker, executive chairman of Pielle Consulting Group, believes consultants should also be "capable of seeing a whole picture from fragments of information, able to determine the key to moving to the next step and have a very clear appreciation of the law of unforeseen consequences." He adds, "They also need to be a team player with the ambition to be captain and the humility to recognise the importance of every member of the team."
E Olwyn Burgess, client services director of HR consultancy Chiumento, agrees that sophisticated team skills are key. "Consultants have to be astute enough to spot the people who can help and those that will hinder [he progress of a project and then have a strategy to work with or around the enablers and blockers," he adds. "You have to tell it how it is," adds Tom Barry, Blessing White European managing director. "For example, there will be occasions when you have to advise a client on something you know' won't be popular. This is all part and parcel of providing consultancy. You need that strong spine."