Andrea Gnilka ⋅ Springfield, VA Deloitte ⋅ 5 years experience

Hi Mark,

There is no one door in, per se, although it helps to have the referral of a current employee no matter what you're applying for. The answer is yes, there are separate pipelines and these are two very different lifestyles. Commercial consulting involves about 80% travel, whereas in Federal consulting you are going to travel far less, if at all. It depends on your taste for travel and whether you feel your experience prepares you better for one over the other. It seems as if your military background would be well-suited to the Federal environment, so I would start there. Most commercial jobs will have you fly out to a client site on a Monday morning, and return to your home office on a Friday. This can become difficult for some people. The number of hours you work in each and the length of the projects are all very different between the two as well. Federal employees work a strict 40-hour work week for the most part, so your project hours will be similar in that regard. Commercial projects are very different. It really depends on which lifestyle most appeals to you.

Best,

Andrea

Michael Stehn ⋅ Alexandria, VA Deloitte Consulting LLP ⋅ 9 years experience

Mark,

Great question, we do have both a commercial practice as well as Government and Public Sectors. We do have a specific GPS Supply Chain group of consultants, that is where I currently align myself. Supply Chain for GPS works on many different offerings. Our Supply Chain Network Operations does everything from Additive Manufacturing "3D Print" to Smart Depots, Secure Supply Chain, Strategy, and readiness. There would be different hiring streams depending on if you applied for commercial practice or GPS. Feel free to contact me if you have specific questions related to the answer.

Thanks
Mike