ZS Associates. Have you ever heard of this firm? It's getting a lot of traction
these days because there are a couple of main areas that ZS has really excelled
as a boutique consulting firm, and we want to highlight them for you today. I'm
Jenny Rae La Roux the Managing Director of Management Consulted, and we bring you
up-to-date information on amazing firms. Both big firms like McKinsey and
Deloitte, and smaller up-and-coming firms like ZS Associates. Our goal is to
explain what's great about them, what the work is they do, and why you might want
to think about working there. For ZS in particular, there's a couple of main
reasons why this firm has hit the international stage, and what they're
doing about it. Let me just give you a little bit of history about ZS. Many
consulting firms began with some kind of expertise in a field. But ZS was a little
bit different. ZS was founded by data scientists, some of the early data
scientists- PhDs in their fields. And their goal was to use data to solve
problems inside organizations. And because of that they were really ahead
of the curve when they were founded, but their day has come now when "data" is the
ultimate buzzword in business. ZS Associates built a lot of its great
reputation on its work in the Pharma and Life Sciences practice. And they began
doing three main functions in Pharma and Life Sciences. First, they were focused on
sales. Second, they were focused on marketing. And third, they were focused on
sales operations and technologies. So they were focused not just on the
practice of how an organization sells, but also on equipping them with the
tools and software to do so. As such they built a great reputation for being able
to do Salesforce and marketing strategy, which is clearly portable to a lot of
different industries. And they've expanded their industry focus to work in
other places such as energy. They work for the private equity sector, and they
work for over ten core sectors inside the US today. Now one thing that's really
interesting for you to know, is that ZS is a very active hirer, both from
undergrad and from MBA programs. They also have a special
interest in specialized Master students who are focused on data analytics. The career
progression is pretty accelerated, because as you work up in the
organization it's a standard consulting firm where you have the data analysts
that are grunting through the data in the early days. And then you ultimately move
up to Project Manager, and then Partner or Sales status. ZS has over 20
locations in the US as well as in Europe and Asia. It's headquartered in
Evanston, Illinois, so great solid Midwest foundation. ZS also has thousands of
employees so you're not alone. This isn't a tiny boutique firm that doesn't have
an established brand. It's a great company that has thousands of employees
and the structure and the training that comes with that. One final thing that's
important to note about ZS, aside from the interesting work that you'll do, and
the great career opportunities to progress, and the interesting places that
they hire, is that it's an amazing foundation if you do want to go into
other organizations that are focused on sales and marketing strategy. Which is a
huge part of every business operation. They also are a great stepping stone for
other consulting firms because of the grounding that you get in data analytics.
So we recommend the ZS as an amazing place to start your career. There's a lot
more to be found in our firm profiles at www.managementconsulted.com. If you're
prepping for a ZS Associates interview, or if you're just interested in finding out
more about the firm, through a "Power Half-Hour", or through our Coaching
Services, we can absolutely help. We also have more information in our firm
profiles at www.managementconsulted.com and on social.