Stroud

Stroud International is a global consulting firm focused on helping manufacturers realize improvements in operations and capital projects. They offer ambitious promises of results: eliminating manufacturing capacity, cost, quality and service problems in 60 days, or reducing project cost and schedule by 30-60% in ten weeks. If you have prior experience in manufacturing operations or can see yourself in a career that is laser-focused on helping manufacturers succeed, you may be perfect for a role at Stroud.

Firm Key Stats

Firm Website: https://www.stroudinternational.com/
Firm Headquarters: Marblehead, Massachusetts
Firm Number of Employees: Between 50-100
Firm Number of Locations: 3
Firm Chief Executive: Mark Rosenbaum, Managing Partner
Firm Revenue: $4 million

Stroud History

A relatively young firm, Stroud’s history begins in 2001, when it was founded to serve the needs of the manufacturing and chemical industry, including food and beverage, paper products, oil and gas, and mining. Today, Stroud has expanded its focus to include healthcare, infrastructure services and defense, with more sectors to come.

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Stroud Careers

Given its focus on manufacturing operations, engineers are in high demand at Stroud. As opposed to traditional strategy consultancies that dispense strategic advice to top executives, Stroud careers tend to include extensive time at the client’s plant, working directly with facility supervisors and production line staff to identify potential areas of improvement. For more on Stroud Careers and open roles, see their careers page.

Stroud International Internship

Stroud International’s online materials do not describe an internship program. However, Stroud has a robust hiring and onboarding process for new graduates.

Practice Areas

Stroud practice areas are focused on manufacturing and capital projects operational improvement.

Industries

- Food and Beverage
- Paper and Packaging
- Fiber and Materials
- Oil and Gas
- Mining
- Defense Services
- Healthcare
- Infrastructure

Stroud International Locations

Stroud International locations include:

- Calgary, Canada
- Boston, Massachusetts
- London, United Kingdom

Career Path

Stroud’s career path is well-defined and starts with the entry-level Associate role. Associates typically have 0-1 years of experience. Stroud’s induction process for Associates includes two weeks of classroom training as well as activities to build relationships with your hiring cohort and to integrate new hires into the Stroud community.

The next step is Senior Associate. Senior Associates usually have 1-5 years of professional experience. This is also the level at which recent MBA graduates are most often hired. Senior Associates take on greater levels of responsibility and are responsible for a particular project.

After Senior Associate comes Project Lead. A Project Lead is responsible for executing the strategy for a client engagement and for leading and developing the Associates and Senior Associates assigned to their team. Project Leads usually have 3-7 years of professional experience.

Around 6-10 years of experience, some Project Leads pursue promotion to Engagement Lead. Engagement Leads are also responsible for strategy execution, but have ownership over multiple projects across multiple clients and locations and multiple teams at a time. This is a transitional role with more responsibility for business development.

Successful Engagement Leads may advance to become Principals. At this level, you will set strategy for client engagements, oversee Project and Engagement Leads, and leverage your professional network to develop more business opportunities for Stroud. Successful Principals may advance to become Partners who constitute the senior executive team. As a relatively small consultancy, Stroud currently lists three Partners and three Principals on their website.

Exit Opportunities

Since Stroud is primarily focused on manufacturing operations, Stroud exit opportunities are primarily to executive roles at manufacturing companies or to other manufacturing consulting firms, although many alumni transition to non-manufacturing leadership roles as well.

Notable Alumni

Stroud’s notable alumni include the following:

- CEO of e-commerce company
- Vice President, Global Supply Chain for e-commerce company
- Chief Operating Officer for food delivery company
- VP of Customer Success at e-learning company

Target Schools

Stroud’s target schools include Cornell University in the United States, as well as Queen’s University, Imperial College London, and Cambridge University. Graduates of any school are welcome to apply, but applicants must attend a Stroud info session at one of the above universities as the first step to applying.

Diversity Programs

According to Stroud, it is “committed to embracing diversity of all kinds,” but does not provide details regarding current Stroud diversity programs.

Stroud Culture

Stroud culture is a standout benefit of joining the firm. Current and former employees laud the firm’s small-company feel and fun colleagues along with opportunities for rapid learning and professional advancement. Many report that they made close friends because of their time at Stroud.

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Stroud Interview

Stroud’s interview process varies based on whether you enter as a recent graduate or as an experienced professional. Most new hires join as recent graduates and are hired into the Associate role, for which there is a well-defined intake process starting with an information session and an analytical reasoning test. The test must be taken the same day that the candidate attends the info session. The test consists of approximately 30-40 questions and focuses heavily on mathematics, physics/engineering, and logic problems. Although Stroud’s claims it is not necessary to study, if your major was in the humanities, you may want to do some quantitative review before attending the info session.

Candidates who pass the reasoning test advance to a 30-minute behavioral interview with one or more Stroud team members, followed by a group case interview where your ability to work in teams and diagnose operational problems will be assessed along with other candidates. Approximately half of the candidates are cut at this point. Candidates who pass to the final round will be expected to complete a final interview including more behavioral and problem-solving questions and another case study.

Work and culture fit is very heavily prioritized in the Stroud interview process. Expect “Why Stroud?” and “Why consulting?” to come up early in the conversation and be ready to explain why you are interested in the specific type of consulting (manufacturing operations) on which Stroud focuses.

Stroud Consulting Salary

In general, Stroud consulting salaries are below those offered by McKinsey, Bain and BCG, but are on par with Big 4 firms. Entry level consultants (Associates) can expect salaries in the range of $70-95K, and Senior Associates get a bump up to around $100-130K. For more details on how Stroud compares to other firms, check out our salaries report.

Conclusion

Consultants at Stroud benefit not only from an excellent work culture and management’s emphasis on growing leaders but also from Stroud’s focus on hands-on, in-the-trenches business troubleshooting. If you’re interested in consulting but want to quickly see the practical impact of your work, take a look at Stroud.

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