Need some consulting career advice post McKinsey (I'm currently a Consultant at McKinsey)

Hi,

A couple of angles to consider as you make this decision.

1. Building your abilities/skills/experience
   1. To me this is a function of project exposure, client exposure and internal teaming (i.e. are you exposed to individuals you can learn from)
   2. A smaller firm, by its very nature of being smaller, will have less variety of projects, client exposure and diversity of internal teaming. Often times smaller firms do however have a strong niche, which may or may not be to your liking
2. Work culture
   1. This includes work life balance, how the internal teaming culture is like, travel etc.
3. Internal opportunities
   1. BCG has several programs that are meant to promote diversity of experience and ability for you to try something different
      1. E.g. transfer office for 12 months
      2. E.g. seconded to focus on social impact
4. Impact on exit options
   1. This to me is a function of branding/prestige, but also the alumni network
   2. Here the key question is which one would have greater recognition when you are trying to make the "great exit?"

Ultimately, the answer to your question will depend on what your definition of a 'great exit' is. If your 'great exit' can be achieved with a smaller firm, then there is arguably no need for MBB. But, all else considered, often times MBB sets you up way better for a 'great exit' than smaller firms - speaking from experience having switched from a T2 to MBB.

Hope this helps!

Hi there,

Q: I have 2 options. Want to focus on consulting for now until I finally decide to leave and get a great exit.

From the goal you shared, it seems BCG would make more sense:

1. Most likely more interesting/high profile consulting projects
2. Better exits later on

Additionally, most likely the $50k/year difference won’t matter in the long run, if BCG allows you to have a better career path.

In general, I would consider the following to decide between multiple offers:

• Where do you want to be in 5-10 years? Look at the company that can help you to achieve that goal faster. You can check LinkedIn for that (see below).
• If you consider the average consultant/partner you talked to in each company, which one would you rather be? You will spend a lot of time with your colleagues in the next years - be sure you choose a company where the people are close to the person you want to become.
• If money and prestige were not a consideration, which company would you choose? This could help you to identify additional elements to weigh you have not considered yet.

In terms of exits (for most people they are a very important factor to join a consulting company), you can check them as follows:

1. Look for alumni of the two companies on LinkedIn
2. Check how many moved to your preferred exits in your target region
3. Normalize for the size of the companies in the region

If you want to do extra due diligence, contact Alumni of your university (not current consultants) who worked for the two companies (bonus if they worked for both companies). You will learn more in a 30-minute call with them than with any online research you may do.

Good luck!

Francesco

Hi there,

First of all, congratulations on your career trajectory with McKinsey thus far!

I would be happy to share my thoughts on your question:

I would highly advise you to opt for the option that better aligns with your professional (and maybe even personal) mid- to long-term goals. In order to make an informed decision, I would advise you to do the following:

• Weigh the different criteria that are meaningful to you independently of the current options (e.g., prestige, culture, international exposure, compensation). After that, score the two options based on your criteria and their weighting, resulting in two scores. This way, you have covered the left-brain perspective.
• Critically assess your initial reaction to the outcome of the scores. For instance, if you feel the urge to tweak the numbers, this is a solid indicator that you do not want this decision to become reality. This way, you have covered the right-brain perspective.
• By doing so, you will be able to integrate both parts of the brain into the decision-making, guaranteeing a higher chance that you will still be happy with it years later.

You can find more on this topic here: Boutique consulting companies.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on your specific situation, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

BCG would provide the better long term prospects.

Exception being if the smaller consulting firm is specialized in a certain area of your preference (and recognized by the market as a very good specialist in that field).

Hey mate. 

Please use coachnow and other internal resources for this; there are amazing Senior McK alumni who are available - All of which will likely tell you to stay in McKinsey if you wanted to continue consulting (there are very limited reasons to move unless you are getting CTLed) 

Hi there,

If your main goal is a better exit in the future, then staying at McKinsey is the best choice. The second-best choice would be the move to BCG.

All the best,

Florian