The members here seem really sharp, and so I wanted to ask everyone’s advice on a career-related question. I’m a consultant looking to transition into a career in banking/investing, and I have a few options in front of me. I graduated from a top-25 university (class of '05), and for the last 2.5 years I’ve worked with a top-10 global consulting firm. Most of the work I do is focused on the internet/e-commerce space for Fortune 100 clients. I have a lot of experience with business analysis, project management, strategy consulting, internet technology, online advertising, etc. I was a liberal-arts double major in college, although I got A’s in all my accounting, statistics, math and science courses. During my first year in consulting I was a top-ranked analyst and received an early promotion and more responsibility. But despite all the success, I’ve reached a glass ceiling, and I’m now seeing value of learning more about finance and adding those skills to my technology, operations, and consulting skills. I’d also like to work in a faster-paced environment that rewards high performance. In 10 years I’d like to be in a position where I am buying and selling businesses, and perhaps even running my own hedge fund or PE firm. Here are a few options I have moving forward, although I’d like everyone’s feedback since there might be others: a) take the GMAT, get into a top b-school in the Fall of 2009 and decide from there. b) transition from consulting to a pre-mba role at a BB bank for 2 years, and go into b-school with stronger work experience (and thus stronger potential for job prospects) c) transition into a pre-mba finance role at a smaller firm (i.e. fund of funds, boutique m&a, etc.) for 2 years and then go to b-school. d) work at a PE or VC firm for 2 years before b-school. NOTE: I’ve interviewed with several over the last year and my lack of banking experience has put me at a disadvantage (even at early/growth stage firms). A couple other facts… I finished the Deal Maven financial modeling certifications, and I’m a CFA Level-1 candidate this June (I might need to move to Dec. though).
Having been a Ph.D. student at a top b-school, I’d really suggest you have 5 years work experience to get the most out of an MBA.
Agreed. And its one of the reasons I’m looking to add finance experience to my consulting, tech, and ops experience. I believe it would give me a good breadth of perspective moving into b-school.
I would work for 1-2 more years in your current job then go get MBA and look for a banking intership.
4-5 years in consulting though? I’d think that some pre-mba breadth in consulting + banking/finance would be a good thing to have before starting an MBA.
finseeker Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > 4-5 years in consulting though? I’d think that > some pre-mba breadth in consulting + > banking/finance would be a good thing to have > before starting an MBA. Nope. You’re better off staying and showing progression and then using mba to transition.
But I’ve showed progression. Got an early promotion and now I’m in charge of a $20M product group at the same company. Why not switch to PE/VC or banking (i.e. equity research) for a couple years to round out my experience before MBA? People usually stay in consulting for only 2-3 years. After that it has diminishing returns career-wise.
Sorry to bump, but I’m really looking forward to some advice from the forum here.
finseeker Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > The members here seem really sharp, and so I > wanted to ask everyone’s advice on a > career-related question. > > I’m a consultant looking to transition into a > career in banking/investing, and I have a few > options in front of me. > > I graduated from a top-25 university (class of > '05), and for the last 2.5 years I’ve worked with > a top-10 global consulting firm. Most of the work > I do is focused on the internet/e-commerce space > for Fortune 100 clients. I have a lot of > experience with business analysis, project > management, strategy consulting, internet > technology, online advertising, etc. OK, what are your modeling and accounting skills? Without reading the rest of your post so far, I would say it is quite difficult to get into banking unless you’ve been doing consulting in a corporate finance practice (such as at McK or Bain) or have worked in similar advisory roles > I was a liberal-arts double major in college, > although I got A’s in all my accounting, > statistics, math and science courses. Good GPA is a nice thing to have, but at this point, it’s the work experience that bankers care about. Having a good GPA (3.5+) is sort of a check in the box, so to speak. > During my first year in consulting I was a > top-ranked analyst and received an early promotion > and more responsibility. But despite all the > success, I’ve reached a glass ceiling, and I’m now > seeing value of learning more about finance and > adding those skills to my technology, operations, > and consulting skills. I’d also like to work in a > faster-paced environment that rewards high > performance. > > In 10 years I’d like to be in a position where I > am buying and selling businesses, and perhaps even > running my own hedge fund or PE firm. Good luck. You need to get into a transactional role ASAP if these are your aspirations. > Here are a few options I have moving forward, > although I’d like everyone’s feedback since there > might be others: > > a) take the GMAT, get into a top b-school in the > Fall of 2009 and decide from there. The chances of getting into a good private equity gig on a post-MBA level are very minimal if you haven’t had prior PE experience. Nowadays, there are so many candidates at the top business school that have already done banking or private equity. Getting an associate role in IB would be easier (relatively speaking), but even a few years after that, most people find it pretty difficult to break into PE. > b) transition from consulting to a pre-mba role at > a BB bank for 2 years, and go into b-school with > stronger work experience (and thus stronger > potential for job prospects) If you can get this, great, but I don’t think it is likely. I don’t see much about your background that really distinguishes you. > c) transition into a pre-mba finance role at a > smaller firm (i.e. fund of funds, boutique m&a, > etc.) for 2 years and then go to b-school. This is easier, but again, if you want to do PE (assuming we’re talking about buyout roles), then you probably don’t want to do fund of funds. You’re better off working in banking or something else that gives you transactional exposure, even if it’s at a smsaller firm. > d) work at a PE or VC firm for 2 years before > b-school. NOTE: I’ve interviewed with several > over the last year and my lack of banking > experience has put me at a disadvantage (even at > early/growth stage firms). There are tons of PE and VC shops out there. It really depends on what you’d be doing. Will you be focused primarily on deal execution, or just doing deal sourcing or portfolio monitoring? With your background and lack of finance exposure, I would guess that most of the positions on actual buyout teams would not be accessible to you. But hey, if you can get in from a consulting background, more power to you – some of my classmates did successfully make this transition, but most of them came from McKinsey or Bain, and I also know a couple from BCG. You (along with most other consultants except for those with corp fin exposure) are definitely at a disadvantage compared to people with finance backgrounds, and you should fully expect this. > A couple other facts… I finished the Deal Maven > financial modeling certifications, and I’m a CFA > Level-1 candidate this June (I might need to move > to Dec. though). Unfortunately, that won’t really move the needle. If you really want to get into PE, start teaching yourself LBO modeling and know your cash flow accounting cold. But honestly, do you have any idea how hard it is to get into BB banking or even PE/buyouts given your qualifications and the current state of the job market? I just want to make sure you are not underestimating how challenging it is, and how many qualified people are gunning for these types of jobs. That being said, if this is what you to do, then by all means go for it. Best of luck with your career search. Hope this helps.
How about working for, say, a PE fund of funds? Would that have upward opportunities either prior to, or after, a MBA?
what kind of question is that? any career you choose ought to have upward opportunities…otherwise it’s a pretty lousy decision.
I’m asking whether working for a fund of funds would help me make traction after a couple years pre-mba, or after an mba. Is it seen as something reputable, or no…
And just to clarify further. There are really good ways to break into the investing side from consulting (i.e. PE/VC) and there are less than ideal ways (associate role at a boutique & not widely known i-bank/m&a firm). Where does teh fund of funds path sit within all of this?