Post MBA: Boutique or LDP?
I am supposed to hear back for post-MBA roles from a boutique consultancy with a good reputation in the lifesciences (where I want to work long term), and lifescience F500 commercial LDP rotation programs. Any thoughts on which would be the better move?
All the LDPs are 2-4 years with well-known brand names in pharma/medtech, and standard exits are director 2 years out of the 2 year program, and director or VP immediately at the end of the 4 year program in industry.
The boutique serves F500, medium sized firms, early stage, and often bridges between companies needing funding and PE/VC/industry investors/buyers.
Well a major difference between these roles is that one is "client services" and the other is "in house" ... do you have any preferences regarding that?
If you know the industry you want to settle into and you aren't in consulting for the long haul, why would you want to go into consulting to only settle into a corporate role 2 years later? The hours are long. The pay hike is minimal compared to good leadership programs. And there's no guarantee you'll get a cross exposure to all the functional areas that you do in a rotational program.
Now, if you are in consulting for the long haul, then yes go consulting. The two years and out approach makes no sense for an elite boutique in LS because your exit options are the same as the leadership program. With the leadership program, you have a leg up on building a true network within the industry and a top notch company.
Its tough because I could see myself wanting to do consulting long term. I really like variety in project work, strategy vs. implementation/execution, and the idea of working with early stage biotech/medtech companies is really exciting. I think my long term view would be more tilted towards entrepreneurship or VC in lifesciences than corporate, because although I know I can do well in corporate the bureaucracy and how conservative/risk-averse most large companies are turns me off. Also, in terms of exposure my background is already in the industry so I already have a pretty good lay of the land in terms of functional areas (I have led projects from both R&D and Marketing perspectives).
My thoughts are with this boutique I can build the network with VC/PE/entrepreneurs if I want to exit that way, or using it as a springboard for a top 10 consultancy as a direct hire (with a lifescience practice). On that note, what do you guys think, can you move into top 10 after a couple years or so at a boutique?
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