Why do they pay me for this crap?
So i work at a Big 4 firm for about a year now since I finished grad school (2 years full time) at 26yo last year...I have an MPH and in the healthcare group working as a senior. At first it this is exactly what I wanted, big firm, 130K starting salary and sign on bonus (way more than I expected).
Now its been a year and I am so unmotivated....the work I do is not difficult....my opinions and thoughts dont seem to matter too much and the managers & directors do all or most of the talking. I just help them with Excel files and other BS all day. Its not hard AT ALL...but i also feel like i am capable of more. More creativity, insight, etc and not just playing with Excel and putting lame PowerPoints together all day. And honestly I dont know why they even pay 6 figures for this crap! This is 50K work.
I feel like I should be happy...hours are good, pay is good, work is not too hard at all, and I am quickly paying off grad school debt. But damm, I feel like I need to quit and maybe find some small start up or something before I just get dumber and old. I am not sure what advice I am asking for other than to see if anyone else may feel the same or knows if any other big firms (or small ones) where I wouldnt feel this way.
How about you advise us monkeys on how to get to your position?
hahaha I ask myself the same thing everyday, and that's why I'm on WSO and looking for a job in PE/IBD/HF. It's great to be paid a lot for something that's relatively easy, but it sucks too feel like you could be doing more and aren't living up to your potential.
I'm in the same boat as you, getting paid way too much to do essentially nothing. I've found the starting a business on the side is the way to go. I can bootstrap it with my steady paycheck, and when it gets going enough I'll just quit my boring, unfulfilling job! Better take advantage of this cushy lifestyle while you can
Better getting 130k to do bs work than getting paid 60k to do bs work
As someone currently making $60k, I agree with this statement.
Hahahaha. I am literally in the same boat. I have a MS, I am a Senior in CIOA at a Big 4, well paying job, my group thinks highly of me, 30-40% nice projects but overall, I am getting the feeling that I am going to die one day without any accomplishment. At this point, I am being considered for a Manager but somehow I am beyond caring, even if they give me a Partner. A couple of us have started coding for a startup but the process is too slow. I am not from US - so I have visa issues for a startup of my own and I have expensive MS loans abroad - so I cannot do my MBA. And as a result, makes it impossible for me to move across tiers in consulting without MBA. I might move to London for a startup next year.
Nice post for venting out frustrations.
@mongoose, let me know if you need any specific help.
@hb36963
Based on your comment and that you are in CIOA I have a feeling we are at the same place. I was part of CIOA this summer and I THINK i still am. I am in tech as well but more on a project management level. Its funny but we are even more in the same position! I am also being told I may be considered for manager and for the first time in my life I could not care less about the next promotion! I am starting to talk to friends about ideas for a startup as well. i think all the firm does is kill brain power to think of ideas at the end of the day after staring at your computer for 9 hours of BS work. I dont know if switching to another group would necessarily make me feel more accomplished either though...do you think its more of a tech thing?
"How about you advise us monkeys on how to get to your position?"
-- Pretty much sums this up....
Regardless of how you feel, if you're quickly paying off your debt, at least stick around until that is gone, and then do whatever you want
.
To be honest I am not sure either lol. I am wondering if other are making the same...I know people that started few years before me are not but the new hires may be. I also negotiated.
I know some of the Big 4 offers ~125K range for MBA candidates that come in as a Senior Associate. So I can vlaidte his numbers are true. I think everyone is in the same boat as you OP, the real question is what you have astrong passion for, as cliche as that sounds.
You can lie to yourself all you want, but eventually it will come out/be evident, like how you feel now. My theory: The money and the honeymoon stage will only entertain you/engage you for only so long. Then its a matter of how challenging your work is: if its challenging, the longer you can stay at your job without being bored/feeling how you feel now; if its boring, then it expedites the process of you feeling misery. Passion and natural interest will be the only thing that can make you not hate your job.
I agree from some of the other posters. It would be fiscally responsible for your to at least tough it out to pay off your debts, unless your more interesting/passionate alternatives can pay them off as well.
@HealthcareConsultant did you get your MPH from a top target? I thought that 120 - 130K salary was primarily for graduates from a top MBA program. Did you have prior consultant experience?
The reason for my questions is I will be graduating with a non-MBA masters (supply chain management) in May, currently interviewing with the Big4, and wasn't expecting a salary near that level.
I actually got an MPA (I say MPH because most people are more familiar with it)....its basically MHA/MPH and MPA in healthcare - all the same. I went to NYU with only couple years of experience prior to grad school working at large healthcare tech firm.
Not a bad position to be in, notwithstanding the extreme boredom. I agree with other posters that you should pay off your school debts before pursuing a startup that may disrupt your steady flow of income in the short term.
I think there is a lot of room in terms of engagement between boring Big 4 job and jumping ship for a start up of some sort, without any actual direction. Not that there's anything wrong with going to a start up, but I can guarantee you there are a lot of healthcare focused jobs that aren't quite as boring as yours.
Where have others in your practice left for? What about classmates from your MPA program? Any client jobs/functions that seem interesting? Would definitely talk to a head hunter as well. Again, putting out feelers doesn't mean you have to leave immediately, but may as well start to see what's out there.
Its either consulting, hospital admin (largest group), or government for most of my classmates. I would lose my mind in govt lol. Hospital admin was previously a goal but i have seen friends in the hospital, until you are C-suite or VP level, or unless you have a clinical degree, you are basically a paper pusher. I do agree that its probably best to pay off the debt I have (which is down to only 35K at this point!) but maybe take the time to pursue some of the ideas I have had over time about doing my thing. Again I dont work that hard so i have the time! lol ....also just an fyi regarding my salary. I am in NYC...so the 6 figure salary does not go as far as it does in say ATL.
Definitely understand not wanting govt. at middle levels, and hospitals for that matter. Govt. is mind numbing unless your entry level or making real decisions that can actually be acted upon.
Have you thought about lateralling? You're probably a bit too early right now, but in the next year, I assume that a bunch of post-MBA/MPA/other healthcare degree will move on, leaving some solid opportunities for you. You probably won't get into MBB, but no reason why you can't go to Deloitte's S&O healthcare practice (I'm assuming you don't work there - no one I know works slow hours or calls it a Senior as opposed to SC), Trinity Partners, ZS Associates, just to name a few.
I know people at all three of those and they work pretty hard, but do mostly interesting stuff and are certainly not bored. Not exactly a HC expert though so I could be totally off base with potential for moving across firms.
Thats been my thinking, may at least look at Health IT strategy or the Healthcare Ops/strategy group. I think I need to do some networking and meet some partners in other groups.
Private Equity is a ton of Excel work as well. My experience in PE was maintaining financial models ( interesting at first until you have done it 1000 times) and building PP presentations for managing directors to peruse through. If you work at a PE fund that is fully allocated and waiting to harvest its investments its a ton of quarterly reports and excel model maintenance.
yea i have to say this sounds pretty lame too
Dude if you're interested in IBD, try to leverage your sector knowledge and get into a healthcare IBD group, the space is gonna be on fire for at least the next ten years. A healthcare banker I talked to expects the # of hospitals to decrease in the US by 25% in that time (no BS).
Yea thats definitely true. Many smaller hospitals will either likely shut down or just get a acquired by larger health systems.
However, I honest know nothing about banking. I am not sure that just having a healthcare background is a pass in healthcare division of IB. Also, i heard the hours are pretty awful..Id like to have some sort of life.
My situation is kinda similar. I got into BCG after obtaining my bachelor. The work is total BS (the assumptions, the work style, the so called value add...) and I am not satisfied. I am thinking of obtaining a master's degree in something solid like Econ. Maybe, work life was not for me in the first place
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