Working at MBB or other top tier firms make you overqualified for exit opps?
(Orangutan, 289
Points)
on 12/1/11 at 11:20am
So, I was just came back from a 4-day MBA recruiting event at a fantastic resort for a global FMCG firm and met many fantastic people with top notch MBB / GS type work experiences with excellent academic pedigrees.
Having interacted with about 40 odd of the aforementioned people, I came to the point where it seems like the job market is really tough out there for these people. Most of the MBB HBS consultants I met seem to tell me that many non banking/consulting companies regarded them as too overqualified and tend not to consider them even though they were comfortable with taking a paycut.
Experienced consultants, have you ever experienced that?
I'm not in industry, but I
I'm not in industry, but I can offer some thoughts:
1) Even if they're willing to take a pay cut, is it a big enough pay cut?
2) Usually when someone's labelled as "overqualified", it can mean a couple of things:
-Overqualified in the wrong area (maybe wrong industry, maybe something else)
-Just another way to let the person down easy
-May have led the employer to believe that they don't really want THIS job, just A job
3) This is a very elite group it sounds like, they may just intimidate their employers, especially people without similar backgrounds
Just some thoughts since consulting (and especially HBS/MBB) is considered one of the better ways to get a good corporate job, or so I've been led to believe. Also, it's a tough job market in general and there are a lot of unemployed people out there. With so many people to choose from, why take someone that is "overqualified" when you can get someone that fits the description of who you want to the t? Picking someone who is overqualified is as much a risk as picking someone underqualified. Not because the person can't handle the work, but because it could bore them (leading to less productivity) or they could just be applying for the job as a temporary/backup job, among other possible reasons.
"WSO is like the 300 for anti spamage. None shall pass." -happypantsmcgee
"You stop being an asshole when it sucks to be you." -IlliniProgrammer
So what are you expecting get
So what are you expecting get out of this retarded question? Don't take MBB because you might be too employable and awesome that broke ass clients will think they don't even have enough to pay you?
That's a like a girl having a problem of being too hot or a rich guy being too rich. Sure there might be problems, but they're problems we wish we all had.
Crap like this annoys me.
Looking through her posts I
Looking through her posts I can see how she can ask such a retarded question.
I hope you're good looking, through probably not after working in banking/consulting.
D M wrote: I'm not in
I'm not in industry, but I can offer some thoughts:
1) Even if they're willing to take a pay cut, is it a big enough pay cut?
2) Usually when someone's labelled as "overqualified", it can mean a couple of things:
-Overqualified in the wrong area (maybe wrong industry, maybe something else)
-Just another way to let the person down easy
-May have led the employer to believe that they don't really want THIS job, just A job
In my experience it is usually when the recruiter beleives the candidate will not enjoy the job because it is too easy/mind numbing for them. E.g. Obama applying to be a checkout chick at Wallmart. He would probably do a better job than the others, but it's clear that he will not be satisfied, given his previous employers include, the people of the USA.
timothy0 wrote: D M
I'm not in industry, but I can offer some thoughts:
1) Even if they're willing to take a pay cut, is it a big enough pay cut?
2) Usually when someone's labelled as "overqualified", it can mean a couple of things:
-Overqualified in the wrong area (maybe wrong industry, maybe something else)
-Just another way to let the person down easy
-May have led the employer to believe that they don't really want THIS job, just A job
In my experience it is usually when the recruiter beleives the candidate will not enjoy the job because it is too easy/mind numbing for them. E.g. Obama applying to be a checkout chick at Wallmart. He would probably do a better job than the others, but it's clear that he will not be satisfied, given his previous employers include, the people of the USA.
To be even more precise, if an employer thinks someone is overqualified, they think that the person will leave for something better at the first opportunity. It's not an issue of being intimidated or ego, but one of pragmatism. It may or may not be a correct conclusion in a particular situation, but it's a concept that can arise in almost any organization.
cibo wrote: Looking through
Looking through her posts I can see how she can ask such a retarded question.
I hope you're good looking, through probably not after working in banking/consulting.
I hate that people like you exist.
From an MBB firm and went
From an MBB firm and went through the transition process recently - a lot of people mentioned that at the Project Leader/Engagement Manager level, leaving MBB can be harder than expected unless you have an industry or practice area specialization.
Specifically, it seems like employers get hung up on paying someone (even after a pay cut) a pretty serious salary for some time to "learn the industry/company". Naturally, no consultant or manager wants to go into a rotational or non-manager role.
I have heard from managers/principals that they feel increasingly forced into corp strat roles as a result (rather than line management or other operations roles). In some cases, you can go in with the understanding that you will make an internal transition later (e.g. use the corp strat role to learn the business then lateral into a line management role).