Career Guidance --- Ops to Strat/Deals?
- Engineering PhD from Oxbridge
- Never made it to MBB first rounds (likely A-Levels too low), most T2s didn't invite me to interview, but of those that did I was rejected after final round
- I have two consulting offers: one is a boutique TMT consultancy, the other is a reputable operational manufacturing consultancy
- I'm still in the running with two T2 firms… their process is frozen until the new year
The operational firm is more prestigious and I'm hedging more towards that---pay/progression is stronger (+£10k), colleagues are all Oxbridge/MIT/very switched on---downside is the travel (Mon-Thurs client site) and it's ops/implementation. It could honestly be very fun for a year though.
The TMT boutique does strat/M&A/ops but isn't that prestigious, and the employees seem like a very mixed bag in terms of competency/ability.
Ultimately, I want to get to strategy/deals/M&A, I genuinely think I'd enjoy this work a lot; but also want to open up IB/PE/strategy exits as potential career options.
What's the play to be made here? Work for one year at one of these firms and look for a lateral move to a T2/MBB? I have enough work-experience built up to be considered either an 'experienced' or 'grad' hire (seconded to various companies during PhD): what would be best to do here?
At Bain London we have a good few people from boutiques (actually not a crazy number from T2s, except S&). Granted it's not like for like, but my point is that it should not prevent a lateral move 1-2 years from now.
That being said, I'd pick Strat over Ops, both for lateralling later & given your goals. Ops experience really is more valuable (I think) if you actually work as an operator (ie not a consultant, lawyer, doctor, or finance/audit person), so say Marketing/Product/Logistics at Unilvever/Vodafone/Danone/Other.
Having a PhD is not a bad thing, although to be honest at Bain London there is no reward for having one, speaking from experience (unlike BCG / McK, in case that's a factor). For the future, Id make sure to build up your case interview skills (when you try again you will have to case again and it is a weird skill that needs to be maintained) and to work on making your resume as punchy and outcome-oriented as possible.
Finally a word of caution: Im not sure how you're assessing the "mixed bag on competency/ability" given you haven't worked there yet. I hope this isn't just based on judging their universities on LinkedIn. People will surprise you. Of the highest performers in my office, I don't think a single one of them is Oxbridge.
In any case, best of luck to you! Happy to answer more questions about Bain London or transitioning to consulting from doing a PhD.
Thanks! It's not an easy decision to make, to be honest. In terms of building up experience to move on from, the TMT is the obvious choice. In terms of choosing a company I'd be happy with for the next few years (pay/progression/exits to industry), it's the Ops firm.
After all of the prep I did, I'm sort of salty that many firms didn't even take me to first round. Many, after networking/having CV vetted by MBB consultants. Ultimately, I don't have consulting/financial internship(s), and I think this let me down.
One thing that could help soften the blow: what're typical MBB intake sizes for London? I can work the rest out from there (given current market conditions, etc).
Prep
Typical MBB intake sizes for London
Best of luck
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