Early transition fuckup

As title says, fucked up at work in my first year and put on involuntary transition at an MBB.

Thoughts on how to frame this in a way that doesn’t seem like I was fired and limit long term damage.

Ideas included reaching out to people in tech to talk about their careers. And stating that since the consulting > tech door has narrowed, you want to prepare your profile and just apply as early as possible until you land something since it can take a while. Have friends at most of the FAANG companies, but on the technical side, so their direct referrals are not as meaningful.

Or going overseas, such that there is an alternative explanation for leaving so early if anyone in the future asks.

6 Comments
 

Sorry to hear, last couple of years have been rough.

In terms of reframing, you can always present it as:

  • Having enjoyed your time and your work (esp. the professional development) but what really interests you is XXX industry / problem
  • Lots of learning but looking forward to really owning your work end-to-end / seeing the impact of your recommendation / etc.

These are fairly typical reframes, and probably not that inaccurate. Now if you really liked consulting but just happened to be unlucky, you can always try again down the line.

Basically, you want to cast this as a natural part of your career journey / professional goals.

 
Most Helpful

This happened to me 2 years ago at my 1-year review. It sucks. I still remember the words my career advisor said to me that day and my blank stare afterwards. This is probably the first time you've 'failed' at something, given that you are a very high achiever for getting into MBB in the first place. 

You'll be fine. I had 2 offers within 3 moths of job search, and this was during the rough Winter 2022 economy. Almost 2-years after the fact, I am in a much better place and I'm a top performer on my new team. 

This is my advice. It is lengthy, but I feel what you're going through and want to help.

  1. This is not nearly as uncommon as you think it is. If I have to estimate, ~15% of MBBers who join will end up counseled out at some point. And another ~10% will leave voluntarily because they see the writing on the wall. It's how the industry works, it's not like getting 'fired' in the typical sense because the firms plan for this. At around the 1-year mark, people will start to vanish from the office then you'll suddenly see an update on linkedin saying "xxx started a new role at yyy."
  2. The market is tough, so look beyond the "sexy" big tech and PE gigs. When I left, FAANG was doing layoffs and there wasn't much PE activity going on. Was I screwed? I thought so, but until I realized that there's so much more outside of tech and PE. I am on the strategy team at a no-name CPG company that you probably never heard of, and I'm set to make (next month when I'm promoted) 150k base + 20% bonus + additional equity options and I work 40 hrs/week max. Do I have a 'prestigous' linkedin that wso people are gooning over? No. But I'm doing quite well for myself at 25. Search broadly.
  3. If you have a convincing story, interviewers won't question it. You will get a lot of "why are you only leaving after 1 year?" To that, you should say: "I really enjoyed the work I was going at MBB, but I want to see the long term impact of the work I do in my own company as opposed to with other clients." or "MBB was a great learning experience but long term I want to work for a startup/smaller company." Never bash your current company, and do not say that you were fired. You're on transition, which means that you're still technically employed anyways. Many ex-MBB interviewers will completely understand your story since they too were miserable at MBB not too long ago.
  4. Leverage your MBB alumni network, career resources, and headhunters. My most successful job searches came from headhunters and the alumni job board at my MBB. Your MBB likely has a career advisor who can help you tune up your resume/linkedin. If you were close with any managers/partners, reach out to them as they might have some contacts (I wish I did this but I was too embarrassed). Cold applying is tough, but I still got some hits since the MBB name is great.
  5. In a few years, this won't matter. In 2032, nobody is gonna care if you were at MBB for 1-year, 1.5-years, or 2.5-years. You got the MBB tag on your resume for the rest of your life, which will do wonders for your career. 
 

I think C1 takes ex-MBB early exit folks and you could place on a more techy side there, could be a decent transition and easy to make the argument its a WLB motivated change. From my experience if you have a ~year experience you’ll probably get placed as a second year analyst in their ADP program and the pay for your first two or so years out of undergrad are actually pretty close.

 

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