Hi All,
I am about to start my MBA and trying to decide if I should go banking or consulting (yes, I'm coming from PE, but not going back for reasons we won't dig into). This post isn't to debate the pros/cons of banking vs consulting. What I'm wondering is this: how doable would it be to transition from post-MBA banking into consulting? Would consulting firms value bankers and give us credit for most our years of experience? I understand I'd take a pay cut, but would ideally want to come in at a similar job title level as if I'd done consulting right out of MBA.
I tried to search and didn't find much, so sorry if I missed anything good. Appreciate any insights!
Thanks
There are plenty of consultancies with a focus on banking clients or strategy. When I was at a large corporate firm we had McKinsey as M&A advisors on site for more than eight months.
So you're saying, that group at McK would want to hire an ex-banker? Good to hear. And being a little older as a post-MBA banker wouldn't be an issue?
The people I met in that team specifically were all ex BB analysts and VPs. For whatever reason they didn't want to return to banking post MBA and went to McKinsey. I dont' know why, but they seemed happy about it.
I can't speak about age, sorry. I don't have an MBA and never worked in MBB. But I have worked at other consultancies.
Got it. Thanks. I know you can do anything coming out of MBA, but wasn’t sure if those opportunities are still there after doing post-mba banking.
Corporate M&A advisory is big business for all the clients that don't have (good enough) strategy teams. I met these strategy teams and all they had was an MBA, they never worked in a BB or M&A before, so they would need help on deals that don't need a full BB attached to it. They are SMEs in their own area, they just don't have a clue about how to structure a deal.
I did a year (+ summer) at an EB post-MBA then switched to MBB. Fairly common for bankers, lawyers, and PhDs to switch over to consulting and the firms are open to it, provided you worked at a reputable firm and went to a good school. However, you'll come in at the post-MBA level regardless of how many years out you switch into consulting, so it's in your interest to make the switch sooner than later.
This is great to hear and very helpful. Can you shed more light on what the recruiting process is like? I assume pretty unstructured? And I assume still very heavy on case method interviews?
Fairly unstructured. McKinsey and BCG are pretty open to year-round off-cycle recruiting, Bain takes more in 2 waves throughout the year. Definitely have a referral from one of your MBA classmates to get in the door. Interviews are the standard case interviews you find online / through your MBA's consulting club. A bit annoying having to learn to case while working full-time but it can be done. Case and behavioral / PEI are weighted roughly equally in importance.
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