Jump To Consulting This 'Late' In My Career

Looking for some career advice as I'm thinking about pivoting from an 'industry' role into consulting. I feel like this will set me up for my dream role of becoming an operating partner in healthcare PE, but that's just a hunch given what I've seen from the few roles that are out there..

I have 8 years of experience in medical technology/diagnostics, with expertise in a wide variety of functions: commercial strategy & ops, corp dev, product, marketing, etc.. currently a Senior Manager with an annual total comp of $300K.

- How feasible is it to make a move from industry to consulting, with no prior consulting experience?

- Would I need to get an MBA?

- Would I be taking a major haircut in title and pay to make the jump, or can I come in at my current level?

- What firms are the top tier med tech shops? Likewise... what groups/functions are most attractive?

5 Comments
 

IMO you'll probably have to apply to a post-MBA position as an industry hire (this is for MBB, not sure about the others). We are talking about a ~100k haircut in pay here...

Maybe you can leverage your experience and join a consulting in an expert track (MBBs have the expert and the general career tracks) as an expert EM or even AP - you should reach out to experts in Linkedin with similar backgrounds to understand this better .

good luck!

 
Most Helpful

Howdy, been at a T2 shop for the past three years. Will take a stab at your q's

  • How feasible is it to make a move from industry to consulting, with no prior consulting experience?

    • Should be relatively feasible, especially right now when nearly every firm is swamped and trying to grow headcount

    • Will require aggressive networking. Would leverage family, friends, university network, linkedin, etc. and start having informational convos as soon you have done enough hw to ask smart questions

    • Would also start case prepping and getting smart on the latest consulting trends (e.g., read WSO, listen to the McKinsey podcast, etc.)

  • Would I need to get an MBA?

    • Would make the process a lot more straghtforward, as you'd then go thru on-campus recruiting infrastructure, but this path is not for everyone. If you went this route, you'd come in as a post-mba associate/consultant and make a bit north of $200k all in if at a big firm

  • Would I be taking a major haircut in title and pay to make the jump, or can I come in at my current level?

    • If you came in without an MBA, you'd either be a Senior Associate/Consultant (200-230k) or potentially a Manager (250-300k). You would not come in as a senior manager as this is not possible for someone with no consulting experience. 

  • What firms are the top tier med tech shops? Likewise... what groups/functions are most attractive?

 

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