Linkedin SOAR Program
I have been seeing ads for linkedin's SOAR program: https://careers.linkedin.com/students/soar
This seems like a pretty sick gig.
Anyone know about this program? Specifically the pay and how it would compare to MBB/other consulting offers.
This is basically their entry-level strategy position. It's a very selective role, they take 20 per class and most come from top schools. You get to move through a bunch of rotations (product, GTM, elective, elective) that cover a wide range of business functions. Linkedin will definitely have a much better WLB than MBB, even in tech it's known for good lifestyle, and you probably get a bunch of tech company perks.
Some exits include PM, strategy at other companies, data science / analytics, marketing, even VC in the longer term. Some also choose to stay at the company and can move into other functions like corpdev. I would assume that MBA placement is great - Linkedin showcases two analysts who went to GSB which shows the caliber of people the program looks for and how respected the program is.
It's a fine role, definitely worse than MBB. Most of the analysts they pick had pretty mediocre work experience their junior year (big 4 consulting, random F500 roles, etc). In the end, you do get some good work experience so it's solid enough.
Back before MBB would give all their interns return offers, there was a running joke at my office that all the kids who didn't get return offers would go to this program.
They do occasionally land a few very sharp kids, but if you get the offer, I'd basically consider this equivalent to a T2 consulting offer.
Interesting. If one has an MBB offer, would you see any reason to take SOAR instead? I feel like the some of the SOAR rotations can be very valuable.
Yeah some of the rotations can definitely be valuable but it's not really anything you wouldn't learn at an MBB if you wanted. You'll likely exit at a higher point from McKinsey than you would from LinkedIn, and at the very least, your experience is way more transferrable to other roles and industries (even within tech).
Also, for what it's worth, in my opinion, LinkedIn sucks as a website and is just a really boring thing to work on.
Shout-out to the commenter above whose unabashedly positive comment makes clear he works in this program and is the one who immediately gave me MS.
I don't work there chill bro
I work in growth, so this is just an external opinion having known people in the program. IMO, the vast majority of the folks in the legacy S&A program were of much higher caliber -- going to LinkedIn over return / cross-offers in MBB, top banks, other strategy programs (i.e. Disney), etc. I believe the S&A program wasn't pure biz ops, but included possible rotations in corp dev, M&A, product marketing, etc; Biz Ops was just 1-2 of the 4 possible rotations in the program. Hence the experience was broader and could be sold as a more comprehensive bootcamp in tech strategy & finance, with exits to other tech co's, tech investing, etc.
In the new SOAR program, is seems as if the program is more narrowly focused on completing a series of Biz Ops rotations only, which is generally applicable at the Associate level in Biz Ops / tangential roles (i.e. Sales Ops) at LinkedIn or other companies. Not sure if this is the reason, but the most recent SOAR class did seem to take kids primarily from Big 4 / F500 internships unlike S&A.
Why would they change it that drastically?
The previous classes were actually primarily Big 4 / F500 as well (with a few exceptions who I know and respect a lot). Ultimately though, I agree that the caliber has still meaningfully declined with this "new" version of the program.
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