I am a senior BA/A/AC at an MBB firm in London and have been working here for the past 2 years.
I’ve been applying for opportunities outside consulting for the past 6 months, but it has been substantially harder to get any decent role than I thought it will be when I started working in consulting.
Things I have done so far: - Applied for about 30 strategy manager or associate roles at FTSE 250 firms, via LinkedIn or on their websites. Got a grand total of 2 interview invites. First one went well, but I was dinged after round 1 and the salary they quoted when I interviewed would require a massive pay cut anyway. The second one is still ongoing (got to the round two, but don’t think I’ll get an offer). - Worked with one recruiting agency. They seem to be more credible than other recruiters for strategy roles out there, but they managed to forward my CV to exactly two companies in the last four months and neither responded. Salary was a bit disappointing in both cases. - Responded to a number of LinkedIn recruiter messages - I get enough of those. Most roles sound quite good, but once I ask for salary I would always have to take a pay cut.
My question to anybody that has been in a similar position is whether it’s really that hard to get a decent job out of consulting in London or am I just doing something wrong? What’s the easiest way to get a great role? My CV is pretty strong and my interviewing skills aren’t that bad if that matters.
