Been thinking of going back to Rx consulting after years in PE. Only hesitation is going back to the travel lifestyle. When I was younger, it was fine… but can see it being painful now that I am later in my career / have a family. A lot of people have talked about there being a huge change in lifestyle Post-COVID. Would be great to hear more on experiences since 2020.
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A little irrelevant, but hoping to learn more about RX Consulting exits, so wanted to ask– were you able to exit to an investing or operating seat in PE? What was it like going through PE recruitment from Rx and what are the common exits when it comes to the buy-side out of RX Consulting?
Also, I'm a prospect just interviewing for a SA role at a well-known Rx consulting firm (Big 3), but from my chats so far, I've learned that travel really did slow down post-pandemic and now that people have realized that remote work is efficient too, traveling to client sites in Rx consulting is a lot less frequent and typically only happens at the beginning of an engagement and checkpoints throughout the project, rather than every day of the project being spent on-site.
Kinda off topic but I'm interested in RX consulting as well, curious about your background (target college etc?) and did you already receive an offer or are you going through the process? How difficult would you say the interviews are, and what insights about exits etc have you learned through your research?
Non-target, interviewing rn. Interviews aren't difficult but you have to know how to utilize excel well and know accounting techs. Exits seem to range including C-Suite (CFO, maybe CEO/COO?) but typically FP&A-based roles, PE Ops (sometimes investing), RX IB, private credit, distressed credit or investing, etc. Hard to find people who left the industry if I'm being honest, but I feel like the exits can be whatever you make of them (as in how you sell your experience in rx). Some roles definitely need much more work to get into than others but it definitely seems firm-dependent and I don't really have much color on big 3 exits apart from C-suite for seniors if I'm being honest.
I’m relatively new here—I started in 2023 at a RX consulting firm—so I’ll share my limited experience so far.
Travel has definitely decreased compared to pre-COVID (at least, that’s what people in the office say), but we’re still traveling for every deal, especially if the company is prepping for filing or has recently filed.
That said, companies are more open to remote work now. Once the most intense or complicated phase of a deal is over, we usually work remotely or just go into the office if we’re staffed with people from the same location. Since we do national staffing (not sure how common that is elsewhere), you could end up working with colleagues from different offices. That part kinda sucks if you’re not traveling, since you may never get to meet them in person—but I do like the flexibility of remote work. Every now and then, though, it’s nice to catch up in person with the people you’re working with.
Ultimately, travel depends on the deal. If it’s a big one making headlines, expect to be on the road more. If it’s a smaller deal in the middle of nowhere, probably less so. But overall, there’s still a decent amount of travel.
Hope that helps! Happy to answer any further questions.
Second this.
OP - What type of shop are you looking to go to? Debtor vs. Creditor as well as larger (AP, A&M, FTI) vs. smaller shops (BRG, Ankura, PPP)?
Overall, I think travel has been much less compared to pre-covid but it really is deal dependent. I have co workers who have been traveling for almost half a year (weekly at the beginning of the engagement and bi-weekly as things normalize). And some of my other colleagues who rarely travels.
I've worked on restructuring engagements off and on the last couple of years. The usual pattern is that the initial phase of the project when everything is on fire will require weekly travel. Sometimes, that travel was Su-F since the client was a mess - it absolutely sucked.
Once the Company is a bit more stable, we usually went every other week or every third week. It really then comes down moreso to the client and how much face time they require or how much they want to pay to fly people out. It could be as little as never outside of colocation sessions with the team to a city someone was located (we have a national staffing model). Or, if you're unlucky, you could still be required to show face a fair amount of time - just depends.
Long story short is I wouldn't expect 100% travel, outside of the initial phase of the engagement, but I'd expect at least 50% or more.
Just curious, why do you want to go back to Rx consulting from the PE side?
I currently work at a smaller middle market firm (~40 professionals), so my insight may vary with those who are at the Big 3. Travel has been lighter post-covid, but it really does depend on the deal. Most of my engagements have been local or within an hour drive recently, so I haven't had to travel much at all in the last 12 months. However, prior to that I was on the road almost weekly (M-Th) for 6 months. As others have said, once you put out the critical fires, the travel becomes less frequent and some clients don't mind remote work or even have a culture that prefers it. I think over the course of the year you should expect 50% at a minimum, but don't be surprised if you get staffed on a deal that requires 80% for a while. The larger firms (Big 3) will likely have heavier travel than smaller firms but there are always exceptions.
That being said, your point about traveling with a family isn't something you should take lightly. I think it probably depends more on how old your kids are. If they are younger I think the potential travel could be tough, but if they are older, getting close to college-aged, then it may not be as big of a deal. I see quite a few professionals come back to the Turnaround/Rx industry in their later years when their kids are grown, which makes sense. For me personally, this is something I grapple with now with a growing family. I love the work, the compensation is great, I generally don't work crazy hours like IB, but the travel will likely be the reason I eventually leave the industry for a period of time.
Completely agree on family / travel being the biggest consideration of the move, which why I am not sure I want to go back. I was 90%+ traveling when at a big 3 and PE ops (now in deal team so much less).
My rationale behind wanting to go back is that 1) I think I am much better operator than investor… not that I am a bad investor but know my strengths; 2) carry is not what it is made up to be, these days the only place to get real outsized returns is at the lower end of the LMM (read sub $5mm EBITDA) or mega fund sized deals… everything else is caught up in super competitive processes; 3) the competitive nature above and relaxed view of leverage is going to create a lot of restructuring opportunities; 4) you need to stay long term at a fund for the carry to really be worth anything and I am not sure I want to do that. In most scenarios, after you leave, the carry ends up a fraction of what you thought it is worth… so unless you stay long term it is worthless.
The real options are stay and accept that carry is probably not going to be this crazy wealth mechanism that it has been over the past few decades, try to start a small independent sponsor / fund, and lastly go back to the sell side (this case rx consulting). The last one is the safe path / highest visible cash comp, but comes with travel and less control over your schedule.
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