Strategy Consulting London Exit Opportunities - Overrated?

Above poster gave a very good explanation.

I'm from the same firm at a US office, but hopefully some of this is still relevant.

PE exits differ by tenure.

• Post-MBA / L5+ tend to exit into ops roles, as the MBB experience lends itself more towards strategy vs deal-side. (And frankly, PE firms want young talent to develop for their deal seats).
• Associates in their first 1-3 years can exit into both investing and ops, though investing is usually more sought after for a variety of reasons.

Corporate strategy / industry:

• Standard exit used to be manager+ would slide fairly easily into director level roles, with some able to swing VP roles and others settling for more junior roles. These people, particular the post-MBA types who came from other industries pre-consulting, tend to already have operating experience and have a good idea of what they're doing / getting into.
• At associate level, the line becomes blurrier. Some people are able to swing into director (esp. at smaller firms) while others move kind of laterally into senior associate roles. In general, MBB time does accelerate your career progression even when exiting as an associate.
• These exits are still happening all the time.

Start-ups:

• Personal observation is that startups have become even more popular and tend to be a good exit, especially at junior levels.
• Can be less attractive at more senior levels due to the job security aspect, especially right now.

General thoughts:

• Fully agree with above poster on the dimensions that people are looking for (hours, money, work type). Would stress the hours point even more. For many in finance, there is a wealth target before they exit the industry. For MBB, there is often a personal marketability target (I.e., I have been here long enough, seen enough, and done enough to land a better job).
• Exits are comparatively worse and harder to come by today than during normal times (and drastically worse than the great times we had a couple years ago).
• MBB network can be extremely helpful in the search process. Roles are often found and landed through personal MBB connections and the more formal alum recruiting pipelines.

Overall, I'd say MBB exits, while in a downturn, are still very real and remain a huge draw for the firms.

In London? Thats a big jump from BA damn