Strategy& London Reputation / Exit Opportunities
Considering an offer with S& UK, but was wondering if anyone could clarify the firm's reputation / exits either into industry or PE / VC? I have heard a lot about the options available to MBB, but not so much for firms such as S&, so would love any insight!
Most exit ops are possible. Slightly less visibility than MBB (especially the M)? Sure. But if you work and network hard, PE, FAANG and the likes are all possible.
Thanks! Would you say that S& gets looks / reached out to by headhunters / recruiters, or would exits to industry / PE be much more dependent on personal initiative? I mean I know that the latter is always important (and that consultants regardless of firm have to network on their own anyway to find their dream exit), but I guess this filters back to how visible the S& brand is from the POV of headhunters and the like!
Have I just had selection bias towards looking at solely UMM/MF? As when I look at the London funds, I have literally only ever seen MBB. I haven't seen anyone from S&/EY-P/OW/the likes. Do I just need to look at smaller funds?
Bump - would love to hear thoughts on this!
Most PE exits I have seen have been middle market. MF are quite rare; but let's be honest consulting in general is not their primary feeding ground.
In London PE is way more competitive than the US, with fewer seats and a less structured recruitment process.
Any recruiter in London I ever talked to said “MBB only” or they don’t even talk to you for PE recruiting. A guy I know at a MF told me that in his 2 years there he never saw anybody outside MBB being invited for an interview.
I don’t work in the industry, but looking at LinkedIn I see way more people from M than BB in PE, so I am under the impression that either you’re in M or it’s nearly impossible to work in PE (speaking of investment roles).
This^
Yeah fair enough, I am not really interested in PE anyway
How about corporate side roles though - have you come across the sentiment of "MBB only" for roles in corp strat / etc.?
Not in consulting but seen a couple from S& go to Google as a Financial Analyst (as I understand it's a wider job scope that your typical FA and pays relatively well)
I don't think you will have issues in finding a corporate strategy role coming from S&.
Even when I wasn't in MBB as soon as I passed the first year mark I started to get flooded by headhunters messages about various opportunities in industry. I don't know anybody n S&, but I have friends in LEK, Roland Berger and OC&C in London and I have seen a fair amount of them getting roles in various industries, from media and retail to tech.
I have also seen quite a few of them coming back to consulting after 2-3 years in industry, mostly because they were missing the good stuff about consulting (e.g. you don't have to wait for your superiors to retire or change job to get promoted and get a salary raise).
Interesting, would they rejoin the same firm after these 2/3 years off, and would they gain credit for these years in industry or have to rejoin at the same level? I can see some firms seeing this industry experience as a positive.
Also, your point about slow progression in the corporate world. Does this pose an argument for staying longer in consulting/trying to reach partner, and then lateraling in straight to the C-Suite level as a senior as being a potentially more efficient route to the top than lateraling after 2 years?
Thanks for the reply - it is definitely heartening! May I ask how your career is roughly going? What did you leave your non MBB consulting firm for!!
I joined MBB and plan to stay as long as possible.
This is my third consultancy, so I have a pretty good view on what different consultancies do, and I just enjoy the pros of consulting more than then cons that could put me off.
Fair enough! How was the process of changing consulting firms? Did you do the same case interviews / use the same application process as say an undergrad applying, or did you do it differently?
In terms of getting an interview, process is the same unless you know someone that can refer you. In my case I was lucky and got two referrals from alumni of my previous firm, one of which I just approached on LinkedIn. Quite remarkable given how little networking normally matters to consulting interviews in Europe.
Interviews are the same, just expectations are higher. As an "experienced hire" you join a particular functional group (e.g. Growth, Organisational Design), so during the interview you tend to get more case studies aligned to that group as they really want to make sure that you do know a lot about the field you are supposed to have experience on. If you have done strong projects previously that's fine, but if you were a weak performer at your previous firm you will have a hard time.
So I assume that since you are an experienced hire, you'd join at the same "rank"?
What if you were to join again as say a generalist. Or would you recommend joining as an experienced hire given flexibility in staffing?
I will be joining at the same rank, but quite often that's not the case. Experienced hires in MBB typically have at least 4-5 years of experience, and I have seen like "Senior Managers" with 7-8 years of experience in other consultancies joining MBB as an Associate/Consultant (practically bein downgraded).
At least from what I have seen in Europe, even if you join with an MBA you will hardly be treated as a "generalist". MBB is very good at using your skills, so if you come from say the Energy industry you will find yourself doing a lot of these projects. Where I am they allow you to branch out and explore other functions/industries, but I am not sure that's always the case.
Interesting. So what eventually made you to switch to MBB? Did you already have that game plan in mind that you'd want to switch after finding your niche after 4/5 years at your first firm?
It wasn't really planned, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I was planning to stay in my previous firm for longer as I had a good track record and reputation, in a few years I could have made it to pre-partner level. But then the opportunity to change presented itself while at the same time things at my previous firm changed for worse very quickly.
Haven't been long enough in MBB to judge, but in my two previous firms I saw things changing very quickly, like losing key clients or failing to meet one or more strategic objectives (speaking of pre-covid times, now it will probably be even worse). I am starting to realise that it's hard to plan a long-term career in consulting, at least in Europe/London.
Oh dear - glad that you managed to get out haha. Would you have any tips for new joiners to see if / when a consulting firm is changing very quickly for the worst, in order to prepare backup plans?
I would look at: - Time on the bench: if you are spending more than 1-2 weeks without being on a project that's a sign that the project pipeline is weak - Client mix: if 30-40% of your colleagues do project for a single client that's quite risky because if that client pulls the plug then they have to make a lot of people redundant. I have seen it happening twice already (luckily not where I was working) - Promotions: are people really promoted based on merit? You will find places like Accenture and the Big 4 where they have long queues of people waiting to get promoted even at just Senior Consultant/Manager level because there are just not many seats; no matter how good you are, if your team/group is not growing you won't get promoted (particularly in overly saturated groups like corporate strategy or PE) - Interns and junior hires: do they keep hiring the sons and daughters of clients and friends? They will be less motivated and you will end up doing their share of work too - Strategic plan execution: most firms will have company-wide events where at least once or twice per year they will announce their overarching growth strategy (e.g. open a new office in a certain geography, sell more of a new type of projects, etc.); if within 6-12 months you don't see any tangible result it's because they are not competent enough to do it and they are not willing to make partner-level hires (and share the cake with more people) - External investors: it's not unusual that smaller boutiques get a minority investment from PE funds (e.g. Alix Partners a few years back). Sometimes Partners will become greedy and push to make short-term changes that will have long-lasting negative consequences just to cash out in 3-4 years when the PE sells their stake.
Not familiar with the PE space in U.K specifically but in both U.S and H.K, its Bain > Mck >> BCG >>>>> LEK/S&/EY-P > Others (impossible) for recruitment. For UMM/MF deal teams, it is mostly BB IB and Bain (with some Mck scattered in between). Lots of MBB/S& on the OPs side however.
Bump
Bump
bump!
I saw one guy with 2 years at S& London entering a US BB as an intern
He studied at cambridge (if it matters)
was that as a summer associate? No chance they were doing that as a summer analyst. If he went cambridge, he probably networked to get an informal position and hence role at the end
Not a summer associate, he was an an off cycle intern at a BB. Actually kind of anxious about getting the A1 offer asap
Could also relate to a guy with 1y of experience in S& London who didnt get the offer (also applied to the same BB) so doesnt seem something that crazy
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