What are the best alternatives of IB (or other high finance)/Consulting if people don't get in?

Looking for the best alternatives to these careers without a technical/engineering/medical/law background. Where do people that don't get in go? big 4? other than that?

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I'm interested in VC/Tech management, but this might be hard to reach without the prior experiences mentioned in the title. Looking for an alternative that could place me into a good MBA program to move into the industries mentioned in the title to then move into VC/Tech management. I know that good jobs are hard to get, but what are the "good jobs" aside from those mentioned in the description?

 
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  1. Big 4 Audit & Assurance: you are just going to gun for CFO role down the road. Get a CPA. You can always go and set up your own accounting firm. You can also move into doing FP&A for the audit clients that you had while you were working at Big 4.

  2. Corporate Development Programs: all the US major corporates have such roles. A rotational program to be a corporate executive. Exit - launch similar products/services down the road or join the competing firms for bigger payout.

  3. Industry Executive: find a sector that you like and start out as business development. Can be a startup or SME or large corporate. Work your way into senior roles.

  4. Bank - Product Management: covering financial products for a bank - not necessarily IB. Can be insurance products, mobile payments, or any other products.

  5. Real Estate: similar to 02 and 03 but exclusively developing your niche within the real estate industry. Doing either functions - brokerage, advisory and development. Cover a geographic area (i.e. New York) or a niche segment (i.e. multi family house), or a client segment (i.e investment visa investment).

 

re #1 - Have good friend who started Big4, spent 5 yrs, launched their own local version offering similar services to small er clients. Have grown to a decent size regional firm with many high end (but local, smaller) clients, including family offices, startups, and your typical 100 employee firm. They're services include outsource CFO, capital raise search, etc. so they work closely with PE shops, banks, etc. Could easily see them partnering with VC / PE (or becoming part of staff).Lot of entrepreneurial deal making potential. Sometimes they act as a pseudo banker getting deal fees for aligning capital parties with deals.

Partners make 500k+ for a loooong time and have equity.

 

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