Alternatives to Business
Say I'm getting sick of Finance from my internship, the modeling, the technical jargon, the soul crushing grunt work and then I realize that I'd like to go into a similar field where I would be able to make important decisions and have a career that challenges me everyday in a similar fashion. Where else could I turn to? Consulting I hear = finance in terms of how boring it can get, and Law/Medicine can also be boring/soul crushing. Scientist is okay, (astrophysicists rock) but they typically get terrible salaries until they hit a home run. Hedge funds and institutional asset management firms are similar to a hybrid between a boutique IB and F500 in terms of lifestyle/hours worked, (your average hf, not SAC obv) but they seem to be very solitary.
I'm not rocking PWM, but it seems like those guys have it made. Work 3 days a week, and relax the rest - better than entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers, what have you with exception to Marketers at the top places like Nike, Google and Apple.
- I know this sounds rambling, but I'm looking for alternatives to banking/finance/consulting as a career to pursue and I'm primarily interested in Marketing and relationship building. Any suggestions?
So it sounds like you want to do marketing? Do marketing then. You won't make as much as finance (salaries top out around 200k), progression will be slow at a F500, and there will still be grunt work. But your hours will be great.
I wouldn't get too hopeful about being able to "make important decisions" anywhere early in your career. You will barely be trusted to take Starbucks orders when you are hired.
If you like STEM, there are lucrative fields. Petroleum engineering is an awesome job. Being an actuary can also be great (if you have a deep love of math).
I feel like I'd be interested in something like marketing consulting or equity research or even prop trading lol. Anything that requires intelligence and rewards efficiency would be fine in my book, anything involving some type of research/decision making rather than mindless operations. I'm struggling to work 20 hours a week bored out of my mind which really makes me question how in the world I'd be able to do 100 a week at an IB if I were to go that route.
Also this goes for anyone, but do top marketing/branding firms like Nike, Coca Cola, Disney recruit on campus for undergrads for corp strat/marketing strategy positions? I've never seen an opening for such a position before, usually just IB's PWM and other finance type firms.
Dude, honestly this does not sound good. Your interests are all over the map. What are you doing for 20 hours per week that has you so bored? I really don't mean to be harsh, but you need to at least kind of figure out what area you are interested in. Talk to alumni, peers, your career center...
Literally no jobs out of undergrad will have you making important decisions. You are a college graduate with maybe a few months of professional work experience. You will be doing the most menial job at whatever company you work for. A degree doesn't come with a private office and a secretary anymore.
(a) Marketing - This was touched on, but it really doesn't "require intelligence and reward efficiency" and certainly doesn't involve "some type of research/decision making rather than mindless operations". These are relative assessments, but you are going to be at a F500. Even top departments are generally bloated and slow. Marketing guys work 35-50 hours a week. At the entry level, you will not be coming up with sales campaigns. You will be compiling customer data, and doing statistics 101 level math. The best marketing departments (P&G, General Mills) are in the midwest.
(b) Consulting - As a junior consultant, you will be making lots and lots of PowerPoint slides. About twice as many as a banker. You will still be doing 80 hour weeks. And about 50% of them time you will be on the road (varies depending on location/firm). In my mind, it's less challenging and more unpleasant than IB (I also hate airports and flying, so I am biased).
(c) Equity research - I can speak from personal experience here. You will likely not make a real "decision" for your first year. Because you know nothing, and clients expect extremely deep knowledge. They don't call analysts for questions they can answer themselves. Your analyst covers the companies, and you support him. This often involves manually copying data from into models. And it is 60-70 hours a week.
(d) Prop trading - Really? There are very few legit prop trading shops, and they are flooded with ex-BB talent at the moment. The washout rate is probably higher here than PWM. The guys getting jobs at Jane Street are borderline-prodigies who have been obsessing over trading and the markets for years. Saying "maybe even prop trading" is almost like saying "maybe becoming a professional athlete".
You also have to realize that no job, at an entry level, is going to allow you to "make important decisions" and will have interesting and challenging work all the time. Part of being an entry level or young career employee is that you do shit your bosses don't want to do. Then, if you can cut it and become a boss, you can make those decisions and make other people do that work. So many people seem to think that their job should be akin to Gordon Gekko's at 23-24.
Corp strat and marketing at top companies are primarily experienced and post mba hires. There are an extremely small amount of these jobs for undergrads.
The grass is brown everywhere. Especially, if that's the attitude you carry around.
Suck it up and make the best of a situation in a field that interests you. Work your way up, because you won't be starting at the top. By the way, who do you know who is successful in PWM who works 3 days per week?
OP, the only guys working 3 days a week in PWM have Daddy's rolodex supplying wealthy clients for the fleecing. unless you are in that position, you will be coldcalling housewives trying to unload 20 shares of some dogshit stock 60 hours a week.
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