Post-MBA IB or PM?!
Hello All ~
Really need some career advice!!
I'm at an M7 MBA and just got a return offer to a bulge bracket bank for a full time associate position. The difficult part is that I really did not like my summer experience (fantastic team, but I really didn't like the nature of the work and the work/life balance). My background is in Corporate Finance at a Tech company so my experience is all really Finance related but within the Tech industry. I've enjoyed aspects of Finance but not really sure it's my passion - I would say I'm more drawn to the idea of building things as opposed to investing or advising.
I have a strong hunch that a career in Tech (specifically PM) would be much better aligned with my interests (I like the idea of helping to bring products to life and leaning into my interpersonal strengths around collaborating, building empathy, informal influence), and provide a work/life balance that is much more in line with what I'm looking for. However, this all just a hunch. At the end of the day I have no offer, would have to spend my 2nd year re-recruiting for tech, and may end up not actually liking the job once experiencing it for real.
What would people suggest? Take the IB offer and suck it up for 2 years with the hope that I could exit to something more aligned with where I think my interests are (plus have a much wider opportunity set of exits opps I think?!). Or decline the offer and spend the 2nd year of b-school going all in on the PM path?
Really appreciate any help as I'm extremely conflicted. Thank you!!
Why not accept the offer and continue to recruit? Just don't spend the signing bonus (in case you have to give it back). I say this because I don't think the tech / PM market will bounce back this quickly. At least for tech / consulting, I think FT recruiting will be quite brutal - similar to how it was for internships.
This^ better to have an offer in hand at least instead of recruiting without one and reach Mar/Apr and you don’t get anything.
If you go this route, just don't tell your career center. Know someone that got a much better consulting firm FT offer by going this route (school never knew he accepted other offers but withdrew after getting the one he went with).
Thank you both for your thoughts. I think this is the right strategy as it's consistent with what other people I trust have suggested.
Also, this is a totally later problem and frankly something that shouldn't impact my current decision (I don't think) but I am curious what my odds would look like career pivoting post MBA. Lets say I spend Year 2 of the MBA soul searching and find that PM is my burning passion and attempt to recruit but don't get any offers come full-time due to the macro or some other reason. What would my chances of then pivoting to a PM role after 2 years of banking look like.. I assume pretty slim. I worry that doing the 2 years of banking post b-school will pigeon hole me a bit to high finance and shut the door on operator type roles such as PM.
Would love to hear any thoughts you guys have on this? Thanks a ton!
You bring up fair points and yes, I think banking may exclude you from PM roles for tech post-banking but it may get you some interesting looks at corporate strategy / development teams. If that's an exit you have no interest in going into then maybe banking isn't worth it. I personally wouldn't turn down the banking offer due to the lack of clarity of how FT recruiting will be this upcoming year.
The only reason I would recommend being cautious is the current economy's status. If it was 2021, I would say go for it and recruit PM FT when tech roles were plentiful. Unfortunately that's not the case anymore. I would network like crazy / try to find roles you're interested in and apply to them. 'Just in time' recruiting especially in the 2nd half of the year can be great to explore. The 'coolest' job offer that I saw from 2nd years graduating from my school was one of those type of roles that perfectly fit his background and will give him the opportunity to wear multiple hats that most post MBA hires wouldn't be given the reigns to do so.
Just like you, I did a lot of soul searching at the end of year 1 and realized striking out in IB was a blessing in disguise. Then revisiting the idea of consulting made me realize I would rather work in industry with better WLB / exposure post MBA even if it means lower pay.
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