1 month into boutique consulting- Need career advice!
Hi everyone!
I just started my consulting career (~1 month) and the stuff that I see my co-workers are doing seem overwhelming... even though my office culture is very supposed to be chill and laid back among new consultants OUTSIDE OF Work, obviously. The firm primarily focuses on primary research (only ONE way to do it: calling industry participants to collect information). We are doing work on high profile companies (think fortune 500) but most of the projects seem to have a fast turnover time (less than 2 months).
The company that i joined is a private boutique consulting firm so even as a consultant (which is the equivalent to an analyst at other firms), I'm only being paid in the range of $45-50k a year, which seems very low compared to others in consulting (but then this firm is also located in a cheaper city/state compared to Boston/NYC). The hours are longish (50 minimum, 60 + sometimes, depends) But we also have much better autonomy - no one is really watching you do work, micro-managing you
My original plan was to stay here for 1-2 years (max) and then moved onto other consulting firms once I've gained my skills in consulting. Just because I know there is no way this firm can ever pay me the salary that I want (the ones that are directly above me don't seem to make much).
The problem is: Within this month of training/doing a bit of research work, I already have my times of feeling somewhat burned out at times. (Like I'm very happy with the weekends when I'm actually able to get my minds off the project.) I think part of it is just that I'm not used to workload that requires me to produce results (though, the manager is never really like mad when i say i can't do it). Another big part of the reason I'm not really happy may be the fact that I'm not a very sociable person and I'm not really like friends with a lot of people here. (I moved from out of state just for a job opportunty in consulting).
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From what I heard, you need to be a people person and have a lot of confidence talking to your clients/manager about your research, is it true? How should I learn since I'm very introverted?
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I've heard rumors that a lot of people go in and out of this company (and a lot of the people here are NEW hires - even in the senior levels). Should I take this as a warning sign? I mean, i know my salary/benefits is meh and also no 401k yet!!! -____-
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It is also in a very white state....and the company was very white (just a year ago)...this year they suddenly decided to promote diversity (hire more women and people of color). Is it weird? Or is it a good thing? They are a private company- so i guess they could literally do whatever they want......Im only uncomfortable because I'm a minority and Im from a very diverse state.
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I'm more interested in financial services stock market (trading, financial advising, wealth management etc) SINCE I want to be able to better manage my own money. (I do have a bit of money to invest in : ~80K). I started investing 2 years ago with no formal experiences. 1st year: 25%-30% gain. Second year until Now: I've been losing a lot in the stock market and I do margin trading that magnify my loss).
---what do you guys think I should do in a situation like this? Are there exit opportunities? Should I stick with this company for a year (learn all my skills, gain soft skills like interpersonal skills, team works, communications skills and then move on)?
On a side note, people say that a big part of being a consultant is to be uncomfortable with new topic you don't know very much about, do your research, pretend you are very confident, and "Fake it until you make it")? Is it true????
Any advice is appreciated!! Thank you all!
