I'm having a bit of a career crisis and I could use some advice. It's become apparent to me over the last couple years that I'm very much an introvert. I'm not overly awkward or anything, engaging with people just drains energy out of me and it's not something I enjoy. I can handle it in small doses, but I would much rather sit behind my computer and work on a model or a deck than interact with leadership or with a client. That has worked well for me during the first ~5 years of my career, but as I progress in the firm that is becoming less and less practical.
I think it's about time for me to leave my company and settle into something more sustainable long-term. Problem is, I'm not sure where to go or what to do. I'd like to still do something that pays well (reasonable pay decrease is fine) and recognizes the skills I've developed over the last few years through consulting and MBA, but I'm struggling to think of anything that would suit an introvert like myself.
I'm prepared to accept that I just need to buck up and adapt. But I would be remiss if I didn't at least explore my options first. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
Background: three years pre-MBA at MBB, top 5 MBA, two more years now at same firm.
OKsure, pure crickets, that's where I come in. Any of these useful?
If those topics were completely useless, don't blame me, blame my programmers...
Pick a strategy consulting firm that doesn't have too much travel. You'll mainly interact with local office colleagues which may put you in a more comfortable environment than meeting different people in different places all the time. If you're number savvy, the analytics departments at MBBs or other consulting firms don't get too many visits and you get to do pretty cool work
If you find investing interesting, working at a long-only investment management firm or the right hedge fund could be a fit. I'm in PE and find myself to be too introverted for a deal role (especially if I were to become more senior at my firm) so I share your sentiment.
Thank you both. I tried the investment management route once but was limited without a strong finance background. Non-travel consulting option is interesting.
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In nearly every role, the more senior you get, the more you are expected to sell. Either selling your company's products/services externally, selling your own work and thinking internally, or selling your own work externally. If you want to make it big, you need to get away from the spreadsheet.
The more moderately extroverted roles relevant to your background would be related to research or finance. For research, you can think of firms like Gartner/Forrester/etc. Maybe econ consulting, though it's hard to break in a few years out of your MBA. Real estate. Investing roles, though the more quant oriented ones are also difficult with your background. You're right in that fundamental based IM involves a lot of contact with companies that you cover, but you get to ask the questions, which might be more comfortable.
Many introverts thrive in roles that require contact with others, but where they are serving as the SME/chief decision maker internally. Operations roles can fit this bill at some companies. Still, you need to liase with finance, management, and your employees to get the job done and having some empathy is important for morale. Risk management as well - this can be a decent gig in FS, and involves you being the subject matter expert. Still, need to liase with the BU's. There are similar lending oriented roles where you aren't selling the products, but are managing risk and the loan portfolio. Same thing - still liasing with the BU's.
The only way to truly hide behind your laptop is to take a junior/mid level role with a company and never hope to advance.
Agree kind of with above except that operations is fucking terrible, and the soul-sucking aspects of the job can overwhelm the incompatability with being introverted pretty quickly. I'm somewhere in between myself (situational extrovert, generally introverted but I love socializing over shared interests/problem solving) and I much prefer consulting over my brief time in a back office role. The back office roles are so utterly monotonous and inane (think office space on steroids), with extremely limited potential, that you'll go insane quickly.
My suggestion is look at credit research. A strong strategy understanding is key to the job and most credit departments I've interacted with tended to have very introverted cultures where people prefer to be digging through the data writing their assessments The biggest profile part of the job is if you're asked to speak or go on TV as an SME which shouldn't be too bad.
This describes me to a T. If I don’t care about the subject matter, I have no problem not saying a damn word. It’s very hard for me to pretend to be interested and keep asking people questions.
On the other hand, if you want to talk business/politics/ (select) sports/ mountain biking with me, we can talk for hours.
Bump. Comments have been great so far.
Does consulting really require that much personal interaction
Seems like it would make more sense to stay in the industry but hop companies or departments. Why take a pay hit just to discover the grass is just as brown on the other side? You may be just the kind of introvert that does well in consulting. You just need to find (and customize) a role that gives you just the right amount of talking. At least 50% of the senior managers I know are introverts and doing just fine.
What did you end up doing? I find myself in a similar situation, but only 2 years in. I have been thinking about investment roles within RE, Infrastructure or Credit, which I think would be more quant heavy, or a move to a long-term family office, which I think would require less daily check-ins with new people.
I actually ended up starting my own business. A bit counterintuitive, but it's been great for me. In fact, I love working now. The nature of the business allows me to play to my strengths as an introvert, and to some extent it lets me decide how much I want to interact with others. But even when I have to speak with clients or partners, it's really not that bad.
The major realization for me was that it's much easier to talk about something you know or care about (as mentioned above), than something your job forces you to care about. In hindsight, that was the toughest part about being a consultant. I cared about my personal performance, but I didn't care at all if the client sold more gizmos.
What type of business did you start? Are you profitable?
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