Hi Everyone,
This is my first post ever here at WSO. I've started as a Business Transformation Consultant at IBM last fall after graduating from Northwestern.
I realize most of the projects here are in tech, and I really want to move into real Operations/Strategy consulting instead.
Does anyone know if it's possible to move to MBB (entry level?) within a year or two of working experience without MBA? If so, what are the things I should be aware of/how should I position myself? Please let me know if you do! Thank you.
bump
Thank you :)
MBB is probably out of the picture directly from IBM. IBM is a well regarded consulting firm and the experience is going to be great for your resume. MBB is just too far of a stretch. I do know people with 1-2 years of experience that had solid T2 offers while at IBM (OW and Deloitte, to be precise, all the T2 firms are potential laterals though).
IBM is also well regarded for b-school and the tech positioning/partnerships at the firm also provide opportunities to recruit for startups and other interesting roles. All of the normal consulting exits are also available (strategy arms of F500 etc). Congrats on the role, it's a great opportunity.
One question - what do you mean by "real" strategy? The work that IBM does is very important in the modern world and they consult at the strategic level (you might get rolled onto implementation, but honestly that's also a valuable learning experience). If you're not interested in tech, that's one thing, but if you end up on a digital strategy project at another consulting firm it's going to be similar discussions.
Thanks for the note. Yeah, it seems like what other consultants are doing in other firms (Accenture / Deloitte) for Digital / Tech consulting are very similar to what we do at IBM. And I also agree that IBM does great things and I am grateful for the opportunity.
I am not sure about my interest in Tech, and am aligned to the industry that I am not very excited about. I would love to work in a tech company with interesting product, but often times our projects are doing repetitive implementation work for the client. I have been in both strategy and implementation work at IBM, but I've been wanting to get more exposure to overall business, instead of only focusing on the IT side.
Strategy arms of F500 sound wonderful. Although I don't think I'd want to be doing the IT/Digital strategy work after this.
Would it even be possible to re-start as entry level consultants at MBB?
Probably not, but it can't hurt to try. It wouldn't really be a 'restart', you'd come in as an experienced hire. I'd make sure you understand what you're recruiting for if you get traction; it may be the case that they would assign you mostly digital work as an experienced hire anyways. I'm not sure how it works for pre-MBA experienced hires. In that case, you might be less willing to take a step backwards in progression just for the brand name.
I personally think you're better off trying to lateral to a T2 if you're desperate to try a new industry and break out of digital and then applying to MBB from there after 2 years or going to b-school (your digital background will be less of a factor from b-school than as an experienced hire). Even if you stayed at IBM and then did b-school, you won't really be pigeonholed, you'd almost certainly be considered an 'ex-consultant' much moreso than ex IT strategy when recruiting.
Is IBM consulting not considered T2? Any thoughts on going IBM -> big 4? I imagine Strategy& and Deloitte S&O would be a level up, but would going IBM to a big 4 advisory group be a move up and better positioning for MBB?
@mangomangomango I'm in the same boat as you (IBM -> MBB), just a year later lol. How did it go for you? I'm trying to make things happen but it's an uphill battle sigh
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