Operations and Strategy at Big 4: Exit Oppurtunities

MBAFin:

Hi Guys,

I have just completed my MBA in Asia. Prior to my MBA, I worked in Banking Ops for 3 years. Did my MBA to move to trading but wasn't able to make that transition.

I have an offer from a Big 4 in their O&S advisory division (senior Consultant) but I am not too keen to accept the offer because of the following reasons:
- The money: isn't great until you reach senior manager.
- No technical expertise: I am worried that if I continue in Ops and Strategy, I will never be able to do a core finance function like PE etc.
- Exit Opportunities: Would be of great help to know if you have any friends or colleagues who worked in O&S and did something else after.

Will it help if I do my CFA with the Advisory role and then try to transition into PE/Asset Management?

Thanks a lot!

Where is your offer in? In Asia or in the U.S.?

As for the money, you say it isn't that great and I don't know what your standard is, but getting a senior consultant offer in the U.S. in Big 4 operations (or S&O for Deloitte) gets you a base salary of 120k - 135k. Now, you say you want to do "core finance" long-term, but what the heck is core finance? If you wanted to break into private equity, you should have gone for investment banking route rather than consulting or even trading.

As for the exit opportunities, it depends on at what level you exit, but I've seen some sweet gigs people exit into, after being in operations, usually into the industry that they served.