Quick introduction about myself, I’m currently a 2nd year MBA candidate at an MBA business schools">M7 business school, and will be entering the ranks of management consulting following graduation. I was a social entrepreneur prior to b-school, and I spent the better part of my first year trolling the WSO boards, learning all I could about potential career paths from those who have been there before. Of course, career services and alumni outreach at my school helped a ton, but I can pretty confidently say I would not have gotten the job offers that I did without the knowledge gleaned from WSO.
Partly as a thank you, and partly for selfish reasons (I could very well be looking to exit into industry in the near future), I’ve decided to take the lead in creating a comprehensive Corp dev/strat/finance exit guide for bankers and consultants. PE/HF exits have been discussed to death, but for us older folk that desire more of a work/balance, I hope this thread can eventually turn into a comprehensive compilation of advice when our MC/IB gigs are up.
Of course, no industry careers thread can be started without mentioning the godfather of them all, started by harvardgrad08. For those that haven’t yet read it, here’s the link (//www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/the-other-road-corporate-development-associate-fielding-questions). The most important piece of information for me was the following structure he outlined, which I believe is accurate for all industries in sufficiently large companies (F1000). I have added my own notes in how long I have heard it takes to get to each position, either organically or through exit strategies.
Sr. Analyst: Generally candidates with 2-3 years of pre-MBA IB/MC experience.
Manager: Traditionally direct post-MBA hires. Associates/Consultants with 1-2 years post-MBA experience may come in at senior manager with shorter trajectory to director.
Director: Managers with desire and talent can make it to the director level in 3-5 years. Consulting engagement managers will likely exit at this position.
GM: Very difficult to predict how long organic promotes will take, may involve changing companies to achieve. Principals or junior partners in consulting may exit at this position.
VP: Obviously getting into tiny sample size territory, but anecdotally know organic promotes generally happen after a power struggle or being tapped as replacement after a long standing VP retires. Seniors partners or directors with deep industry knowledge/network may exit into this position.
That thread has plenty more helpful information, and has been invaluable for my own research, but as great as it some of the information may only be pertinent for bay area tech firms. Thus, I propose the following framework, and hope the community will help fill in the blanks and chime in with pertinent experiences/anecdotes. I’ll start it off with what I know from recruiting, classmates, and shamelessly ripping off other WSO threads, and continue updating it as this discussion (hopefully) expands. Please let me know if I left out any industries or disagree with the numbers.
Technology
Compensation (would love clarification on breakdowns between base, bonus, and equity):
Sr. Analyst: 150k
Manager: 200-300k
Director: 300-500k
GM: 500k-2M
VP: 2M+
Example companies: Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook
Preference for technical degree: Most companies highly prefer candidates with a CS/EE background, but not absolutely essential for employment (see: harvardgrad08). Have heard anecdotal evidence that most bay area tech firms do not respect MBA’s.
Pharma/Biotech/Life Sci
Compensation:
Sr. Analyst: ??
Manager: 115k base, 20k signing, 15k year-end, 10k equity
Director: 140k base, 15k signing, 25k year end, 45k equity
GM: ??
VP: ??
Example companies: Pfizer, Bayer, Bristol-Myers-Squibb, Medtronic, Baxter
Preference for technical degree: Helpful, especially an MD or clinically related degree, but not necessary.
Consumer Packaged Goods/Retail
Compensation
Sr. Analyst: ??
Manager: ??
Director: 160k base, 15k signing, 40k year end, 40k equity
GM: 200k base, 45k signing, 56k year end, 75k equity
VP: 250k base, 100k year end, 150k equity
Example companies: P&G, Unilever, Nestle, L’Oreal
Preference for technical degree: No preference, at least for MBA recruiting. Come to think of it, there probably isn’t a “CPG” technical degree.
Oil and Gas
Compensation:
Sr. Analyst: ??
Manager: ??
Director: ??
GM: ??
VP: ??
Example companies: Exxon, Shell, Chevron
Preference for technical degree: Highly prefer petroleum engineers, some companies will not even interview you for certain business positions without a scientific background.
Aerospace/Defense
Compensation:
Sr. Analyst: ??
Manager: ??
Director: ??
GM: ??
VP: ??
Example companies: Boeing, Lockheed Martin
Preference for technical degree: ??
*Disclaimer, all of my numbers are from anecdotal data points, and by no means should be taken as anything formal. Just trying to get the discussion rolling, and see if we can't create a collective database.
For Pharma, my experience has been more along the lines of the following. bear in mind my company has more sub-breakouts (ie senior manager, senior director, associate Vice president ect).. essentially the structure bridges salary gaps better, so there is never a promotion that gives a massive compensation increase. Note these are fore corporate finance, so CD/Strategy might be different. More likely, positions in CDStrategy are just at a higher level and higher position in a given salary band.
Sr. Analyst: 65k-80k base, ?? signing, 15% year-end Manager: 85-100k base, 2-5k signing, 20% year-end, Senior Manager: 100k-125k base, 20% Year-end Director: 125-150k base, 20% year-end Senior Director: 150k-180k base, 20% year-end Associate VP: 180-240k base, 25% year end, ???equity Vice President: 240-350k base, 25-30% year end
Great insight, thanks very much sir. Would SB if I had any. Follow up question if you don't mind, do your see consultants/bankers exit into corporate finance positions, or is it more towards the CD/CS side?
Here's the breakdown for Corp Dev in the industrial sector (note that the bonuses are paid half in cash, half in equity):
Sr. Analyst: 95k base, 10% year-end Manager: 125k base, 15% year-end, Director: 150k base, 20% year-end Senior Director: 185k base, 25% year-end Vice President: 230-330k base, 25-30% year-end
Just wondering who you know from an MBA business schools ">M7 placed into a director role post-MBA?
From my experience at Big Pharma, the people that have done consulting + MBA business schools ">M7 route have been placed into a 2-year LDP program that places into senior product manager or product manager.
Your experience is the same as mine, I don't know anybody who placed into a director role straight out of business school. LDP programs coming out of b-school usually place candidates in rotational programs, just as you say. Via consulting, which I am most familiar with, it's usually at the engagement manager level (3-4 years post-MBA) which exits into director level positions in industry.
Does anyone have a compensation breakdown for the A&D industry?
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