Top Bulge Bracket Equity Research -> Management Consulting - is it possible and am I making a mistake?
I currently have ~2 years of experience as a Healthcare Services equity research analyst at a top BB bank (MS, GS, JPM) and want to transition to a management consulting role, after admittedly not that much thought. I'm mainly focused on the work and lifestyle change. I love what I do currently but the constant market volatility and news flow is starting to wear on me. I also think it would be interesting to move into a more strategic / operational capacity. To get to the point, my questions are:
Am I making a mistake / will this significantly hamper my career progression given that I'm already 2 years into something and lateraling into a different space?
What are my chances? I've only applied online without any help from connections, but no one appears to be biting - I've applied to roles requiring a limited # of years experience at Deloitte and Accenture so far. Should I be applying to campus roles instead? I feel like I've been proactively contacted by every large hedge fund under the sun but can't even get an interview with a mid/high tier consulting firm. Any advice on how I should be framing my cover letter / resume would be helpful.
What roles should I be applying to? This is in a way part of question 2. I'm not sure if I should be applying for experienced roles that require 3+ years of experience or a university position. So far I've been applying to experienced roles and I'm not sure I can even qualify for a university position given the obvious fact that I'm no longer a student. On the other hand I dont quite fit the bill in terms of the industry/operational experience the experienced roles are looking to solve for.
Thanks all.
100% possible and guaranteed based on seeing this first-hand. A guy I know did ER at a US BB and moved to one of those "firm within a firm" MC boutiques (think Monitor, Strategy&, Marakon, Parthenon etc). He started as an Analyst.
Not a mistake if you want to make a switch. In the grand scheme of your career 2 years is nothing if it puts you on a path you'd prefer to be on vs. the path you're on now.
This is your problem. You'd probably have a good chance if you NETWORK. Applying online isn't going to get it done - you're a non-traditional applicant in a sea of tons of 3.8 GPA's from a target
You should apply for entry-level roles. Unless you have an MBA, a Ph.D, or equivalent consulting experience, these firms will want you to start as an analyst.
Takeaway: If this is what you want, then go for it! Network with consultants and apply for an entry-level role, you have a good shot.
Adding to 1600mPenn's great post, you might want to consider staying at your firm and doing an MBA. BB ER experience with a good story (career switch) and a decent background can land you at an M7 school. The jump from there to consulting would flow naturally and open the doors to post-MBA roles.
Thank you for taking the time to bullet out your response - and to everyone else as well for their $0.02 as well. Seems to be a general consensus between you three.
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