A Difficult Choice

Question

Hello everyone,

I am currently enrolled in an engineering master's degree in economics and mathematics. I would then like to work in the consulting field, and I am therefore taking a gap year to be able to confirm this choice. For my first part of my gap year (6 months), I have 2 possibilities that I must deal with quickly:

1- Analyst within McKinsey's Client Capabilities Hub

2- Analyst for a small company (Brattle : Top 25 Vault - 600 employees)

I have studied the advantages and disadvantages of these two offers:

1- Pros: Brand name - Networking - Good fit with the team
Cons: Not really the consultant role - Assignments can be more redundant in the long run

2- Pro: Deepening my technical knowledge (econometrics, modelling) - Interesting assignments
- Disadvantages: Open fewer doors than Mckinsey.

Either way, I'm sure I'll learn a lot and I'm happy about that.

At first I was indifferent between working in consulting on technical aspects (programming, data analysis, econometrics) or more commercial and generalist training.

In my place, what would be your strategy? :)

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Hello,

First, we have to recognize your achievements with the offers, congrats!

Second, I'll be straigh to the point to your question: I would take the offer of the small company.

Reasons, in order of importance:

Your objective in the gap year is to confirm you would like to work in consulting field.
In your correct pros and cons observations, you stated things more related to the long term than the gap year objective.
What better to understand the role of a consultant than jumping into the water?

My answer has your goal as a strong assumption: the GAP year needs to evaluate the industry before thinking the long term.

After this time that you stablished, 6 months, you'll have much more conditions to decide if you want to act as consultant, work around consultancy or work in another industry at all.

I hope it helped and I am open to discuss more if wanted.

Sucess!

Vitor

Answer 2

Hi there,

Congratulations on the offers! In terms of your question:

Q: In my place, what would be your strategy? :)

I would consider what you would prefer to do long term and see which option could more easily match that goal. You might want to run an analysis on LinkedIn to see which experience helped more for that.

You might also check if there is any option to do both internships – possibly for 3 months each. This would allow to try both experiences and ideally maximize the benefits you mentioned.

If you are not sure about what you would like to do, you can contact Alumni of your university (not current consultants) that worked for the two companies in the role you will join. You will learn more in a 30min call with them than with any online research you may do.

Best,

Francesco

Answer 3

Hi there,

First of all, congratulations on the offers!

I think this is an interesting question that may be relevant for many people. I would be happy to share my thoughts on it:

I would highly advise you to opt for the option that better aligns with your professional (and maybe even personal) mid- to long-term goals. In order to make an informed decision, I would advise you to do the following:
- Weigh the different criteria that are meaningful to you independently of the current options (e.g., prestige, culture, international exposure, compensation, location). After that, score the two options based on your criteria and their weighting, resulting in two scores. This way, you have covered the left-brain perspective.
- Critically assess your initial reaction to the outcome of the scores. For instance, if you feel the urge to tweak the numbers, this is a solid indicator that you do not want this decision to become reality. This way, you have covered the right-brain perspective.
- By doing so, you will be able to integrate both parts of the brain into the decision-making, guaranteeing a higher chance that you will still be happy with it years later.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to address your specific situation, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

Answer 4

Hi there,

I love what you said about “either way I'm sure I'll learn a lot and be happy”. Absolutely right…you have a great “problem” here!

Now, please be careful with “In my place, what would be your strategy”. Remember advice is a form of nostalgia. You should not do what others would do. You should do what you should do.

In your place, if it were ME I would take McKinsey.

However, that's not the answer! That's MY answer! Because I view McK as opening doors and building my resume/brand. I value different things than you.

My real answer actually depends on what you can do with that McK offer. Can you delay it to be the 2nd half of your gap year? Can you delay it to be when the gap year is over?

Think through the scenarios and also think through your goal and objective with these 2 roles. What are you trying to optimize for.

Be objective-driven like you were when solving case interviews :)

Answer 5

I would take the “real consulting work” position over (perceived) prestige of 1).

Only this will tell you whether you really like the job in general

→ Beware though the assignment could be different from the MBB feeling - I would complement my experience by talking with MBB people about the difference between 2) consulting firm and MBB engagements