Hello!
I am in a bit of a tricky situation in my career as I plan to transition from an operations background into operations consulting. I would greatly appreciate any advice or thoughts on this.
A bit about me:
A UK Master's (MiM) graduate from UCL. Right after graduation from UCL in Sep 2022, I joined a distressed family business and worked as an insolvency analyst. Alongside that role, I was also working part-time with a hospitality agency to learn about operations and to support myself in the UK.
Around mid-2023, a year into the insolvency work and as we were wrapping up the bankruptcy procedures, I decided to move out of the financial world, as I had really enjoyed the operational side of things, whether that be talking to people or being on the ground to run things for the business.
As it happened, one of the clients I had worked with through the agency was looking for an operations coordinator, and since I was keen to move into operations, I took the offer and joined them. It was a major UK charity, and my role involved planning and delivering their events and large-scale productions for them. About a year into that, around Apr 2024, the same agency I had left to join the client reached out and asked if I would be interested in joining their office team. It felt like a more challenging, multi-client role, so I took up the challenge, and that is where I am currently working. Most of the work revolves around workforce planning and supplying the human capital needed to run events and day-to-day operations for the clients.
Having worked as an operator for the past three years, I really want to take the next step into operations consulting, so I can better understand not just the operations of a business but also the economic drivers behind those operational decisions.
Some of the questions I have in front of me:
- Considering I have been out of uni for close to 4 years now, I am in a grey space on whether I should go for a grad scheme or experienced hire or MBA roles.
- Also factoring in the market downturn across the consulting industry, I am not sure how companies are hiring internationals into their practices when sponsorship is required. (I require a sponsorship)
- Recruitment cycle: would you recommend going for the September cycle, or applying for openings as they come up and getting a referral for them?
- I am also looking at other markets such as the Middle East, but I am really not sure how the recruitment cycle works there, or if and when hiring will pick up again given the war and other things happening in the region.
- I would also love your two cents on whether there are any other potential routes I might have missed, or other regions I could target.
Unfortunately, I am working to a timeline. I am on a Skilled Worker visa in the UK that runs until Jan 2027, and I sadly turned down the visa extension offer from my current company, as I truly believe I have got to a point where my work has become so repetitive that I cannot see the next step or much more of a learning curve in my role.
