Corporate Strategy or In-house consulting?

Question

I've offers from Beiersdorf Corporate Strategy (CEO's office) and Merck Inhouse consulting? Which should have better career prospects?

Answer 1

My instinct answer and personal bias is for Merck. The main reason is company size, global footprint and brand. That said things that can change my initial bias: role at which are you joining (the more junior the more I side with Merck), size of the team (the larger the team the more I side with Beiersdorf), your interest in international opportunities (the more interested the more I side with Merck).

I agree that internal consulting has clout and direct decision making power however that is a very important skill to learn (how to lead through influence) because that is how you will manage most things when you will be in a senior position.

hope it helps,

andrea

Answer 2

I'd suggest the CEO office, assuming there's hope for also being groomed to take on a P&L role eventually. The problem with pure "Inhouse consulting" units is that they lack decision making power & clout, and are seen more as a cost center within a company, whereas a CEO office role typically carries prestige & hopefully a "path to P&L".

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Hey anonymous,

Let me just add to this conversation that in some markets there are also inhouse consultancies, that can be mapped to the Tier 1 / 2 / 3 logic, e.g. in Germany / US / China often Siemens Management Consulting (now Strategy unit of Siemens Advanta Consulting) is seen similar to a Tier 1 (MBB) consultancy with competitive salaries until the EM level.

Best

Simon