When to leave?

Question

Hello Preplounge,

I joined consulting at a relatively large company two months ago and honestly I am already not feeling the type of work and the way consulting works. I imagined something completely different but the lack of structure is eating me right now and I'm showing physical symptoms like nausea and a lack of energy. Now to my question, how long should I force myself to stay here? Are 6 months enough?

Appreciate any advice

Answer 1

Hello,
My heart goes out to you that you're feeling these physical manifestations of this uncertainty.

This is a delicate question as most (if not all) new join-ers to consulting experience some level of uneasiness during the ramp up period (typically the first 6 months). Just because that is 'normal' doesn't mean it should be the norm or something that you need to 'force' yourself to stay in if you don't want to.

I think it would be important to take some time to reflect (journal if you're open to it) and think about some questions:
-What is my gut reaction if I decided to leave now? At 6 months? (Does this bring relief, uneasiness, regret, excitement?)
-What do I want to do when/if I leave consulting? (Does something pop into your mind immediately? Does it make you nervous or happy?)
-Why do I feel the need to 'force' myself to stay if I am unhappy?
-What are the chances that I will start to feel better once I am in the firm longer? What are the chances it will feel worse?

Happy to continue the conversation if needed - please take care of yourself.

Answer 2

Hi,

Sorry to hear that you are having a negative experience. Sharing a couple of thoughts around tenure and exit opportunities:

1. Is there any tangible difference between 6-12 months vs. 15 months vs. 18 months of consulting experience? Or does it even matter?

I think there are 2 key dimensions when headhunters and firms are looking at your experience
- 1) Role/title
- 2) Tenure/experience
Very often it will be a combination of both, i.e. they are looking for someone with a given role/title because that role or title signifies or shows that that person implicitly has certain skills or has developed a level of capabilities that they are looking for
6-12 vs 15 vs 18 does not change the Role/title, so if they were looking at someone with min. experience of BA (or Analyst), that technically wouldnt matter
However 6 months is a very short time and to my knowledge no attractive exit opportunity would look for someone with 6 months
Practically speaking and based on experience, I think the sweeter spot to leave is closer to 18-24 months, let alone 12 months. If you are talking corp strat, many of the people hiring will know that at even at the 1 year mark you haven't really built up the full consulting toolkit well enough yet.

2. What could I expect post-consulting in terms of exit opps (assuming you stay 18-24 months):

Corporate: typically Corp Strategy, or BD/M&A teams
Tech: Hiring has drastically been impacted in recent years but pre-covid they used to be a key hirer of consultants into internal roles (though often as Individual Contributors)
Startups: You could also explore roles in growth/late stage startups with funding
2 key ways to look for opportunities / inspiration
- Reach out to your firm's career transition service
- Check on linkedin exit paths for people from your firm and similar tenure

Lastly - the ultimate judgement you have to make is whether staying longer is worth the impact on your health (physically & mentally). If you feel you need to leave for the sake of your health and its not worth staying longer to reap more benefits - leave. There are many paths in life and consulting is not the be all and end all.

All the best!