Corporate strategy to strategy consulting

career progression Corporate Strategy
Neue Antwort am 28. Feb. 2021
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Anonym A fragte am 10. Feb. 2021

Hi all, I'm deciding between a corporate strategy role and strategy consulting for entry-level, would love to hear some of your opinions.

Background:
- For the corporate strategy team is at a well-known industry leader, its team incl. ex-McK, BCG etc. Industry is interesting for me personally, and verticals are very diverse. Would have been a good exit op from strategy.
- For the consulting firm, think the likes of Monitor Deloitte or EY Parthenon, generalist.
- I've had an internship in T3 consulting already

My thoughts:
I didn't get interview invite / get through the final round at MBB and Tier 1 strategy firms. Would still love to try again in 2 years (or more?).
My guess is starting at consulting would have an edge, but I'm tended towards the corp strategy role only because the team is nice and it could have been the exit for me, had I started in consulting first. But downside is I'd much prefer a fast-paced environment.

Have I missed anything else? Would you say for MBB as a goal, I should much rather take the consulting offer? If I've taken corp strategy, how long would it take till I have a second chance?

Many thanks all! Appreciate it.

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Clara
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antwortete am 10. Feb. 2021
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut

Hello!

Congrats on those two offers! This year the market is terrible, so this is already something to be celebrated.

To your question, I am going to answer with more questions :)

  • What is your mid-long term goal? You mention MBB quite a lot, and if this is the case, probably consulting would help you more -although I am not 100% sure either, you could also loop back as market expert in some time-.
  • What is the role description, scope and responsabilities? Not only the job title, but think of those bullets you would then include after 2 years in the CV:
    • Impact you had
    • Scope and responsability you had
    • etc
  • Which one has a bigger brand in your geography? Nowadays, none stays too long in a job, hence it´s key to think about which doors this will open

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

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Florian
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antwortete am 10. Feb. 2021
Highest-rated McKinsey coach (ratings, offers, sessions) | 500+ offers | Author of The 1% & Consulting Career Secrets

Hey there,

In times, where industry knowledge becomes ever more important for MBB, I'd argue you should go for the corporate strategy role. For example, McKinsey is now offering people that take the educational leave an alternative with 'loaning' them to industry companies for a few months up to a year to gain insights and strengthen their resume for future client engagements.

Also, consider this:

  • Ex-MBB colleagues from whom you can learn a lot
  • Industry expertise, which is very valuable for MBB (see above)
  • Better lifestyle in the beginning (going from consulting to consulting is exhausting, rather go from industry to consulting)
  • You are interested in the industry, which seems like a good starting position
  • You say that it is a proper exit op. You might like it so much that you want to stay and make a career there. Then there is no benefit going via a Tier2/3 firm

Cheers,

Florian

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Francesco
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antwortete am 11. Feb. 2021
#1 Coach for Sessions (4.000+) | 1.500+ 5-Star Reviews | Proven Success (➡ InterviewOffers.com) | Ex BCG | 10Y+ Coaching

Hi there,

The corporate strategy role seems good from what you described. However you mentioned your goal is MBB in 2 years.

If you had mentioned Industry Exit was your goal in 2 years, then the corp strategy role would have been a no-brainer. However, for an MBB transition, that may not be the ideal path.

To decide, I would check how many people managed the transition from the corp strategy to MBB after 2 years from LinkedIn. Then I would do the same for the T2 company and divide for the respective cohorts. This should give you a realistic expectation of the probability of the transition.

The probability to land into MBB may not be the only factor you may want to weight, but in this way you will have at least a realistic data-driven estimate.

Best,

Francesco

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Ian
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antwortete am 10. Feb. 2021
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

Hi there,

At a first glance, this corporate strategy role sounds great! You already have it locked in, and it sounds like you'll get great mentorship. The fact that the team is good to you, and they're ex-MBB means you should learn+develop rapidly (regardless of whether it's consulting or not). They will surely also have a strong network for you to ultimately tap into.

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Ken
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antwortete am 11. Feb. 2021
Ex-McKinsey final round interviewer | Executive Coach

Congrats! Both sound like great options but if you are keen on MBB and working in a faster-paced environvment (for now) then I would definitely go for the consulting role. I fully understand your point about in-house strategy potentially being your likely exit option but these roles always exist. Over time, you may also find it slightly frustrating to see lots of ex- MBB consultants being parachuted in and progressing directly to more senior roles.

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Antonello
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antwortete am 11. Feb. 2021
McKinsey | NASA | top 10 FT MBA professor for consulting interviews | 6+ years of coaching

Hi, congrats on the offers!
It strongly depends on your goal. If your only objective is MBB I would consider taking the job in consulting and try again in a couple of years. On the other end, the corporate role will give you a good background both for consulting and other exit opportunities

Best
Antonello

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Gaurav
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antwortete am 28. Feb. 2021
Ex-Mckinsey|Certified Career Coach |Placed 500+ candidates at MBB & other consultancies

Hi there,

Depends on your goal. You mentioned MBB, in that case, I'd go with consulting. However, if you find strategy more appealing, you can do it, too, because as Florian mentioned, this kind of knowledge is becomming more and more important for MBB.

Hope that helps & Congratulations on your offers!

GB

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Raj
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antwortete am 21. Feb. 2021
FREE 15MIN CONSULTATION | #1 Strategy& / OW coach | >70 5* reviews |90% offers ⇨ prep-success.super.site | MENA, DE, UK

First of all well done on both offers! Its a great position to be in.

I would encourage you to base your decision on the long-term. Think about where you may want to be in your career in 5yrs time and which option would provide more value/optionality for this.

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Clara

Content Creator
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut
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