Experienced hire post-consulting exit

Question

Hi all,

Would like to seek your advice on the potential career levels post-consulting.

Some context:

1) Experienced hire with 8 years experience in FMCG industry.

2) Hold an MBA.

Say, get into MBB consulting at post-MBA Associate level and work 2-3 years. I understand that potential exit options would be corporate strategy roles for retail/FMCG companies. However, what level would that be, considering I would have 8 years industry experience + 2-3 years consulting experience? Team lead? Senior management roles?

Just wondering if it would be more ideal to go the consulting route or am I better off staying in my current role and try to climb the corporate ladder.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Hi there,

1) However, what level would that be, considering I would have 8 years industry experience + 2-3 years consulting experience? Team lead? Senior management roles?

It depends on your previous experience but team leader /manager role seem a correct expectation

2) Just wondering if it would be more ideal to go the consulting route or am I better off staying in my current role and try to climb the corporate ladder.

I would check on LinkedIn what is the career paths in companies interesting for you. Ideally you should be able to see someone that followed the two paths and get an idea.

On the other hand, even if you can save time with the consulting path, I would not use it as the sole criterion. Working in consulting is quite different compared to working in a corporate role and even if it allows you to speed up your way to the top I would not go for it if you don’t think you would enjoy the work and environment there.

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Answer 2

Broadly speaking, if you clock 2-3 years of MBB experience and perform really well, you can steer yourself in many different ways. A Senior Manager role seems plausible but its very hard to give advice without looking at your CV and understanding your aspirations.

Dont make decisions now anticipating a future outcome. Things may or may not happen. All you can do is give your Best now and focus on mutual fit with a firm- values, career aspirations & risk profile. Get into consulting if that's a good fit and you really want to do that. Otherwise you are just copying others or living someone else's life. Hope you get the point.

Check out this article for related tips and guidance: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/how-do-i-know-which-career-is-right-for-me

All the best.

Answer 3

Hi there,

This is indeed an interesting question which is probably relevant for quite a lot of users, so I am happy to provide my perspective on it:

Generally speaking, it is very hard to provide a meaningful answer without understanding your long-term goals and having more details on your past experience. Would it be possible to provide more details on these two aspects?
Since it sounds a little that you eventually want to stay in the retail/ consumer goods industry but still want to progress more in your career, there might be several options - with having a short intermezzo in consulting being one - to advance your career. Besides going into consulting, you might as well think of switching to a direct competitor since your experience with your current employer will most probably be highly valued. Another option would be to switch to a slightly smaller company since again your past experience will weigh in more, resulting in a career boost.

In case you want a more detailed discussion on what would be the different options for your specific situation and how to assess them, please feel free to contact me directly.

I hope this helps,

Hagen

Answer 4

Seeing other companies and thinking about CEO level problems (or helping with tough company transformations) is always a career accelerator.

Which means that if go back to FMCG, they won't ignore your previous experience in the industry and weight it in. Likely to be a senior manager role, or a director one (if you get into manager role as a consultant). But most importantly, you will be equiped with a mindset (and brand name) that will help you climb the ladder faster.

Answer 5

Hi there,

Quite simply, senior manager, team lead, and director roles.

At smaller/newer firms you could feasibly slide in as a COO or something similar.

Answer 6

Hi there,

I would approach it from another angle.

What are your career goals?
Where do you want to be in the next 5 or 10 years?

Based on that you can research more specifically what it would take to get into these roles in certain industries (check LinkedIn for job ads or people in your target roles).

MBB can definitely give you a boost in terms of speed. Another question is if you would like to be in an Associate role after 8 years of industry experience. (Don't know if you are in a leadership position right now.)

Hope this helps.