Hi guys,
I was recently offered an (almost) entry-level position at a MBB firm. While I am very happy with the general offer, I am somewhat disappointed with the fact that I will be joining almost at the bottom of the ranks (they would like to place me on postgraduate new-joiner level with fast-tracked to the next level), given my previous experience:
Following a postgraduate STEM-degree, I joined one of the global leaders in pharmaceuticals as a R&D-trainee but decided to switch to consulting after about 18m. I subsequently joined my current employer (T2 consulting firm) on new-joiner level again, however, with around one year of pre-experience credited. Subsequently, I was promoted to a consultant role after about 12m of working at the firm already. I have been working in consulting for a total of 2.5 years now and, based on my recent feedback round, am projected to make the next level in 6-9 months, based on performance.
I understand that I will have to take somewhat of a cut in the career ladder when changing again to the MBB firm. That said, it seems a bit unreasonable for me to only be credited around a year of overall job experience, that is to “lose” almost 2.5 years of experience gathered since graduating from university.
According to HR, this would be standard procedure but judging on a LinkedIn search I can see that other candidates joining MBB from T3/T2 were able to more-or-less keep their level.
I am currently considering if I should try to push for a “better” offer or accept the fact that they are not willing to offer me something better at the moment. Frankly speaking, given that I am not planning to stay in consulting for another five years, I am strongly thinking about dropping the offer altogether and continuing at my current firm where I am not unhappy necessarily (and make substantially more money than what I would be making under the new contract).
Happy to hear your thoughts!