I apologize in advance if my answer is a bit harsh. I am German, so bluntness runs in my DNA.
But it boils down to this: NO, QUITTING IS NOT A GOOD IDEA. SUCK IT UP.
Unless your job makes you physically or mentally ill, your workplace is totally toxic and your boss or colleagues abuse you or the company is not fulfilling the contract you signed, suck it up.
If you want to apply somewhere else, that's fine, but do so while on the job. And even then, I don't think it's a good idea.
Why so? There are rational and emotional reasons for this. Rational:
- YES, there IS a reputational risk. Do you think the colleagues at your current firm don't know anybody else? Pretty sure they know other people, maybe even some people at the firms you are applying to. People talk. And if the message they are getting is: "Oh yeah, he (or she) quit because he/she didn't like his/her first project" - that's not a good reference.
- I as an interviewer would seriously question your stamina and loyalty if you decide to quit "some months" into the job because you are "not satisfied with the project you're working on". Guess what: All companies have shitty projects, even MBB. We've all been there, slaving away in a windowless basement on a project that made 0 sense. Tough luck. That's part of why you get paid so much money.
- As a project manager or Partner, I would seriously question whether I want someone on my team who quits on me at the first sign of hardship. I want someone I can depend on.
- Also everything Guennael and Benjamin said.
The emotional reasons are just as important:
You know all these sayings: "If you can't stand the heat, don't stand close to the fire?" or "When the going gets tough, the tough get going"?
I could go on, but my point is: People, especially top management consultants, like to see themselves as tough and being able to take the heat. And people like to hire people that are like them (or that they want to get into bed with, but that's a whole different story...). So they like it when someone can tell a story of how they went through hell and came out on the other side or how they soldiered through adversity. Because it makes them feel good about themselves because they see themselves this way. Good luck spinning the story of how you quit after a few months because you didn't like your project that way!
So my recommendation is: Suck it up, soldier on, do the time and come out stronger on the other end. I am not saying to stay there for life. But do a year or two, get a few projects under your belt, and then move on if you're still not satisfied.
Best of luck,
Elias
PS: An anecdote as an encouragement that it might be worth it.
I remember a conversation with a Partner at a firm where I worked at the very beginning of my career. It was in the car on the way back from the final presentation of my very first project. He said to me: "You know how good actors sometimes need to make bad movies, just to make some money? This project was like that. Thank you for all the effort you put in and the long nights. I know it was tough. I won't forget it."
That was more than ten years ago. To this day I benefit from my relationship with this Partner, despite the fact that I quit his firm and that we live and work in different countries today.
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168 ;-)