Thoughts on MBB exit to corp strategy in european company of €500M, 1800 employees

Hi there,

Congrats on getting such a fantastic company under your belt and on your resume so early in your life!

1) is this a good exit. I was told you only leave MBB once and should have a great exit. Feels that the firm size is not big enough 

I don't know. I don't know who this firm is. I don't know your role in this firm. I don't know your compensation.

If you hire a career coach, they can do this research and make sure you're making the optimal decision (it's such an important one, why not invest in making sure it's the right one?)

2) i do banking and PEPI at my MBB, this firm is in the heavy industry field but the position is strategy. Is this a risk of pigeonholing? Especially if i want the option of doing banking later on. For context i dont have a clear “future career trajectory” however i find the CFO track and skillset interesting and the finance/banking industry nice. 

Any job post MBB (for the most part) starts to pigeonhole. Almost by definition. You need to be smart/deliberate in your job decisions. That said, it's rare that 1 job makes or breaks the career shift….so it's not a full pigeonhole. Make sense?

3) (a personal one but thought to share) integrating in the said country seems to be quite difficult 

Europe can be tough/cold at times but also warm/open at others. It really depends!

4) i hear mix reviews on rejoining my MBB if i want at a later stage. I think a corp strategy role in europe is a welcome exit and i can go back if i want but unsure if thats the case and if i will be able to get the post MBA position or kind of ”continue my tenure” 

I see no problem with this at all.

Hi there, 

First of all, you're stressign yourself too much about this. 

Change your perspective. 

You already worked for several years in one of the most competitive firms in the world. There is no way in which you could fail. 

Your anxiety comes from a combination of impossible expectations that you set on yourself and a very strong sense of FOMO. 

You cannot possibly know what is the absolute best option all the time. Instead, you can trust your ability to be flexible and pivot to make things better consistently. 

Let me take your questions one by one now:

1) is this a good exit. I was told you only leave MBB once and should have a great exit. Feels that the firm size is not big enough

If you're interested in the industry, then it's a great exit. 

Plus they match your MBB salary is also great. Taxes are what they are - believe me, I live in Germany :D

What would ‘big enough’ mean for you? If you're unhappy with it, then define what would make you happy and then go for it. It rather seems like you're stuck in between - no knowing what you really want and unsure whether to go for what's ahead of you.
 

2) i do banking and PEPI at my MBB, this firm is in the heavy industry field but the position is strategy. Is this a risk of pigeonholing? Especially if i want the option of doing banking later on. For context i dont have a clear “future career trajectory” however i find the CFO track and skillset interesting and the finance/banking industry nice. 

Only people who are afraid of reinventing themselves are afraid of pigeonholing. Don't be one of them. 

You can do absolutely whatever you want. You just need to start in that direction. 

If you ever fear professional pigeonholing then you could always go for an MBA to make the transition smoother. 

But part of maturing in your career is also about getting more expertise in a certain area which then involves a certain extent of pigeonholing.

3) (a personal one but thought to share) integrating in the said country seems to be quite difficult 

That's a risk that you're taking. You might also fit in really well. You might hate it. Hard to say. The only thing you can do is approach it with an open mind and see how it goes.

4) i hear mix reviews on rejoining my MBB if i want at a later stage. I think a corp strategy role in europe is a welcome exit and i can go back if i want but unsure if thats the case and if i will be able to get the post MBA position or kind of ”continue my tenure” 

You can always go back as long as you left the firm in elegant terms. Keep in touch with the people in the firm while you're away.  They're always looking for talented people.

Best of luck in your new life!!
Cristian

Hi there,

Congratulations on the offer. In terms of your questions:

1) Is this a good exit. I was told you only leave MBB once and should have a great exit. Feels that the firm size is not big enough 

It depends on your career goals and what you would like to do next. From your following questions, it seems you would like to be able to do banking later. Given this is unrelated, it doesn’t seem a perfect match.

2) I do banking and PEPI at my MBB, this firm is in the heavy industry field but the position is strategy. Is this a risk of pigeonholing? Especially if I want the option of doing banking later on. 

Possibly. You might want to check the exits from that company in the past on LinkedIn and see where they ended.

3) (a personal one but thought to share) integrating in the said country seems to be quite difficult 

For this one, we would need a bit more context to provide some feedback.

4) I hear mixed reviews on rejoining my MBB if I want at a later stage

Although it might be possible, if you are already considering to come back to MBB in the future I would reconsider why you should leave in the first place.

As a general guideline, to make a decision I would:

1. Identify where you would like to be in 5-10 years
2. Understand which option brings you closer
3. Go for the option that seems the best fit for that

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Hi there, 

happy to share some thoughts.

1.  Is it a good exit? Well it depends on what YOU care about - it's not black or white. Be clear about what you want to get out of an exit and which of these criteria matter most to you. Then check, if this specific role can give you that.

2. Is this a risk of pigeon-holing? Yes, it can be. The more senior you get, the more a specific work experience will determine your path forward. That said, you're still in the early stages of your career, so a later pivot in most cases is doable.

3. Integration into local culture - hard to comment on this at it highly depends on the country and comp culture. Feel free to share more context via DM. 

4. Re-joining MBB at a later stage? I would not worry about this one too much. While back in the day, the door was closed for MBB firms once you had left, nowadays, it's not so uncommon anymore to rejoin, as long as you were not being managed out. Feel free to do a scan on LinkedIn to find examples of former MBBs rejoining their old firm. There are many. When it comes to joining one of the other 2 MBBs, you should have no concerns at all. The door will be open.

Hope this helps.

Regards, Andi