<p>I'm currently working for a start-up company as their Senior Account Manager, but have decided that, while Account Management is a great "stepping stone" for my career path, it's ultimately not the exact career path I'd like to take. </p>
<p>I've thrown around the ideas of either Product Manager or Consultant (i.e. Business Process), because, at least to some degree, these jobs draw a lot from account management in terms of building and maintaining client relationships. They also offer more mental challenges in my opinion than Account Management does, which is a key reason why I'd like to go down one of these two paths. However, I'm really thinking that Consulting is the way that I'd like to go.</p>
<p>My first question is, how can I lateral into consulting given the fact that my work background consists of 2 years of Account Management and a few random business-related internships? I graduated from a small, liberal arts college which isn't exactly top-tier, but I know that I have the willpower to achieve my career goals (As an FYI, I graduated with a 3.65 GPA, got a degree in economics, and held a number of extracurricular leadership positions while attending said school). It's simply a matter of getting there, but I need to know what steps I need to take to get there. </p>
<p>Do I continue to work at my company for the next year and go to business school? Or should I look to attain a different type of work experience (i.e. consulting, product management, etc.) before going to business school? Are there any specific skills I should look to pick up in the coming months? I've been considering taking a fairly advanced Excel class, as I believe it will be very beneficial for me to have a solid proficiency w/ Excel, but unfortunately my company does not exactly have the cashflow to help pay for anything beyond this. </p>
<p>Realize this is a hell of a lot of information in one post, but I'd honestly appreciate any responses. I am looking at 2012 as the year that I make that "next move". I'm ambitious and hungry to see my career growth get started, but I just need some advice as to best ways to make this happen.</p>
<p>For management consulting you’ll need an MBA. And not just any MBA, it needs to be a very top MBA: Stanford GSB, HBS, Wharton, Sloan, Darden, Fuqua, etc. And that doesn’t guarantee a job, but you might get an interview that way if you network and play your cards right at a top school like that. MBB consulting only hire a few people with just undergraduate degrees, and those are are really exceptional people (the 4.0 GPA / student body president from a top 10 school type of exceptional), and even they need an MBA to advance.</p>
<p>You could go to an IT firm (Accenture, IBM, Deloitte) with just a BS or a lower tier MBA. But those firms might not give you the experience you seem to be looking for.</p>
<p>Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here… MBB hired 59 people from Penn undergrad alone last year (roughly an even split among the three companies). Everyone had a 3.65 or higher, but that is far from a 4.0</p>
<p>With two years of experience, if you were to apply to top consulting firms, you would likely be applying at entry level without an MBA. At mid-level firms you would be applying probably one step above entry level.</p>
<p>An MBA is a logical choice for you, but you should be smart about it. If you are already gainfully employed, you are in a good situation. Since you work at a start-up, you probably won’t get any tuition reimbursement, but if you score a job at a major consulting firm, you will likely be able to recover a LOT of the cost of an MBA.</p>
<p>If you really do want to move into the management/strategy consulting industry, now is the time to do it. The industry is growing quickly, and you have an appropriate amount of experience. That said, since you already have a job, you can be a little more selective - find a place that does tuition reimbursement or MBA sponsorship. Why not get higher education on the company’s dime?</p>
<p>First, you have to understand that Penn is an anomaly, especially Wharton undergraduates. That’s like comparing the number of Harvard MBA’s hired and trying to extrapolate that information.</p>
<p>Each firm in MBB will maybe hire 50-60 analysts nationwide (vs. the 500-600 or so associates hired nation wide by each). At the vast majority of target schools, the firms hire 0-5 undergraduates in total, so you really do need to be exceptional, especially considering that the target schools are top programs full of great students to begin with. </p>
<p>Two years of experience without an MBA probably won’t get you hired into an analyst position. The firms don’t really want analysts. What they really want are the top MBA graduates. They hire analysts because they’ve discovered that it’s the best way to get an “in” with students who will eventually be top MBA (or JD or MD or PhD) students. That’s why analyst positions are relatively new in consulting (the last 10 to 15 years or so) and why analysts are almost always required to leave after 2-3 years of experience (to force them to get an MBA). That’s also why firms hire fewer analysts than associates and why they are so picky when selecting an analyst (they want people who will go to and excel at top MBA programs). Further, that’s why consulting firms work so hard to get their analysts into top MBA programs and why they are willing to pay for those degrees.</p>
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<p>This works out really well if you can get into a very highly ranked night program and can get the company to pay for it. But many companies are smart about preventing that with top MBAs (usually they’re less concerned with MS degrees and lower tier MBAs). They’ll either require a contract or they’ll reimburse you over time (1/4 tuition reimbursement every 6 months for 2 years).</p>
<p>Thanks guys. And not to sell myself short, but I realize that I probably don’t and never will have the qualifications to crack into either a top 10 MBA program or a top consulting firm (Bain, McKinsey, Boston, etc.). I’m trying to stay realistic about my potential here. Remember, I didn’t graduate from a “top of the line” program, so that in and of itself basically removes any chance of getting into either a top MBA program or a top consulting firm. </p>
<p>With that being said, I am still interested in consulting as a career, and think I’d absolutely have a chance at working at a smaller, “boutique” firm if everything goes according to plan. My problem, as stated above, is that this plan is rather tenuous at the moment. Which is why I’m wondering how long I should remain in my position as Sr. Account Manager at my start-up company before looking for ‘greener pastures’ elsewhere in the job market, or beginning the application process for an MBA. I also realize that there’s really no such thing as having “too much” experience before applying to an MBA program, but if that’s the case, and if I really should wait before applying to business schools, then I’d definitely appreciate any advice as to some other fields I should look into in the meantime. If I don’t go to business school within the next 2 years, then I need to experience something other than Account Management in that interim period. </p>
<p>And not to get too side-tracked, but would this type of position (Sr. Account Manager @ tech start-up) look good in the eyes of the admissions office of an MBA program? I can explain key aspects of what I do if it helps you to answer that. I’m just at the point where I want to position myself for the best chance of a successful future.</p>
<p>Based on what you’ve said (not shooting for management consulting), I can see two options for moving forward. The first is to go to a non-management consulting firm directly. Accenture, IBM, Deloitte, etc do not require an MBA and are not as hyper selective as MBB. You can apply now to see if they’ll take you directly, starting your career immediately.</p>
<p>The other option is to go back to school for an MBA. With 2 years of experience, you’re in a position to apply for next year. Additional experience will have diminishing returns in MBA admissions. The next step is to take the GMAT soon to get an idea what schools are a match for your credentials. </p>
<p>Thanks for the response, this is good information. I’m a bit surprised, however, to hear you say that additional work experience will have ‘diminishing returns’ re: MBA admissions. If anything, I thought the more experience, the merrier?</p>
<p>More experience is better, but it’s diminishing. Since you already have 2 years of experience, you’ll have 3.5 years of experience at the time you start your MBA if you apply next year. That’s a good amount of experience for an MBA program. Getting to 4.5 years (waiting another year to apply) would give you a slight advantage, but not really one that you’d wait a year to start your new career, especially if you take the GMAT and have a good score. </p>
<p>Either way, start preparing to take the GMAT now. Once you have a score (which is good for 5 years), you’ll get an idea of where you stand. A 750 GMAT score will put you in a very different position and will force different decisions than a 550 GMAT score.</p>
<p>As someone who is a consultant, I don’t fully agree with this advice. First, this board is notorious for giving answers that ONLY apply to MBB. </p>
<p>Notice to CC: There are many, many more consulting firms than MBB. “Management consulting” is really a different realm than “strategy consulting”, which is the MBB specialty. Even these “IT consulting” firms, as you put it, like Deloitte and Accenture have “strategy consulting” in addition to their IT capabilities. These are only two of many specialties these firms offer – I guarantee that even employees at those firms don’t know all of the services the firm provides. The type of work at Deloitte and Accenture typically involve themselves in is truly ‘management consulting’ where typically you are working on business process improvement, vendor selections, PMOs, IT implementations, sourcing and supply chain, procurement, etc. MBB is typically higher-level strategy projects. Although, the firms compete more and more in the same spaces. I was shocked to hear some of the projects we won against MBB. In short, don’t act like MBB is the only choice for consulting; it is not.</p>
<p>You are correct that consulting firms outside of MBB care much less about MBA and prestige (not that they turn it away, but it is more of a prereq at MBB). If you have the right experience, you can be hired with any college background.</p>
<p>Regarding ‘diminishing returns’ after two years of work experience for the top MBAs – this advice is incorrect. Most top programs average between 4-5 years of experience with 2 years being the bare minimum of experience (some have a hard requirement of two years, others just strongly suggest it). If the OP works a couple more years, then he/she is still perfectly suited for a top MBA, if not better prepared.</p>
<p>Goose – thanks for the feedback, it’s definitely appreciated. The 2+ years of work experience = diminishing returns also sounded a bit off to me, although I can appreciate that there is definitely a ‘peak’ at which additional experience becomes less crucial.</p>
<p>As a consultant yourself, would you have any specific recommendations on the move from account management to consulting? Do you feel that it’s better to experience consulting before going to business school? And what are the skills that I should have nailed down to position myself for success as a consultant? Account Management has definitely served me well thus far, and I believe there are a number of parallels between A.M. and consulting, so I just want to know what I can do to take things to the next level. </p>