I worked for one of those consulting companies for about 10 years. It is pretty soul-sucking – your daughter is not wrong to want to look at other choices. I agree she shouldn’t jump without a plan, but don’t push her to stay with it if she isn’t happy.
I can’t imagine anything I’d hate more than consulting - so understand that’s where I am coming from. I’d much, much rather do work that I think improves the world in some small way, even if the price is making less (possibly even a lot less money.) Volunteering in my spare time wouldn’t be enough for me.
I say kudos to her for thinking about how she wants to spend her life rather than just plugging along day after day. Consulting jobs are, as @intparent notes, “soul-sucking”. They are a great way to see different businesses and different functions within them as well as a way to develop a framework for thinking about real-world problems, but it’s hard to volunteer or even spend a lot of time thinking about what next when you’re working 60 hours a week (which is often joked about as “part-time”). And while her colleagues are no doubt very bright, they too have been pulled into this environment and are probably not going to be terrifically helpful at helping her through this decision. (Her doubts could spur unwanted soul-searching on their part.) Most of those firms also use an up or out strategy, so unless she’s on a partner track, this decision will be forced on her by them – not right away and not in a hurried way, but it’s part of the organizational structure.
It sounds like her talents will make it possible for her to do well at things that do not satisfy her, so she’ll need to be pretty intentional about figuring out what makes her happy, not just what she can do well. I’d encourage her to spend some time (and even consider getting the help of a good career coach) to help her think through this. There’s no reason that what’s she’s doing now shouldn’t be helpful to her in that process, nor is there any reason for her to lock herself into this because it’s where she first landed out of school.
This is a really good point.
Your daughter may want to see what more experienced people in her career path actually do, and she may want to think about whether she would like doing those things. For example, I suspect that one of the key functions of senior people on her career path is bringing in new business for the company. Some people love to do this; others loathe it. Another function might be developing and mentoring less experienced employees. Again, some people love this, and others loathe it. She probably doesn’t do either of these things right now, though, so she may not have thought about how she would feel about developing skills in those areas and performing those functions.
Also, she may want to do a little sleuthing to see what the people who were two or three years ahead of her when she joined the company are doing now. Are they still working for the consulting firm, or have they moved on to other things? She may find that some have moved on to jobs in the industries or functions for which they used to consult. She may also find that some have moved on to some sort of graduate program. (In some types of consulting, your potential for advancement is severely limited if you don’t have a graduate degree.) And they may or may not have returned to consulting after they got that graduate degree. Seeing what others did might give her some ideas about what she might want to do herself with the next stage of her career, especially if different people have pursued different options.
Your daughter might also want to look at the resumes of senior people in the company (which are probably available on the internal Web site). What do their career paths look like? Did they rise through the ranks in consulting? Or did they do other types of work, gaining experience that they later exploited in the consulting world? My father worked in manufacturing for a couple of decades and then got a job with a management consulting firm as one of their manufacturing specialists. And then a decade later, he left consulting and went back to the manufacturing world in a far more senior position, and that’s where he finished out his career. So I know that people may move in and out of consulting – and perhaps that’s the way it should be.
If your daughter does some detective work, she may get a better idea of whether the path that she’s on right now will or will not take her where she might want to go. She might also find branches off the path that appeal to her.
@mathmom, in fairness, 'consulting" is sort of all-encompassing. I suppose one could say that if your work is helping a physician understand the concerns a patient may have about a certain procedure then in some small way your work is improving the world.
I thought it was fairly typical for a lot of those who take consultant jobs after undergrad to move on after about 2 years or so. Pays good but the lifestyle - hours, traveling, job satisfaction - often is not. Nothing wrong with changing a job after a few years out of school and I’m sure the consulting gig will help with the resume/next step.
The thought of a 24 year old who doesn’t like her job being told to ‘put her head down and grind it out’ makes me sad. My personal solution - I had a job I hated for 5 years, had a baby and never went back.I agree this is a good time for her to explore her options.
I also have a D who likes consulting. She is in the Federal division, so doesn’t travel much, but I think she would say helping the government be more efficient or spend less money is helping to improve the world in some small way. She plans to get her MBA and continue with her company. And the 5 weeks of vacation from year 1 help some too!
It’s funny that you’re posting this. My daughter is considering leaving her (lucrative) job for a PhD program. The difference between the annual stipend she’d receive and her current salary is enormous. And then there’s the 401K and stock options and excellent benefits. Once she has the PhD will she be better off, career-wise? Possibly worse, if she chooses the academic track.
I’m staying out of it. It’s HER decision. Her life. Her vision for how she wants to lead it.
In the end, all we can do is love our kids and wish the very best for THEM. I admire her for trying to find meaning and looking at possibilities beyond the financial. (That doesn’t mean I don’t worry just a bit! But I do so quietly and privately.)
It makes me sad too. What on earth is wrong with doing well enough to pay the bills AND do something to help others? There ARE paying jobs in that area, and those who do them aren’t living in their parents’ basement. What is NO ONE took jobs to help others? We’d ALL be in a sorry state. And believe me, since I work in a job where we help others all day every day, it’s possible to make inroads and accomplish things.
I don’t know anything about consulting, but if it was soul-sucking, I’d be pretty crushed if my parent told me to just suck it up and do it because of the money. There’s so much more to life than being wealthy. Enough money is…enough.
@katliamom, it’s funny that you posted that. When my daughter was an undergrad she was strongly considering going right into a PhD program and pursuing a career in academia. Her adviser spelled out exactly what that choice would entail in terms of timeline, finances and job prospects. She strongly advised getting out in the “real world” for a few years before going that route.
I got the impression from one of my kids, and friends, that after graduating from a top college many go into consulting with the idea they will make some money and then get the heck out. After hearing this for a couple of years, your daughter sounds pretty normal, at least from that demographic.
I got the impression from one of my kids, and friends, that after graduating from a top college many go into consulting with the idea they will make some money and then get the heck out. After hearing this for a couple of years, your daughter sounds pretty normal, at least from that demographic.
I’ll share a story about what not to do. Although this relates to law and not consulting, it could provide some insights.
I know someone who had a cushy, prestigious job out of law school at a big firm making about $150,000 with loads of benefits. She said she had flexibility with the work hours, liked her peers and enjoyed the work. She just felt like she wanted to do more to help the world and people. Without much investigation or planning, she up and quit her job.
She discovered that no one wanted to hire her, and could not understand her move. She wound up doing legal temp work at $30 an hour with no benefits. Finally, after a few months of that and not finding a way to save the world (with decent pay), she went back to her old employer – only this time, she went in as a low-level document reviewer rather than as an associate attorney. She was making $70,000 with fewer benefits, no prestige, less exciting work, and no growth opportunities.
I think she was clueless about the real world, and how little jobs pay that are directly tied to saving the planet and helping others. She would not admit to regrets, but how could she not regret those choices? With the extra money she had been making before, she could have helped a lot of people with donations and investments even if she had little time.
I think some folks missed the smiley face when I mentioned my “put your head down and grind it out” advice. As one who has spent some time working outdoors in construction, I know that’s the mindset a lot of folks have to have to get through the day. It’s a blessing to be spared that reality.
My S is in a similar position as the OPs daughter. I’m telling him to learn all he can and keep his eyes open. Definitely agree with the advise above to run towards something rather than away.
Here’s another anecdote: I have a friend who sort of lucked into a job out of college that gave her a path to grow into a high paying job that she didn’t hate, but it required long hours, frequent travel, and wasn’t particularly fulfilling–basically, it involved helping high income people avoid taxes. Fortunately, she lived below her means, and when the tax loophole on which the whole industry was based was eliminated, she retired at 40-something, bought a sailboat, and spent about 10 years sailing around the world. Now, still living off her investments, she has plenty of time to help save the world. Most of her colleagues had ramped up their spending along with their salaries and had a hard time of it when the industry imploded.
She has plenty of time to save the world, but it sounds like she went sailing…
A healthy question like that is one we should all be asking every few years. And it deserves more than a “if you can stand it, keep doing it and look for some other outlet” answer. That may, of course, be the right answer for her, but she is the one who needs to figure it out and to keep searching until she does.
I’m with the group that’s saying, if she took a consulting job right out of college, and two years later she’s not asking if there isn’t some better way to live, you would probably be wondering if there’s something wrong with her. This is just age-appropriate development.
I did the consulting thing for two years. It was fun in a way - lots of traveling and new experiences and I got to learn about many different industries as I moved between client projects. But, I had no life outside work, because I worked all the time. I finally decided the money wasn’t worth it and got out. I quit without having another job lined up, because who has time to look when you’re working all the time.
I was out of work for two months before I found a position doing strategy work in a corporate environment. I was shocked the first day at work when everyone went home at 5:00. What do you do when you get out of work at 5:00? I had no idea but I managed to figure it out. I don’t regret quitting the consulting job for a minute.
Okay, to be fair, my D1’s BF works for one of the large consulting companies. He seems relatively happy at the moment. But he wasn’t so much his first year (a lot of travel and long hours). He has managed to wrangle an in-town assignment with decent hours, and he says his superiors are pretty nice people (believe me from my own experience, that is NOT always the case…). He has been in this assignment for about a year. So for now, he is relatively content. But there are storm clouds on the horizon, a new out of town assignment may be coming up.
One of the problems then is that it is very difficult to look for a job while you are out of town. And the more time you spend out of town, the fewer people you know at local clients (or people from your own office who moved to a new job and could be helpful to you when searching).
But not all consulting companies are the same. My D1 works in consulting, but not for one of the big names, and in a research division that is very millennial friendly and bends over backwards on work-life balance issues. She doesn’t travel, and rarely puts in long hours unless there is an unusual problem.
But the big names can really be meat grinders. Theoretically you are seeing a lot of different companies and industries. And over the course of a career, it is true. But many times the staff are cogs in a very large project or staying at the same client for a few years. They have a worm’s eye view, and the worm is being worked very hard. There are many jobs in the world, and a wide continuum of ways to do work that you feel is useful in the world. The big consulting firms sound like sexy work, but when you are there at 9 pm making copies for the next day’s meeting (and the copier is jammed), so your client can sell more mobile phones or figure out a way to change their bank transaction posting process to squeeze higher fees out of customers – there is nothing sexy about it.