<p>what are some opportunities for undergrads looking to land business-related jobs for fortune 500 companies? what are the typical salaries for this?</p>
<p>also, what is the path of the corporate ladder like? about how long does it take to climb up to the next levels on the ladder, and what are the typical salaries for these higher management-level positions? </p>
<p>i know everyone here knows about the ibanking and consulting paths and the salaries at each level along the path, so i was wondering if there's some similar info for fortune 500 employees. thanks</p>
<p>Go to a very good school with lot's of rich people. Network. Graduate in top 5-10% of University. Do well in your first job...go to a tp 10 MBA program...be happy...</p>
<p>There are about a million different paths. The thing with fortune 500 companies is that the road to the top is generally slower. At big corporations, jobs <em>generally</em> require less hours and are less demanding overall than jobs such as consulting. Thus, turnover is lower and there is more competition to move up internally. Whereas, in a job such as consulting one can move up in the organization simply due to attrition.</p>
<p>I'm in IT so I can't speak of deparments like Finance, Marketing, Human Resources etc, but I would say the typical path was getting promoted a couple of times and moving into a project management role (not a management role..big difference). Then, if the managers/directors really like you eventually move into a management role (generally for another team, sometmes on the same team). Also, some leave the company to get a higher paying job elsewhere.</p>
<p>However, the typical path for most of the truly motivated was get promoted a couple of times. Leave to pursue MBA. Never return.</p>
<p>The keys to moving up in fortune 500 companies are typically: be outstanding at what you do and kiss a lot of ass.</p>
<p>It's tough to generalize but the rule of thumb is that less than 2 years in a given position is generally too short while more than 5 is usually an indicator of being "stuck". Three years is often considered to be about the ideal time to seek promotion or find a more promising lateral move/outside position. The times lengthen a bit as you move up. As VectorWWega notes, not all career paths lead directly up. Perhaps finance, marketing, and sales offer career paths without obvious ceilings. IT, service, engineering, HR, etc. will almost certainly require a lateral move at some stage. Financial and Professional Services firms are clearly exceptions. Some companies have leadership programs where potential leaders are identified early and stepped through a preprogrammed series of positions.</p>
<p>You might figure on 2-3 positions before 1st level management (6-12 years) then an average of 3-4 years per level of management above first with an extra 4-6 for each lateral move. Your mileage will vary.</p>
<p>for those who did ibanking/finance/consulting at a top firm and got their MBA, what are their shots at management positions in F500s? do they get to skip the project management stage? </p>
<p>or are F500 management positions not even lucrative enough for such people to pursue? since most people don't do ibanking/consulting their entire life, at what point and how do they decide to switch over to F500 (assuming they dont want to be an entrepreneur)?</p>
<p>For consulting, the switch is rather simple. Consultants do work with fortune 500 companies and thus there are many chances to network with the companies and showcase their skills to the companies. </p>
<p>In some cases, managerial consultants will actually run companies while not actually being an employee of the company (still being a consultant). For instance, if a company needs a CIO but doesn't have a good grasp on who to hire, there are managerial IT consulting companies which can be hired to run the IT department. Then, they will install their own CIO (consultant) and directors (consultants). I have seen first hand a consultant work as a Senior Vice President for a fortune 500 company and then he was hired into the same position for another fortune 500 company except this time he was made a full time employee.</p>
<p>F500 positions can certainly be VERY lucrative (especially at the top where you get great stock options etc). </p>
<p>From 1st hand experience, I'd say it's easier for a consultant to move into a high ranking position than an actual fortune 500 employee to ascend the ranks and move into such a position.</p>
<p>As for i-banking, I'm not sure. Someone else can probably answer that for you.</p>
<p>I'm not sure why Dawgie insists on exhibiting a "loser mentality."</p>
<p>As for Ibanking, I'm not expert on it, but I just now did a little research and it appears that it would be a fairly easy transition from I-banking to Fortune 500 company or even to managerial consulting. I-bankers work with clients and so the networking possibilities are there.</p>
<p>You mean a realistic mentality. I think the board needs someone like me to debunk the myths of IBanking being the worlds greatest job on earth, also the fact 98-99% won't get in anyway.</p>
<p>Do you have the stats to back up your assertion about 98-99%. It would seem to me that we all come from different backgrounds and our chances vary considerably.</p>
<p>There's a reason why everything is speculation around here concerning IBanking. It doesn't make you wonder why no one on this board is an actually or was a IBanker at a BB firm? That's because only a very few is any will actually get an interview, or even make it past the first round. One thing that we can correctly assume is that IBanking @ BB is one of the most difficult jobs to get.</p>
<p>I have actually found a few that post on other forums such as skyscraperpage, etc. They have to do something during their long periods of downtime while still at the office. Have not found one that works at goldman, but i have found MS, BOFA and Credit Suisse</p>
<p>for someone coming out of undergrad, which option would be better for getting into a top MBA program and for career advancement in general: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>a pretty good (but not very top) consulting firm like deloitte, mercer HR, accenture, LEK, etc. </p></li>
<li><p>a management fast-track program at a fortune 500 (where some of the people in the program are MBAs)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>i'm also assuming from the previous posts that if someone is offered a job at mckinsey, bain, BCG, booz allen, etc., that taking that offer would be the obvious choice over both of the above options.</p>