After working like a dog for the last 3+ On a double engineering major years my kid had planned on a job in engineering. But at a campus fair she dropped a resume at a business consulting company, got interviews and call backs, a trip to thier offices for final rounds and then an offer! Money is excellent. She’d be in an area that seems nice and there would be a group of about 50+ other people her age starting at the same time ( so a great way to meet people…she’s takked to friends a few years older who loved this sort of first job arrangement and found it fun and so helpful when moving to a new city) She thinks the job sounds interesting and she would be using her technical knowledge on the job. BUT it means leaving hands on engineering. Most of the engineering firms she’s Intersted in haven’t even started the hiring process. Plus at many she’d be moving to a new part of the country without the kind of support that a large incoming group of other workers would provide ( she’s taken to older friends who struggled a bit with this aspect)
And it’s very hard to turn down a sold offer. Any thoughts about this are welcome!!
It sounds like it is what she wants to do. At this stage in life IMHO parents ought to stay out of it, as long as it looks like the kid is on a good track to be self-supporting.
I see no problem with using your technical knowledge in a job other than a classic engineering job.
On the other hand, the world of consulting has both pluses and minuses.
Pluses: You get to see and help solve a wide variety of business problems, rather than starting your career in a narrow field. You also get to be part of a “class” of young people who started with you, which can be a very nice arrangement for a single person starting in a new city.
Minuses: Some types of consulting require an astonishing amount of travel. Others don’t. She may want to find out about how much travel is involved in this particular job. That could affect her decision. Also, in some types of consulting, you can only stay with the firm for a limited number of years, after which you would be expected to get a graduate degree before returning to the company for a higher-level job, or you would go elsewhere and do something else. But this is not true of all types of consulting. Again, it’s worth investigating, especially if she prefers not to go back to school again.
One of my kids (not an engineering major) spent the first three years of her career in a specialized consulting firm where there was minimal travel but where you could only get promoted one level without a graduate degree. She then left (as everyone does after three or four years), got an MBA, but chose to do something else with it instead of returning to the consulting firm. It was mostly a good experience. She wouldn’t have liked it as much if she had been required to travel every week.
I know several engineers who would love to jump over into the consulting realm. Your kiddo seems very accomplished. I suspect few doors will be closed to her. It seems like the new work group is a great attraction. Consider the alternative – in a workshop w/2-3 other senior engineers – pounding away on some single project team for months on end.
Take the adventure (this job) now, I’d say! I’m envious! Congrats!
Life at a business consulting company is very different from life as an engineer. Consulting can be very high pressure with big salaries to compensate for the long hours (and as other have said - lots of travel). A job, like wall street trading desk jobs, that can quickly lead to burnout.
However, if that is a lifestyle she thinks she will enjoy, after a couple of years in business consulting she will be qualified for many business jobs. Many go on to full-time MBA programs after a few years of consulting.
I would consider it a fork in the road for her - after consulting will she be able to ever be an engineer?
Consulting can be very hard on personal relationships, but they are excellent training grounds for all sorts of exposure to real world problems. Lots of exposure to both ‘confirm what the client CEO wants’ consulting and problem solving consulting will equip her with skills needed to survive in large corporate environments. She will interface with much higher levels in the corporate world than a typical engineer would.
The unwritten rule in engineering used to be that if you are out of it for more than two years you have lost your edge.
Not sure if this is still true.
When engineer son got his engineering job they asked him what track he wanted to be on. Technical or management.
Obviously the management track would be concentrating on project management type skills. I think your daughter needs to ask herself this question.
Women engineers are still in high demand and are working their way up the corporate ladder pretty quickly as engineering firms try and get gender balance at the top levels.
Also on a different note, apparently younger employees are not staying in the same job for very long. Employers are trying to figure out how to hold on to them.
Anyway, if the work sounds interesting, the benefits are decent and she is well aware of the expectations on weekly hours and ability to actually use vacation it does not sound like a bad beginning. Good luck to her.
Did your daughter do any internships? If so, in what engineering capacity and did she like it? Both my s’s are engineers. One pursued start-ups after college where his engineering skill would be used hands-on and hopefully to “make a difference”, because he discovered after doing 2 internships with big companies that he didn’t think that was for him. Younger son interned as small companies (one in engineering, one not) and ended up taking an engineering consulting job out of college. He is still in a somewhat more hands-on role, whereas older s is now in management. So tell her to follow her heart. Good luck! Sounds like a great opportunity!
I am a women who majored in engineering and who no longer works as an engineer. I worked for two years in engineering after college and then moved into more managerial positions, and eventually went back to school for an MBA. This is a very common career path for engineers, even those that don’t switch out immediately.
The first question that comes to my mind is, why is your daughter studying engineering? Is it because she loves it, or because she is good at it? If she loves it, then she should consider staying it for at least a little while, but if she just kind of fell into it because she was good at it (this is what happened to me), then she may consider if she can take that education and use it elsewhere. She probably never considered this before because the career path for engineering seems straightforward in the early years, but many engineers eventually leave engineering. The thinking skills that you learn in engineering work well in many fields.
Consulting can be a hard life, depending on the firm. I worked in consulting after business school and it was long hours and lots of travel. The firm I worked for only kept undergrad hires for two or three years after which they were expected to leave. Most went back to school to get MBAs. A small number went to work for client companies. She should find out if her prospective employer has this type of policy. Its not a bad thing, but you don’t want to be surprised.
You’ve received some really good thoughts on the subject. Things I would consider if I was in your daughter’s position.
– Why did she choose to major in engineering? The list she creates from her answer may be helpful. For instance I know people who chose a major because they have the aptitude and was told afterward, there would be a job. Others actually love the engineering aspect.
– What did she like and dislike the most during her studies? Now compare that to what she believes she will be doing if she takes the consulting offer.
– How important is money to her? As others have said, the consulting lifestyle can be challenging.
– Where would she like to be professionally in 5 (or 10) years from now? She doesn’t have to know specifics, but this goes along with considering future opportunities. Consulting experience can help you advance within a company. However, it sounds like it may also make it more difficult to get back into a strictly engineering role.
Some folks feel that getting a masters in engineering narrows your scope for potential jobs… DS#1 considered going back for an MBA but has ended up not needing it for his management positions (though the company did send him to a short management program of some sort).
This may affect how her social circles form. She may want to consider whether that matters to her and which type of social circles may be more to her liking.
Another vote to look really closely at the quality of life as an entry-level consultant. There very likely could be lots of travel, stress, long hours, etc. How long does a new-hire consultant actually last at this firm? (Use LinkedIn resumes or try alumni databases in the career center to research that.)
Many business consulting firms know how to put on the hard-sell and lock-in the grads they want. If she wants to consider engineering, she will have to be firm about that.
Depending on the firm/engineering field, there’s also the possibility some engineering/tech firms and hiring managers may feel folks like OP’s D lacks the serious commitment to be a “serious engineer” by taking a non-engineering job as her first job out of engineering school.
Overheard grumbling about this issue from some hiring managers for engineering/tech firms within my extended family and a few engineering/tech related job fairs/conferences I’ve attended.
Also, if some engineering positions require an engineer with a PE license, this could put her several years behind her undergrad engineering peers as the PE licensing exam is in two parts.
First part taken after graduating undergrad engineering school, the second part after working several years in his/her engineering field. Both parts must be taken and passed to get the license. And there’s no guarantee one will pass one or both parts even after graduating from undergrad engineering…even from the very best engineering programs.
True if one wants to be considered for non-engineering related positions or higher corporate management in non-engineering/tech firms/corporations.
However, it’s not as much of a concern if one prefers to stay in the engineering/tech field, especially in a hardcore engineering/tech firm.
Several such firms such as the ones my engineering relatives work and done hiring for require an MS in engineering and prefer it over the MBA as a prereq to be promoted to supervisory/senior management positions within their respective firms.
As this is really a branching point for her career, this is a time where I would not just take the first job that comes by but really try for the type of job she thinks she wants…I bet those consultant jobs will be there if she needs them.