Questions from an IT professional about transitioning to the business career track

Happy holidays, everyone! I hope that you’re all enjoying the holiday season with your loved ones.

The email below comes from a person who is currently working in IT and wants to move into consulting. In addition to the traditional method of getting an MBA and then making the jump, the writer also wants to know whether she can do a direct transition now. I’ve been asked tons of questions about this over the years, so I have a lot of thoughts about it.

You’ll notice that I mention the many blog entries that I’ve posted in the past on this topic. I really wish that people would take the time to read through my archives before emailing me to avoid asking me questions that I’ve already answered many times before. At least this writer had a couple of questions that haven’t been asked before.

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JI wrote:

Hello Marquis,

I have read many articles on your blog. Thank you for providing such amazing information to the community!

I am at a crossroads at my life and would really appreciate some of your advice. I have about 7 years of work experience in IT and am looking to eventually get into management consulting.

An MBA is obviously an option, but do you think I should also try to apply to some positions now?

I have heard that some companies will only allow you to apply once. If you try again, your chances of getting in is greatly reduced. Is that true?

Is going towards technical consulting in companies such as Accenture then trying to make a jump into strategy consulting a good option?

Thank you so much in advance for your help!

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My response:

Hi JI,

I hope this message finds you well. Thanks for reaching out with your question. Hopefully, you’ll find my comments below to be helpful as you face this decision point in your career.

As you’ve probably seen in my past blog entries, I often receive emails from IT professionals trying to make a transition into business, so your situation is not unique. Let’s see if I can share some wisdom that might help you to chart your own path.

Please see below for my responses to your specific questions:

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• An MBA is obviously an option, but do you think I should also try to apply to some positions now?

  I don’t see how applying to positions now would hurt you, so, if you’re looking for a transition, you might as well start researching firms and making your best efforts to get jobs at them. You’ll have to go into it knowing that going from a career in IT over to a traditional strategy consulting firm is rather difficult, but it isn’t impossible. It could take a lot of patience and possibly some creativity in telling your story, but it could work out for you in the right situation.

  Also, as you said, an MBA is indeed an option and it is one that I think that it is one that you should strongly consider. If you try to make this transition into consulting now, you may have a long road ahead of you to get into the kind of role that you seek…maybe as long as 5+ years. If you were to go to business school instead, you could spend a couple of years in school and roll right into a job at one of the M/B/B firms if you do well in the interviews.

  I like to refer to the MBA degree as the perfect reboot to one’s career. It doesn’t matter what you did before business school because, if you can earn an MBA from the right school, you will be seen as a fresh business-leader-in-waiting and can transition from just about any industry/track to almost any field that you want (e.g., consulting, investment banking, technology, consumer products).

• I have heard that some companies will only allow you to apply once. If you try again, your chances of getting in is greatly reduced. Is that true?

  I’m not sure of where you got this information, but, in my experience, it isn’t necessarily true. When I was a first-year MBA student, I applied to several consulting firms for summer internships through on-campus recruiting and was dinged by all of them. During the second-year MBA on-campus recruiting process, I applied to some of those firms again and received interview invites from all of them. In fact, several of the others who’d dinged me during the MBA1 year tried to recruit me during the MBA2 year, but, by then, I had no interest in them.

  Please note that this is only my own experience and a contributing factor may have been that I was applying as a student as opposed to applying as an experienced hire. Things may be a little different in the experienced hire process. With that in mind, if I were in your shoes, I would be mindful of the amount of time that would pass between applying to a given firm. If you apply to a firm and don’t receive an interview invite, I would not recommend trying again until some decent time (2 years or so) has passed. You can do a lot of great things in 2 years and, after doing it, you could emerge as a fundamentally better candidate when you next apply.

• Is going towards technical consulting in companies such as Accenture then trying to make a jump into strategy consulting a good option?

  This could be a good option and it is actually something that I have recommended for several of my readers in the past. You can find more detail on my recommendations around this topic in my blog archives.

  The thing to remember here is that this sort of transition is not a short activity. It could take as long as 5-6 years in a technology consulting role for a person to make a case for a strategy consulting firm to give that person a chance for an interview.

  Many folks who want to make this kind of move don’t have the patience for this, but it is indeed an option for you here.

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That’s about all that I have for you on your questions. I would recommend reaching out to some other professionals for their insights on these items, as well. When it comes to these types of career/educational decisions, it is helpful to get as much good advice as possible.

Take care and have a nice evening.

Marquis