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Soon-to-be distance MBA student looking to break into consulting

by | Jan 9, 2015 | Business, Business School, career, career path, consulting, Education, mba, McKinsey, professional advice, software engineer, Technology-related, transition | 0 comments

The message below came to me from a UK-based reader who has 11 years of experience as a Software Engineer. Also, he will soon be starting a distance-learning MBA program at one of the top business schools in Europe and aspires to move into management consulting after he graduates.

His question to me was about what I thought of his chances to get a job at one of the M/B/B firms after business school. He has a strong desire to end up at one of those firms, but he doesn’t know whether they recruit at his school. Overall, he’s trying to determine whether he is aspiring to something that is possible, which is a very valid question.

As my long-time readers know, I receive questions like this a lot and have many, many thoughts to share on the topic, as you’ll see in my commentary below. After receiving my email, the reader responded that I was spot-on for what he was looking for and that it was useful insight for him as he goes into this MBA program. I love it when people actually take the time to let me know that they have found my responses to be helpful. 🙂

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BM wrote:

Hi Marquis,

I love the blog. Great work!

I am about to embark on a Distance Learning MBA program at Warwick Business School in the UK. I am 34 with 11 years experience in Software engineering. I have an excellent 1st class honours degree in comp sci (top of the class.)

Given my age, experience, and choice of business school, what are my chances of getting a role at an MBB firm upon graduation? Warwick has a very highly ranked MBA, but I am not sure if the likes of McK, Bain, or BCG would recruit Warwick graduates. Am I being realistic with my ambition? I am dedicated and will make sure that I do very well on the MBA.

Apologies for the length of this mail, I hope you can help!

Thanks,

BM

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My response:

Hi BM,

I hope this message finds you well.

I’d like to start by congratulating you on getting into business school and approaching the start of your MBA journey. As you’ve seen from my blog entries, earning a top-tier MBA is the first step in totally changing the direction of your career, especially for folks like us who started our careers as hands-on techies.

I totally understand your desire to get a job at one of the M/B/B firms after business school. I’ve seen from my own experiences how much that sort of role can positively impact one’s career. As I think about your question, I’ve decided to break my response into the 3 factors listed in your email:

  • Age: Your age wouldn’t necessarily rule you out as a candidate, but the fact that you’ll be 36-37 upon graduation could be a tough play. Most MBA grads starting in management consulting right after business school are in their late 20s or early 30s, so you’d be significantly older than the average. I know of a couple of guys from my time at McKinsey who started there at 34-35, so I know that it is possible to do what you’re looking to do. You just need to go into this knowing that it won’t exactly be straightforward.

  • Experience: Your 11 years of software experience could be an asset to you, especially if you try to go into one of your target firms in a tech-related strategy group (e.g., McKinsey’s Business Technology Office). The key thing here is being able to show upward career trajectory during your time in software engineering. You’d want to position yourself as a leader and someone with a high-level strategic perspective in Technology. This could be a differentiator for you as a candidate if you use it in the right way.

  • Choice of business school: Warwick Business School is a strong program in the UK and I’d imagine that the M/B/B firms would do on-campus recruiting there. I don’t know that for sure though. The tough part for you is that you’re doing a distance learning program, which may impact your ability to access recruiting resources at Warwick. I don’t know enough about how your school will give folks in your program a chance to recruit, so I don’t feel comfortable offering a perspective here. You should reach out to your school’s Career Services Office to see how they’ll handle situations with students like you.

Net-net, I wouldn’t say that getting a job at one of the M/B/B firms after finishing your MBA isn’t out of the question, but I wouldn’t say that it is a slam dunk either. I would recommend the following to increase your chances:

  • Start networking now to find an in with your target firms; Find Warwick MBA alums that either currently work at your target firms or have worked there before and ask them about how they were able to get their positions

  • Start thinking through how you will tell the story of how your 11 years of software engineering will make you a good candidate to be a management consultant; Specifically, you’ll need to research the companies in order to understand their profiles and make the case for you being a great candidate for each of them in particular

  • Begin the process of prepping for consulting case interviews; You likely won’t have to use those case interview skills for a long time, but you will need to have the ability to break down a consulting case be second nature by the time any interview opportunity arises; Learning how to do cases isn’t something that can be done effectively in only a few days…you’ll need to put time into it

Also, you might want to consider starting your post-MBA career with a different consulting firm to gain some experience and build a track record in the industry. Then, you can transition to one of the M/B/B firms later on.

That’s about all that I have for you on this one. Good luck with the upcoming start of your MBA program and with your job search.

Take care and have a nice evening.

Marquis