In secondary school, I was adamant that I would never sell out to investment banking or consulting. When confronted with career-related choices, I always chose the one that would take me further away from these roles.
In my first year, I admittedly enjoyed my role as a consultant for my university's consulting society and my finance module. Hence, in my second year, I decided to apply for some spring weeks, not wanting to miss out on any available opportunities. This encouraged me to seriously consider what I might want to do in the future, and I finally understood why students "sell out".
These were my conclusions.
Learning opportunities
If you're looking for learning opportunities, look no further. While the Excel and PowerPoint work in itself may not seem so intellectually stimulating, this is really a small part of the job. The real learning comes from speaking to your colleagues: those in VP and Managing Director or Partner positions have great industry knowledge, and you will be able to learn a lot about an industry from them. Your colleagues are likely to be the top graduates globally. Once you begin to attend client meetings you will also be able to learn from C-suite executives at large companies. All of these people will form your network, which you can draw on for the rest of your life.
Instead, graduates might choose to work in the finance department of a "cooler" company like Google or Disney; however, this is still Excel work without all the IB perks.
As a graduate, even in other industries such as marketing or sales, there is little value you can add compared to those with years of work experience. It is likely you will still be performing dull, administrative tasks.
The strong graduate programmes and quality of employees in IB and consulting make them an option to consider.
Exit opportunities
These days, no-one expects you to stay in one company or role forever. The exit opportunities for IB and consulting are unparalleled.
IB is a great place to start to move to the buy-side, i.e. private equity, hedge funds, venture capital etc. Here the work continues to suit someone with an aptitude for finance but is more interesting, there's a better work-life balance, and the pay is pretty crazy.
Meanwhile, consultants tend to leave to perform in-house strategy work for FTSE 500 companies, become C-suite executives (CEOs, COOs etc.), join a startup, or go to top business schools (21% of Harvard Business School graduates worked for MBB prior to entry).
Skillset
It is possible (albeit difficult) to go straight into one of the above roles after graduating, rather than starting off at an IB or consulting firm. However, in my opinion, it's probably better to do your 2-year graduate role first even if you do get this opportunity, for several reasons:
- If you're keen on a finance or strategy-related role, the kind of skillset you'll pick up training at an IB or consulting firm will be far stronger than in a small division at a firm in a different industry. You'll be much better at what you do, and will be able to then go on to the firm or industry of your choice with much more ease.
- Building this strong skillset first will then enable you to be promoted more quickly, or get a job at the more renowned firms in the industry. These renowned firms are generally also the ones with the most exciting work. If you jump into a role straight away, you might have to work harder to be able to leave.
Money
It's important to consider the benefits of financial freedom. If you want to be an entrepreneur, a few years in a high-paying career could fund your start-up without having to give up equity to a venture capitalist. If you want to retire by 35, you could probably do so by starting out in IB, with its generous bonuses. If you want to set up a foundation or a social enterprise, again, money is important.
Anyone can apply, but don't treat it as a back-up
As long as you work hard at the application process, anyone has a good chance. Neither role goes beyond GCSE maths, recruits solely from Oxbridge, requires relevant experience, or requires a certain degree subject. All you have to do is start early and prepare well.
Most importantly, if you don't resonate with a reason, don't apply. Firstly, these are pretty competitive roles; there's no point in wasting time putting in an application with 50% effort when top students are putting in 100%. If you're applying you have to give it your all: investment banking and strategy consulting are not suitable back-ups. Secondly, if you do get the position, these are pretty mentally taxing jobs and require a lot of sacrifices, particularly in the early stages. Think about this choice carefully.
Giving it your all starts with the CV. The CV review scores yours against what banks and consultancies screen for.