hey everybody welcome back to the channel i'm richie g glad to have you here today we're going
to be talking about consulting because i saw a lot of you really liked the consulting video i
put on about boston consulting group so i'll talk a little bit more about that and do a few videos
on this so today we're going to be talking about why somebody would leave consulting right if it's
such an amazing job and so incredibly lucrative and all of that why would you leave so there are
basically four reasons why somebody would leave or four stages where somebody would step out so
we're going to talk about that today but before we do please smash that like button and subscribe and
you get more content like this the first reason why you might leave consulting is basically
retirement right you've worked a long life in consulting you've been a partner for many years
and then you're fabulously wealthy and you're out and that's great right you know partners make
multiple millions of dollars a year and why wouldn't you that sounds great but it's actually
a long road to get there so if you think about the the stages it takes to get to be a partner at a
top consulting firm or almost all of them you have to start out under after undergrad doing about
two to three years as an associate or the lowest level person then you get an mba which is another
two years and then you spend two years doing consulting right so the base consults after that
you're promoted to project leader or something where you have a small team of consultants and
that's another two to three years and then after that you spend four maybe six years as a principal
or engagement manager or whatever it's called and that's the step to partner and then only after
that do you become a partner and a partner usually starts out with a few years of probation where
they they pay you more than you make but more than you're bringing in but it's stressful right and
then after those three years or so then you become a full senior partner and you're part of the firm
so if we add that up you know it's like two to three years for associates then two years for
consultant two more years as project leader and then say four more years as a engagement manager
you're talking nearly a decade of working there just to get to junior partner and the the issue
is that through that whole time you're putting in 60 to 80 hours a week you are traveling almost
full time typically it is exhausting there's no doubt about it so very few people actually make
it to park so that leads us to the next reason why you might leave consulting and that's because you
get an amazing job some client calls you up and says hey thanks so much for working on this really
difficult case we really enjoy working with you we'd like to make you a vp of strategy in this or
operations lead or whatever it is and they offer you you know really nice job it's like
a a extended job interview so that happens a lot with consulting that you're you're working
with the client you like the client the client likes you and they make an offer or they come to
an understanding sometimes in some of the firms there's a more formalized way of doing this like
an out turn ship i've heard it called or something like that where the the consulting firm actually
lends you out on a long-term basis to the company and then the company can sort of negotiate a deal
to bring you on full-time and long-term couple ways to get that dream job after consulting and
you know that's great that uh that that happens a lot for me i exited to go to google that was my
target company at that point and it was great the third reason why you might leave consulting is
that you get burnt out as i'm saying before it's a hard road it is definitely hard uh you know sure
you you're spending time in great hotels and great restaurants and stuff but
really really you're working those 60 70 80 hours a week you are traveling non-stop you're away
from family you're away from friends and you're doing work that you know frankly a lot of people
wonder what you're producing as a consultant you just make powerpoint slides or excel
models and that's it and give advice some people really get burnt out doing that for a longer
period of time and it definitely takes a toll it takes a toll on your relationships back home
it takes a toll on your you know physical energy and so on so there's a rare type of person i
would say that's able to sustain that long term and also sustain their relationships and and
have a a good and meaningful life with that it happens of course it happens there are many
consultants that do a great job and they thrive and they love that that lifestyle but
many people actually find like poo this is this is a bit much they exit and you know no problem
so then the fourth reason why somebody might leave consulting is they're asked to leave so consulting
is notoriously an up or out culture what does that mean it means that you either get promoted
at the right time and there's a window for when you can get promoted or you're out they ask you
to leave and they ask you nicely and they help you with without placement and help you with finding a
job and all of that but basically you're out so so those those timings that i mentioned before
you don't have a choice of staying longer so the associate typically it's two years could be four
or five in in some countries i've seen in some firms but then you're out you're no longer gonna
you're not gonna be an associate for the rest of your career so then you go to business school
typically and then you come back as a consultant or something in that level and that's two years
and if you don't get promoted in those two years you're out then you get to project leader or
something around that and you're there for two years and it's not three it's not four it's two
and you basically have to master these skills very quickly and do well amongst a very competitive set
or you're out and if you master those skills then you move on to the engagement manager or
the principal that's a new set of skills because as a consultant you're working on trying to solve
the problem and your own piece of the work as a project leader you are working on a larger
piece of work but also managing a small team and then as this as a principal or engagement manager
then you're really the key contact with the client so then you're actually moving towards building
your own book of business and you are responsible for solving the entire client's problem that's a
little more flexible because they want you to actually build up commercialization at that
point they want you to be able to sell because the next step at partner you have to sell work
that's what partners do they go into clients and they get them to sign up for more work and they
uh get new cases and that's a new set that you have to build of skills and responsibilities
you have a much bigger team typically you know a number of of project leaders with consultants and
associates and so on if you don't make any of these levels if you don't make the next level
at the right time you're asked to leave there are no late bloomers in consulting so that's the
fourth reason why people will leave so if you're considering a career in consulting maybe you're
in business school right now don't do it just kidding it can be a really interesting career and
an interesting number of years most people take it as finishing school for mba and i fully agree
with that a few years in consulting you learn so much and i'll talk about some of the skills that
i've learned that have really helped me in the rest of my career but getting to that partner
very very very few people get to that level uh coming out of business school but it's possible
it's possible might be for you that's cool and we all take our own paths to success and
enjoy the journey so hope you found this interesting and informative if you did please
hit the like button subscribe helps me out a lot thanks so much for the 100 subscribers that
that we've reached and i'm looking forward to many more thanks have a great great great day bye