Wow, I can’t believe I was actually able to respond to two emails over the course of a single weekend…that hasn’t happened in a LONG time. This entry is from an undergraduate who is trying to figure out which career path would be best for him to pursue if he wants to get an MBA followed by a top consulting offer. I’m not an expert at any of this, but I think I gave him some interesting points to think about.

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KY wrote:

“Hi Marquis,

I came across your weblog while I was searching for some career tips. I will really appreciate it if you can help me out!

I am currently a business undergraduate student entering my final year in September. Currently working as an intern at one of the big4, I am considering whether I should join the firm I am with now and obtain my Chartered Account designation in 2-3 years time. My current role is in Advisory, doing work with regulatory consulting ( e.g. SOX). My goal in 5 years would be to obtain an MBA and then work for a top consulting firm. Would obtaining a professional designation in accountancy be valuable if I want to become a management consultant in business strategy (and IT strategy) later in my career? Or, would joining a tier2 consulting firm right out of school as an analyst for a few years and THEN going for my MBA be a better way to go?

I’ve heard that it’s rather difficult to move from a big4 to strategy consulting – is this true? I am truly passionate about problem solving, analysing business problems from different perspectivies, and coming up with solutions to help businesses.

Thank you so much for your time!

KY“

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My response:

KY,

I hope this message finds you doing well. I apologize for taking so long to respond to your message. As you may have seen from my blog entries, I’ve been pretty swamped as of late. Also, I wanted to make sure I time to give you a decent answer to your email.

Your question is similar to one I asked a while back, but you’ve added a couple of wrinkles to it with the issue of getting a certification versus going to a “tier2 consulting firm” added in. Since you’re planning to get an MBA between this first post-college job and making the move over to a top consulting firm, you’d likely have just as good a chance of getting that consulting offer with either option, all things being equal. Business school serves as the great equalizer when it comes to restarting one’s career in a new direction and, as long as you position your pre-MBA career well and perform on the interviews, you’ll have a legitimate shot at an offer from a top firm. In terms of which pre-MBA career option will best position you for a top consulting firm after business school, I can’t really say because I’m not a recruiter at any of the firms. While there are some jobs that would make you a strong candidate on paper, it’ll really come down to how you do once you’re actually in the recruiting process. And, using myself as an example, even those with non-traditional pre-MBA careers can get across the finish line at a top consulting firm with a strong MBA behind them. Also, you seem to be forgetting about the possibility of going directly into a top consulting firm as an Analyst right out of undergrad, which could get you right in straight after getting your Bachelor’s degree…

The more important question that you’re not asking is which of your job options will position you best for admission into a strong business school. As I’ve mentioned in one of my old entries, I believe that one will perform best in a job that he/she truly enjoys and that should be the guideline that one uses when selecting a position. So now you’ve got to ask yourself what you’d prefer to do after college: dive deep into accounting or gain experience with team problem solving by going into consulting immediately. The Chartered Accountant designation might give you a leg-up in your B-school applications, but you’d have to figure out a way to weave it into your overall application story for it to have major impact on your chances. The pre-MBA experience in consulting would teach you a lot about business, but you have to decide whether you’d like it enough to perform like a rockstar and make your application sparkle. Once you’ve figured out which job you will likely perform best in, everything else should fall into place, including getting into a good business school and getting the sort of post-MBA job you’re looking for. For now, I’d advise you to look ahead toward the goal of B-school, not a consulting career, because there’s no guarantee that your passion will stay the same as it is now in the next 2-5 years. This is a choice that you’ve got to make for yourself and it’s got to be about what YOU want to do, not necessarily what you think a consulting firm that you might apply to in several years might want you to have done.

As for your last point, I’m not sure where you heard that moving from a Big4 accounting firm into strategy consulting is difficult, but I can’t see how that would be a problem if you’re planning on getting an MBA in between. Making that move without business school in between could be difficult, but, in that case, you would have to focus on preparing well for the case interviews to show off your problem solving skills and prove that you aren’t tied to a calculator (as one might assume an accountant to be). But, as I stated above, the MBA is the great equalizer when it comes to career switching, so you should think ahead to leveraging this first post-collegiate job to getting into a good business school, not getting into a post-MBA strategy consulting career.

Take care and I hope you enjoy the rest of your internship.

-Marquis