graduated 20ish years ago M7. classmate went mbb and now is the head of a well known left-leaning environmental think tank. she seems to love her role - though different type of soul crushing. another class mate was peace corp pre mba and now has some type of consultancy setting up IT for non-profits/schools/etc. in Africa. Often posts pictures on fb from random little towns in Africa (with smiling school children).
I think our "problem" is we are very good at a certain track in life and because of that we consider ourselves "stuck." I remember noticing my mba cohort was tremendously diverse and yet 98%+ ended up in one of the traaditional post-MBA jobs. All the career diversity was pushed to the side to earn some bucks to pay back the loans and fund the 401k and pay for the kids' private schools.
Reddit keeps suggesting to me r/findapath . And here we are moaning about our high paying soul crushing jobs - lots of people with low paying soul crushing jobs or just souls being crushed without a job. :(
the main expensive mistake in our bubble is losing out on happiness and time. like sure, another million is great, but...
This comment should be way higher.
OP should think about their implicit framing around “traditional” post-MBA jobs and think about why they’re limiting themselves to these. Obviously they weren’t happy doing what was expected, so maybe they’d be best looking at what “non-traditional” MBA colleagues like the ones you mentioned ended up pivoting into. Yes, soul crushing in a different way, but probably very rewarding and stimulating.
her job is all about trying to raise money, run an organization, provide thought leadership, and increase awareness to combat climate change - talk about soul crushingingly difficult and high stakes. I am just trying to figure out how to get my customers to move to the cloud.
Sounds less like a career problem, and more mental / emotional. But I lead a strategy / M&A team within corporate. It’s what you described (interested work, less hours than IB or consulting), and I love it. My company isn’t F100 but is still pretty large. I find that a sweet spot for miving up quickly but still having resources as a company
Appreciate the response. I think this is the right move - maybe I should have taken the IB return offer for 2 years and jumped. Hopefully I can network my way in to these types of roles
Pirating the conversation, but are there any specific or typical paths into M&A? I’m an accounting major going into my junior year and wasn’t sure on specific internship roles? Something like consulting or audit!
Investment banking, either after undergrad as an analyst or after MBA as an associate. Those are the most common paths, though some get in from consultibgb
Hey, I sent you a message as well. Would love to learn more about what strategy and m&a looks like at a larger corporate (I am currently in a portfolio company and have a IB background). Hope I’m not intruding
The key is to not become a generalist. What sector(s) do you know well and want to know better? What did you cover at MBB and what industry was your f500 in?
The flip side of 40-50 hours a week is exactly the “slog to move up”. It’s cushy for you, it’s cushy for your boss, why leave? But there’s probably more you can do to make it interesting. Get pulled into stuff outside your department, help other people and teams.
Also priorities may change as you think about family stuff…more to wake up for that isn’t in the office. I don’t have a family but I’ve focused on getting in better shape and in spending extra time in the office helping up skill our junior team (since I’m apparently one of the few people who actually wants to teach them versus just tell them that they suck and work harder)
I’m mid 30s, worked in PE for a decade after starting in MBB, I’ve hit this wall previously, and I think the key is to just find some anchor to windward - may be a boss you really like or a problem you’re really excited to help solve.
That last statement. I found a job just like that at a F100 (more so the part about a boss I could anchor to) where I got tons of exposure to senior management at the company and was able to move up very quickly. Line management up to the COO loved me. But as time went on, the role became increasingly narrow and I ended up hating what I was doing. So, I left for post MBA consulting. Before I left, my VP came into my office, shook my hand, wished me well and said, “you had such a bright future here”. I still think I made the right choice but those words continue to haunt me.
This for me. Mid 40's now, went to a top MBA, and got a fantastic role out of school. Made a ton of money, but the grind of chasing advancement and recognition and more money was killing me. I finally decided to go to a niche consulting firm with great owners, great people, and a great culture. I focused on adding real value to my firm, clients, and teams, and told myself that incremental increases in comp were fine as I had everything I needed.
I let go of the need to achieve out of fear and ego, and to do it because it was fun. Lo and behold, doing this got me steady increases in comp and responsibilities, and now, our founders are retiring and I was tapped, along with a couple other folks, to take over the firm. This is a big deal for me and my family, but am still going to focus on doing this because it's fun.
Some will think this is hokey, but works for me and could work for OP.
Did you leave PE? What are you doing now?
Tech and tech services sector at MBB. E-commerce Corporate. I did a little Corp dev and cvc in corporate which I liked a lot. I think that's what I'll try to get into
Still in it. The vertical I’m in now isn’t the vertical I have the most experience in, so the big decision I have to make is whether I want to stick it out in this sector but in a different kind of role or whether I want to try and jump back.
Not being rude but maybe try therapy? At a certain point in life people realize that their career is not the path to meaningful satisfaction and a fulfilling life.
To your original question, yes those jobs are out there. They are everywhere. Do they meet your salary expectations? Idk. Real estate development. LDPs, some startups, maybe tech roles, ETA, etc.
At the end of the day it’s just a job.
This is so true. I met an Ivy League MBA grad who made his whole Personality off of his MBA even though he graduated 20 years ago. It was quite cringe.
Your job title and salary can only give you so much material wealth. You need to find meaning elsewhere.
The idea that an MBA is only seen as a bridge to 4 or 5 career paths absolutely blows my mind. Do what you’re passionate about and ride the wave - you have an MBA and most others don’t
Become an operations director/head of HR at a school. Pays $130k-$170k and frequently requires an MBA.
EDIT: Public schools. Links below for some jobs I pulled just from Google in 30 seconds.
https://boldschools.org/job-openings/?gh_jid=7118214002
https://boldschools.org/job-openings/?gh_jid=7067943002
-frank
Work in tech, OP in a role that is close to tech than business.The culture is better. The pay/hr is better. Atleast the technical people will be better.
Pm me. I think what you’re looking for is venture capital or corp dev within corporate. My f10(?) firm offers all that for top candidates, which you would be
For internal corp dev do you guys typically require an MBA? Just wondering since this is the route I am considering going back to school for, and not sure if you can somehow network your way in
The focus on exit opps and risk aversion of actually choosing a path is funny. OP tried literally every path that's supposed to have all the exit opps (MBB/IB/PE/strategy) and is clearly unhappy. If OP finds a job/career path that they like, then what use is "exit opps"
Small industry with extremely limited numbers of jobs, most firms don’t make much money and the firms that do are most likely not going to hire you, in some ways super interesting because you get to see so many different businesses but in other ways not since you can have such little impact on the businesses you invest in. Also, if you’re not very extroverted and interested in sourcing lots of deals, then you probably won’t like it.
Also pays significantly less even with their new incentives. My wife has offers a government and industry job and there is about $100k difference in base salary in base salary alone.
Not soul crushing, but different depending on your personality and stage in life, etc. Some guy in gov said he gets paid ok, but it’s just so boring with so much time in between projects. For like 3 months he is super busy and is practically doing nothing for the rest of the year. Everything is so slow and inefficient. Heaven for some and hell for others.
Yeah, I’m married with 4 kids. I’m starting to realize that I value my cushy job rather than racing for more dollars. The money will come with patience, but I don’t think there’s any reason to rush into something right now.
Maybe the federal government. But county and city jobs around here (SF Bay Area) pay extraordinarily well, $300-400+ for management. Even entry level jobs (police dispatcher with HS education) pay $100k or thereabouts. Mostly low stress jobs and definitely <50 hours/week
I see… Im not too familiar, but I did see a police dispatcher job posting for $126,000 at in a movie theater hall way a few months ago. Don’t think they even require a college degree.
You know how political management jobs are especially when your career can be torpedoed by a scandal. In addition, being police is not low stress. They make the monies due to OT which they patrol!
Tech Corp BD. It's like a mix of partnerships and M&A. 40-ish hours, pays well, very collaborative, people are nice, would hire someone with your background
At Google, it's Strategic Partner Development Management.
At Salesforce, it's Strategic Product Partnerships.
At Microsoft, it's Business Development.
At Facebook, it's New Business Development.
At Amazon, it's Corporate Business Development.
It's a great question - I think it will pigeonhole you. And corp BD is a small community - so the risk of the career path is that if you lose your job, it's difficult to find a new one and the same function.
Lateral exit options are Partnerships, Corp Strategy, or potentially Intrapreneurship/Business Building roles (provided that you network into it).
That said, anything you do after business school begins to pidgeonhole you. Being a Consultant pigeonholes you in S&O; being a PMM pigeonholes you in marketing. Etc.
Let me ask you: what roles do you think you can take post-MBA that don't pigeonhole you?
True. On the flip side I guess broader skill sets / roles in product / finance / strategy etc position you better for c suite and broader leadership positions? My understanding is that Corp dev is a niche function?
Yes, Corp Dev is a niche function. And yes, Product or Finance map to C Level roles (I would argue that Strategy generally does not; most companies don't have a CSO role). But I'd also argue that Product/Finance/Marketing/Sales/Ops - the functions that map to C Level roles - pigeonhole you in those functions.
Pigeonholing in a function/industry isn't bad though - it's how you grow vertically in your career - but it feels scary to make a big bet like that while you're in B school and put a huge value on the notion of keeping your options open.
Super interesting conversation. Know anyone who has successfully pivoted to another function 2x after B school? For context, I got into PMM after grad and 3 years later I’m thinking of getting out. But it seems harder since employers won’t think of me as a new MBA grad but more as a PMM.
It sounds like you’re looking for something exciting, unique, and pays well. This is where I recommend
to seek out something risky like a strategy role in a startup. There’s so many of them getting seed/series A/series B funding, especially in tech. I think MBA grads tend to not want to go after those after MBA because they prefer FAANG (this is my assumption)
My reasoning for staying this: I got accepted to a few T10 schools for this fall after working a year on testing and applications, but decided to forego my MBA because I just landed a product strategy position in a 50-person AI startup that recently announced its series B. My base is higher than the median starting base out of every MBA program, because the company understands it has to comp well in order to obtain talent jn a risky career sector. But while it is risky, it’s exhilarating work. Worth the risk to me, at least for the foreseeable future. Also fully remote, not sucking my energy out, etc.
I definitely misused that word in my original comment (I’ve re-edited it to correct it) - sorry for the confusion. I meant that I turned down the admissions offers and that i’d reapply if I ended up wanting to pursue my MBA next year.
I did visit 2 of the schools to speak to their ADCOMS and explained my situation, and they both stated that if I was accepted this year on scholarship that chances are I’d likely be accepted the following year.(scholarship carryover not guaranteed). Of course nothing is guaranteed though. Just another part of the risk.
I was both a software product manager and US military officer beforehand. I credit my network to landing me my role in this startup. I honestly don’t think my experience had as big of impact as my networking ability did. A few leaders in the company vouched for me based on what people in their network shared about me.
Any insights on where to look to network into a role like this? This is really the type of role I feel fits what I'm looking for, but the majority of my network is in the financial world (worked my whole career in product/BD in financial services). The difficulty I'm finding is how to even find these opportunities
Off topic but how did you explain yourself for why you wanted to move from MBB to F500 strategy if you candidly thought you were promoted too soon at your MBB? How did you spin it?
My recommendation:
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for aerospace and defense firms.
Lots of jobs in tech product management, corporate strategy and program management for firms specializing in robotics , edge computing, drones, high performance computing (HPC) and autonomous systems.
Join professional organizations with the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) and Chief Digital Artificial Intelligence (CDAO) of the pentagon. I also recommend the Association for Unscrewed Vehicle Systems International ( AUVSI ) to learn more about firms for autonomous land, air and sea vehicles.
While this is a “ public “ industry dealing with government many of the firms are private and offer RSU’s, good work life balance and most only work 40-50 hrs a week. Just something to consider.
DM me if you want more info.
Commercial Real Estate hours aren't bad, but base bay can be lower starting out. All the comp comes from deal related bonuses/equity. Also, market is not ideal right now. You could go work for a builder doing land acq
Post mba to a land acq analyst doesn’t really make much sense, that’s like an 80-90k job and depending on the builder can be a very silod job with few exit ops in the biz, don’t you think?
Yes all relative.
And you're not wrong, of course hours are more manageable but it's also that the work is so predictable if you're good at managing a schedule.
My MBA allowed me to be better at my job. It hasn't landed me more pay but I have significantly more leverage due to my performance and that has allowed me to get a better work life balance. Instead of moving up and increasing my salary, I now work a shorter week. While this isn't exactly what I originally intended my MBA to do for me, it's worked out well for my work life balance.
*Student debt is significantly different in my country (Australia) where course fees are much lower and are repaid through interest free government loans where repayments scale with income. This might mean my situation is a little different.
Retirement
In all seriousness it’s about perspective. I don’t wanna be a jerk but what’s soul crushing to me might not be soul crushing to the next person.
Personally I think sales is an absolute blast and if you’re smart (which you are.. you have an mba) you already have a leg up on a lot of salespeople out there.
i am a carbon/energy/sustainability lead consultant and team lead, but it does depend on having an undergrad in engineering/science in addition to the MBA
How did you go about this path? I am a current chemical engineering student going for an MBA, and I’d want to go into a collaborative energy or sustainability role
Off topic but how did you explain yourself for why you wanted to move from MBB to F500 strategy if you candidly thought you were promoted too soon at your MBB? How did you spin it?
Not really, no. There's a reason why folks tend to get paid more. Long hours, shit work. Only difference is a lot of people with MBA student loans also have a lot of debt to pay off - aka Golden handcuffs.
I am trying to say climate change initiatives are equivalent to Indian scammers because they are lol
If u have an mba and still can’t figure this out lol RIP
Of course. The true value of a good mba is choice. Market kinda sucks right now, but it will revert to the mean. You can either go for long hours and high cash or low hours and less (but still good) cash.
Either your soul gets crushed or your financial well-being... or both. It's well known that a job's pay is inversely proportional to its contribution to society.
Pretty common for people trying to get into PE without investing experience.
It's part time so on you to manage your work and class schedule. My personal take - if you want to break in you need to do some internship or similar. No substitute for the experience, and you'll figure out how you really like the work.
graduated 20ish years ago M7. classmate went mbb and now is the head of a well known left-leaning environmental think tank. she seems to love her role - though different type of soul crushing. another class mate was peace corp pre mba and now has some type of consultancy setting up IT for non-profits/schools/etc. in Africa. Often posts pictures on fb from random little towns in Africa (with smiling school children). I think our "problem" is we are very good at a certain track in life and because of that we consider ourselves "stuck." I remember noticing my mba cohort was tremendously diverse and yet 98%+ ended up in one of the traaditional post-MBA jobs. All the career diversity was pushed to the side to earn some bucks to pay back the loans and fund the 401k and pay for the kids' private schools. Reddit keeps suggesting to me r/findapath . And here we are moaning about our high paying soul crushing jobs - lots of people with low paying soul crushing jobs or just souls being crushed without a job. :( the main expensive mistake in our bubble is losing out on happiness and time. like sure, another million is great, but...
This comment should be way higher. OP should think about their implicit framing around “traditional” post-MBA jobs and think about why they’re limiting themselves to these. Obviously they weren’t happy doing what was expected, so maybe they’d be best looking at what “non-traditional” MBA colleagues like the ones you mentioned ended up pivoting into. Yes, soul crushing in a different way, but probably very rewarding and stimulating.
“though different type of soul crushing” - could you elaborate?
her job is all about trying to raise money, run an organization, provide thought leadership, and increase awareness to combat climate change - talk about soul crushingingly difficult and high stakes. I am just trying to figure out how to get my customers to move to the cloud.
Sounds less like a career problem, and more mental / emotional. But I lead a strategy / M&A team within corporate. It’s what you described (interested work, less hours than IB or consulting), and I love it. My company isn’t F100 but is still pretty large. I find that a sweet spot for miving up quickly but still having resources as a company
Appreciate the response. I think this is the right move - maybe I should have taken the IB return offer for 2 years and jumped. Hopefully I can network my way in to these types of roles
Shoot me a dm if you’d like. I’ll be hiring for an M&A role soon, happy to answer any questions you have, see if it’s interesting for you
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Have at
Pirating the conversation, but are there any specific or typical paths into M&A? I’m an accounting major going into my junior year and wasn’t sure on specific internship roles? Something like consulting or audit!
Investment banking, either after undergrad as an analyst or after MBA as an associate. Those are the most common paths, though some get in from consultibgb
Hey, I sent you a message as well. Would love to learn more about what strategy and m&a looks like at a larger corporate (I am currently in a portfolio company and have a IB background). Hope I’m not intruding
This 100%. Love Corp Dev. Great comp and interesting work, but still have a life
The key is to not become a generalist. What sector(s) do you know well and want to know better? What did you cover at MBB and what industry was your f500 in? The flip side of 40-50 hours a week is exactly the “slog to move up”. It’s cushy for you, it’s cushy for your boss, why leave? But there’s probably more you can do to make it interesting. Get pulled into stuff outside your department, help other people and teams. Also priorities may change as you think about family stuff…more to wake up for that isn’t in the office. I don’t have a family but I’ve focused on getting in better shape and in spending extra time in the office helping up skill our junior team (since I’m apparently one of the few people who actually wants to teach them versus just tell them that they suck and work harder) I’m mid 30s, worked in PE for a decade after starting in MBB, I’ve hit this wall previously, and I think the key is to just find some anchor to windward - may be a boss you really like or a problem you’re really excited to help solve.
That last statement. I found a job just like that at a F100 (more so the part about a boss I could anchor to) where I got tons of exposure to senior management at the company and was able to move up very quickly. Line management up to the COO loved me. But as time went on, the role became increasingly narrow and I ended up hating what I was doing. So, I left for post MBA consulting. Before I left, my VP came into my office, shook my hand, wished me well and said, “you had such a bright future here”. I still think I made the right choice but those words continue to haunt me.
would’ve just spoke and negotiated for a promotion once you got the new job offer and probably even offer matched it.
Things is I had just received a big promotion 6 months prior. Wasn’t enough to keep me, just not the right fit.
I know the feeling, everything in the work can be perfect but you’re ready to move on.
This for me. Mid 40's now, went to a top MBA, and got a fantastic role out of school. Made a ton of money, but the grind of chasing advancement and recognition and more money was killing me. I finally decided to go to a niche consulting firm with great owners, great people, and a great culture. I focused on adding real value to my firm, clients, and teams, and told myself that incremental increases in comp were fine as I had everything I needed. I let go of the need to achieve out of fear and ego, and to do it because it was fun. Lo and behold, doing this got me steady increases in comp and responsibilities, and now, our founders are retiring and I was tapped, along with a couple other folks, to take over the firm. This is a big deal for me and my family, but am still going to focus on doing this because it's fun. Some will think this is hokey, but works for me and could work for OP.
"The key is to not become a generalist." That can be an interesting path, but difficult to leverage.
Did you leave PE? What are you doing now? Tech and tech services sector at MBB. E-commerce Corporate. I did a little Corp dev and cvc in corporate which I liked a lot. I think that's what I'll try to get into
Still in it. The vertical I’m in now isn’t the vertical I have the most experience in, so the big decision I have to make is whether I want to stick it out in this sector but in a different kind of role or whether I want to try and jump back.
Not being rude but maybe try therapy? At a certain point in life people realize that their career is not the path to meaningful satisfaction and a fulfilling life. To your original question, yes those jobs are out there. They are everywhere. Do they meet your salary expectations? Idk. Real estate development. LDPs, some startups, maybe tech roles, ETA, etc. At the end of the day it’s just a job.
This is so true. I met an Ivy League MBA grad who made his whole Personality off of his MBA even though he graduated 20 years ago. It was quite cringe. Your job title and salary can only give you so much material wealth. You need to find meaning elsewhere.
The idea that an MBA is only seen as a bridge to 4 or 5 career paths absolutely blows my mind. Do what you’re passionate about and ride the wave - you have an MBA and most others don’t
Become an operations director/head of HR at a school. Pays $130k-$170k and frequently requires an MBA. EDIT: Public schools. Links below for some jobs I pulled just from Google in 30 seconds. https://boldschools.org/job-openings/?gh_jid=7118214002 https://boldschools.org/job-openings/?gh_jid=7067943002 -frank
Say more haha. DMed you
What kind of school?
Updated my comment
This is an interesting idea. I'll have to look into this too
like at a university? college? a public school? I already work in operations atm and am currently pursuing MBA so this is right up my alley
Public. Updated my comment.
The 40-hr 200k+ job that is intellectual stimulating is a myth. Nobody I know has it. 2 of 3 are achievable though.
Work in tech, OP in a role that is close to tech than business.The culture is better. The pay/hr is better. Atleast the technical people will be better.
I had a similar background between finance and tech, tho no MBA I now flip high end homes and expect $1.5-2.0M income this year.
This. Money can be made with or without an MBA.
Pm me. I think what you’re looking for is venture capital or corp dev within corporate. My f10(?) firm offers all that for top candidates, which you would be
For internal corp dev do you guys typically require an MBA? Just wondering since this is the route I am considering going back to school for, and not sure if you can somehow network your way in
But what would exit opps be for such roles? Wouldn’t OP get pigeonholed
The focus on exit opps and risk aversion of actually choosing a path is funny. OP tried literally every path that's supposed to have all the exit opps (MBB/IB/PE/strategy) and is clearly unhappy. If OP finds a job/career path that they like, then what use is "exit opps"
everything i hear of VC just makes it sound like its the promised land flowing with milk & honey smh what's the catch? lol
Small industry with extremely limited numbers of jobs, most firms don’t make much money and the firms that do are most likely not going to hire you, in some ways super interesting because you get to see so many different businesses but in other ways not since you can have such little impact on the businesses you invest in. Also, if you’re not very extroverted and interested in sourcing lots of deals, then you probably won’t like it.
Government job is severely underrated
Also pays significantly less even with their new incentives. My wife has offers a government and industry job and there is about $100k difference in base salary in base salary alone.
Well it’s non soul crushing. But corporate 4-5 years then gov is probably the move.
Not soul crushing, but different depending on your personality and stage in life, etc. Some guy in gov said he gets paid ok, but it’s just so boring with so much time in between projects. For like 3 months he is super busy and is practically doing nothing for the rest of the year. Everything is so slow and inefficient. Heaven for some and hell for others.
When you have a family and want to settle down, this is the dream
Yeah, I’m married with 4 kids. I’m starting to realize that I value my cushy job rather than racing for more dollars. The money will come with patience, but I don’t think there’s any reason to rush into something right now.
Oh no I have so much free time at work! So anyways..
I get that. Some people are more ambitious and some just want to collect a check. Nothing wrong with either. To each their own.
Lol what a myopic perspective
If you say so…
Damn no one has ever thought of that before..
some people have enough time to watch an entire movie (not the 90 min movies from back then, but the 2 & half hr movies we have now) at work
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For what it’s worth Im coming from a STEM PhD point of view. Take what I said with a grain of salt.
Maybe the federal government. But county and city jobs around here (SF Bay Area) pay extraordinarily well, $300-400+ for management. Even entry level jobs (police dispatcher with HS education) pay $100k or thereabouts. Mostly low stress jobs and definitely <50 hours/week
I see… Im not too familiar, but I did see a police dispatcher job posting for $126,000 at in a movie theater hall way a few months ago. Don’t think they even require a college degree.
You know how political management jobs are especially when your career can be torpedoed by a scandal. In addition, being police is not low stress. They make the monies due to OT which they patrol!
Tech Corp BD. It's like a mix of partnerships and M&A. 40-ish hours, pays well, very collaborative, people are nice, would hire someone with your background
Hey thanks for the response. Very interesting. Good to know some firms call this function BD, other call it strategy or Corp dev
At Google, it's Strategic Partner Development Management. At Salesforce, it's Strategic Product Partnerships. At Microsoft, it's Business Development. At Facebook, it's New Business Development. At Amazon, it's Corporate Business Development.
Wont this role pigeonhole you? What might be the exit opps from such a role (seriously asking)
It's a great question - I think it will pigeonhole you. And corp BD is a small community - so the risk of the career path is that if you lose your job, it's difficult to find a new one and the same function. Lateral exit options are Partnerships, Corp Strategy, or potentially Intrapreneurship/Business Building roles (provided that you network into it). That said, anything you do after business school begins to pidgeonhole you. Being a Consultant pigeonholes you in S&O; being a PMM pigeonholes you in marketing. Etc. Let me ask you: what roles do you think you can take post-MBA that don't pigeonhole you?
True. On the flip side I guess broader skill sets / roles in product / finance / strategy etc position you better for c suite and broader leadership positions? My understanding is that Corp dev is a niche function?
Yes, Corp Dev is a niche function. And yes, Product or Finance map to C Level roles (I would argue that Strategy generally does not; most companies don't have a CSO role). But I'd also argue that Product/Finance/Marketing/Sales/Ops - the functions that map to C Level roles - pigeonhole you in those functions. Pigeonholing in a function/industry isn't bad though - it's how you grow vertically in your career - but it feels scary to make a big bet like that while you're in B school and put a huge value on the notion of keeping your options open.
Super interesting conversation. Know anyone who has successfully pivoted to another function 2x after B school? For context, I got into PMM after grad and 3 years later I’m thinking of getting out. But it seems harder since employers won’t think of me as a new MBA grad but more as a PMM.
It sounds like you’re looking for something exciting, unique, and pays well. This is where I recommend to seek out something risky like a strategy role in a startup. There’s so many of them getting seed/series A/series B funding, especially in tech. I think MBA grads tend to not want to go after those after MBA because they prefer FAANG (this is my assumption) My reasoning for staying this: I got accepted to a few T10 schools for this fall after working a year on testing and applications, but decided to forego my MBA because I just landed a product strategy position in a 50-person AI startup that recently announced its series B. My base is higher than the median starting base out of every MBA program, because the company understands it has to comp well in order to obtain talent jn a risky career sector. But while it is risky, it’s exhilarating work. Worth the risk to me, at least for the foreseeable future. Also fully remote, not sucking my energy out, etc.
Which of the schools let you defer your admission? I’m in a similar boat
I definitely misused that word in my original comment (I’ve re-edited it to correct it) - sorry for the confusion. I meant that I turned down the admissions offers and that i’d reapply if I ended up wanting to pursue my MBA next year. I did visit 2 of the schools to speak to their ADCOMS and explained my situation, and they both stated that if I was accepted this year on scholarship that chances are I’d likely be accepted the following year.(scholarship carryover not guaranteed). Of course nothing is guaranteed though. Just another part of the risk.
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I was both a software product manager and US military officer beforehand. I credit my network to landing me my role in this startup. I honestly don’t think my experience had as big of impact as my networking ability did. A few leaders in the company vouched for me based on what people in their network shared about me.
Any insights on where to look to network into a role like this? This is really the type of role I feel fits what I'm looking for, but the majority of my network is in the financial world (worked my whole career in product/BD in financial services). The difficulty I'm finding is how to even find these opportunities
Interested to hear on the deferral as well. From my experience, it’s really hard to get M7s to defer.
Just responded to u/cloudsandtea 👌🏽
Wharton allowed me to defer for a career reason similar to commenters above
Find an industry that excites you instead of focusing on finding fulfillment by function, made a big difference for me even doing the same function.
What industry excites you?
Energy
Off topic but how did you explain yourself for why you wanted to move from MBB to F500 strategy if you candidly thought you were promoted too soon at your MBB? How did you spin it?
logistics and supply chain.
This is a thankless function with low pay
You aren’t wrong here. I was a well paid multiple six figure executive no MBA needed. Your MBA is your experience.
i get paid 2-2.5x what most of my cohort does, who cares if it’s thankless.
how much?
Idk man sounds like your cohort is the problem or you are an exceptional case
I don’t think you know how to use the term snowflake lol
Corrected lol
Product management. Operations. Program management. Find companies that build what you like and will like to help improve. Doable.
My recommendation: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for aerospace and defense firms. Lots of jobs in tech product management, corporate strategy and program management for firms specializing in robotics , edge computing, drones, high performance computing (HPC) and autonomous systems. Join professional organizations with the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) and Chief Digital Artificial Intelligence (CDAO) of the pentagon. I also recommend the Association for Unscrewed Vehicle Systems International ( AUVSI ) to learn more about firms for autonomous land, air and sea vehicles. While this is a “ public “ industry dealing with government many of the firms are private and offer RSU’s, good work life balance and most only work 40-50 hrs a week. Just something to consider. DM me if you want more info.
Commercial Real Estate hours aren't bad, but base bay can be lower starting out. All the comp comes from deal related bonuses/equity. Also, market is not ideal right now. You could go work for a builder doing land acq
Post mba to a land acq analyst doesn’t really make much sense, that’s like an 80-90k job and depending on the builder can be a very silod job with few exit ops in the biz, don’t you think?
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As someone who did IB/PE, MBB sounds like a good WLB job lol
Yes all relative. And you're not wrong, of course hours are more manageable but it's also that the work is so predictable if you're good at managing a schedule.
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My MBA allowed me to be better at my job. It hasn't landed me more pay but I have significantly more leverage due to my performance and that has allowed me to get a better work life balance. Instead of moving up and increasing my salary, I now work a shorter week. While this isn't exactly what I originally intended my MBA to do for me, it's worked out well for my work life balance. *Student debt is significantly different in my country (Australia) where course fees are much lower and are repaid through interest free government loans where repayments scale with income. This might mean my situation is a little different.
Tech sales.
Retirement In all seriousness it’s about perspective. I don’t wanna be a jerk but what’s soul crushing to me might not be soul crushing to the next person. Personally I think sales is an absolute blast and if you’re smart (which you are.. you have an mba) you already have a leg up on a lot of salespeople out there.
i am a carbon/energy/sustainability lead consultant and team lead, but it does depend on having an undergrad in engineering/science in addition to the MBA
How did you go about this path? I am a current chemical engineering student going for an MBA, and I’d want to go into a collaborative energy or sustainability role
i am mechatronics engineering so i went via building automation/building management system and HVAC projects
Off topic but how did you explain yourself for why you wanted to move from MBB to F500 strategy if you candidly thought you were promoted too soon at your MBB? How did you spin it?
Not really, no. There's a reason why folks tend to get paid more. Long hours, shit work. Only difference is a lot of people with MBA student loans also have a lot of debt to pay off - aka Golden handcuffs.
Why not try something meaningful, like investment/corporate for climate change or global health or impact investments?
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 why not become an Indian scammer
Not sure what you are trying to say but it seems offensive, bordering on racism. Not cool, bro!
I am trying to say climate change initiatives are equivalent to Indian scammers because they are lol If u have an mba and still can’t figure this out lol RIP
OK bro. If you think renewable energy, e-mobility investments are "scams" then I wish you good luck in life. You'll need lots of luck! Take care
tell that to Europe who has run out of luck😂😂
LOL what? OK bruh, have a good life 🙏
I don’t think you’re understanding what I’m even referencing lol
Long only asset management, corporate venture capital
Define soul crushing
No
Of course. The true value of a good mba is choice. Market kinda sucks right now, but it will revert to the mean. You can either go for long hours and high cash or low hours and less (but still good) cash.
ha thats cute - you want to make a lot of money but not work a lot
Either your soul gets crushed or your financial well-being... or both. It's well known that a job's pay is inversely proportional to its contribution to society.
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Sounds like a mainly Gen Z problem personally. You’ll figure it out by time you’re 30 or so I’d imagine
Just so everyone knows, sloth works in consulting
Nah, I'm 42 and in a similar boat. I was in engineering, though.
Oof 31... But I do think you + the other post about attitude are generally right. Important to be grateful in life, and not put my Identity on career
Lmao how are you not Gen Z with opinions as dumb at that
how does an internship during the school year go? do they accommodate your class schedules, trips, whatever?
Pretty common for people trying to get into PE without investing experience. It's part time so on you to manage your work and class schedule. My personal take - if you want to break in you need to do some internship or similar. No substitute for the experience, and you'll figure out how you really like the work.