Consulting Exit Opportunities

As your consulting career grows, you’re likely to receive job offers from other organizations eager to benefit from your skills and experience. These consulting exit opportunities span diverse sectors and industries. A job at top consulting firms such as McKinsey, Bain, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and KPMG significantly boosts future career prospects.

Why are consultants quitting?

The professional services industry offers some of the most attractive packages, with enticing compensation, incentives, and benefits. However, it still experiences a high employee attrition rate. The main causes are:

Burnout

Consulting is a demanding profession with high pressure expectations, long hours, and short deadlines. This environment is likely to cause disillusionment and burnout among some employees.

Better opportunities

Employment at a consulting firm immediately raises your profile in the overall job market. Other employers are likely to headhunt you because they understand how valuable your skills would be to their organizations.

Desire for a better work-life balance

60 to 80 hour work-weeks are not unusual in the consulting industry. Even with attractive incentives, some employees eventually start yearning for more fulfilling personal experiences. After some years of high intensity performance, some consultants leave to spend more time with family and cultivate their social circles.

Personal preference

Consulting might act as a vital gateway to a different career that you might be more passionate about. After years of professional networking and gaining marketable skills, it will be easier to explore consulting exit opportunities that align with your personal career vision.

Stalled career growth

After working as a consultant for years, you might start feeling like you’ve exhausted your vertical career growth prospects. It makes sense to pivot to new employment opportunities with refreshing challenges. 

The consulting industry’s highly competitive nature causes companies to force out employees who don’t meet their high standards. Top firms such as McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group conduct routine performance reviews, typically every six months to enforce this “up or out” policy. Although underperformers might no longer fit into the organization’s culture, their acquired skills are still marketable in other industries.

When is the right time to leave consulting?

Consulting is considered a transitory career. It’s normal for consultants to leave at least two or three years post-MBA. At this point, you’re likely to be in a senior enough position to start your next job at director level or better. It also makes sense if you’re looking for consulting exit opportunities that guarantee a less intensive workplace culture.

Some top-tier professional services firms plan for this eventuality by actively helping you prepare for your next career. It’s advisable to leave after taking these three considerations into account:

• Your financial well-being. Ensure you have a solid medium to long-term plan for maintaining your lifestyle after leaving consulting.
• Your career objectives. It makes sense to leave after finding dependable consulting exit opportunities.
• Your personal situation. You must analyze how leaving your consulting job will impact your work-life balance, family, and associated financial responsibilities.

What makes ex-consultants attractive hires?

Consultants have various qualities that make them suitable for coveted consulting exit opportunities. Most are analytical problem solvers who can analyze data and glean beneficial insights to clients. They also have a proven track record of delivering results. Experienced consultants typically have first hand knowledge of an organization’s problems, which enables them to provide the most appropriate solutions.

Clients also hire ex-consultants for their transferable skills. This feature is especially valuable to startups looking to build credibility, experience, and valuable networks in their industry. Consultants are natural collaborators who identify every team member’s strengths and apply them to the company’s benefit.

They’re also skilled communicators with the ability to explain their vision concisely and intuitively. Ex-consultants are natural leaders known for their decisive decision-making, attention to detail, positive attitude, and passion. They lead by example while cultivating an amiable environment that encourages enthusiastic participation by all team members. 

Other features that make ex-consultants suitable for consulting exit opportunities are flexibility, high emotional intelligence, a client-first mindset, and discipline. Your services will be in high demand if your resume includes stints at MBB (McKinsey, Bain, and Boston Consulting Group) or the Big Four (Deloitte, KPMG, EY, and PwC).

What are the Consulting Exit Opportunities available?

1. Private equity

Private equity (PE) is one of the most popular consulting exit opportunities for professional services experts. You can join a PE firm as an advisor or investor. Strategic planning is vital for these organizations, which makes a consultant’s skills valuable. Your roles in a PE fund may include outlining the firm’s strategic direction, developing medium to long-term goals, defining metrics, and setting timelines, and tracking overall progress.

2. Hedge funds

Specialized hedge funds offer attractive compensation, even though they don’t typically provide many opportunities for former consultants. If you prefer this option, it’s advisable to target organizations that focus on networking and market research. Your consulting experience will help them refine their pitches, conduct more thorough due diligence, and improve their market intelligence.

3. Asset management and equity research

These two consulting exit opportunities are customized for ex consultants. They operate in competitive, high intensity environments that demand specific results. Your consultancy background will help you establish rewarding relationships with institutional investors and investment managers. An essential responsibility involves accelerating growth by transforming operating models. This occupation also requires proficiency with cloud computing, real-time operations, data-driven analytics, and artificial intelligence models. 

4. Entrepreneurship

After working with established clients for years, you’ll have enough proficiency to start your own business. Although starting the entrepreneurship journey can be difficult, it’s a rewarding experience that allows you to pursue your passion while sharpening your professional skills. Your startup has a higher chance of success if you have a track record of helping other businesses grow.

5. Industry

Money is not necessarily the biggest motivator for exploring consulting exit opportunities. Some consultants move to industry because they desire more time with their families, less travel, and a less intensive workplace culture, among other personal preferences. You might also want exciting new challenges that will equip you with new additional skills for career growth.

6. Transition to a different career profile with the same firm

Consulting offers several career growth opportunities if you decide to stick with one employer. One firm can have technical, management, associate, human resource, business, marketing, financial, sales, legal, and public relations consultants. For instance, a management consultant can transition to financial consulting with additional training. After interacting with the various other departments at your firm, you’ll have a better idea of your next career path.

7. In-house consulting

Some larger companies prefer to have an in-house consulting team instead of hiring more expensive external consultants. Ex-consultants are a perfect fit for these departments. Although you’ll largely apply the skills and experience gained from your former employer, in-house consulting can also present unique challenges. However, it also has advantages such as building more meaningful relationships with the company’s clients.

8. Freelance consulting

This consulting exit opportunity is suitable if you’ve always wanted to be your own boss. It gives you the flexibility of working with clients whose values align with your personal and professional expectations. Not every company can afford to hire Tier 1 and Tier 2 consulting firms. With your skills and experience, you can court clients who are looking for high quality services at a lower budget.

9. Government and non-profit

Governments always face problems that require expert solutions. Examples are implementing economic policies, improving efficiency, installing IT systems, managing transitions, and organization design. You might face a few challenges while transitioning from the private to public sector. Unlike niche corporate clients, your ideas will impact millions of citizens. You might also have to update your governance skills, adapt to new policies, and be subjected to more scrutiny.

Non-profit organizations also experience unique challenges that ex-consultants can assist with. They include fundraising ideas, poor governance, lack of strategic planning, and logistical issues. Your job description will likely include donor research, fundraising training, campaign strategy formulation, and development support.

10. Academia

Academia offers exciting and rewarding consulting exit opportunities. As an academic consultant, your responsibilities will include helping higher education institutions source for funding to benefit research projects. Other benefits include travel opportunities, low operational expenses, tax exemption possibilities, and a higher profile in the corporate world.

11. Senior management roles or board positions

This exit opportunity is popular with management consultants. After years in advisory roles, you might feel a desire to take on more active responsibilities. It’s no wonder that MBB alumni dominate the Fortune 500, Dow Jones, and FTSE senior management positions.  looking for external candidates to fill senior management roles and boards. Two years at a consulting giant such as McKinsey can get you a strategy role at a decent company. Five to ten years can get you into the boardroom or C-suite of the most respected companies in the world.

12. Technology

As a highly profitable and consistently growing sector, technology offers some of the most lucrative consulting exit opportunities. Suitable departments include corporate strategy, business operations, product marketing, and program management. Available roles include corporate development, strategic finance, marketing analytics, and cultivating strategic partnerships. Tech startups often have overlapping roles that allow you to sharpen multiple skills. Examples are data science, communication skills, and product management.

13. Venture Capital

The strong financial skills gained in consultancy are in high demand by venture capital (VC) firms. As a subset of private equity, VC focuses on the “buying” aspect of finance, as opposed to investment banking which emphasizes selling. Additional requirements for a consulting role in these organizations include a strategic mindset and ability to perform high level market analysis and operational due diligence.

How can consulting firms minimize consultants leaving the company?

Consulting firms can reduce employee turnover by:

• Introducing flexible work schedules

A rigid one-size-fits-all approach contributes to employees considering consulting exit opportunities. Flexibility maximizes their productivity and longevity because they choose schedules they’re most comfortable with. 

• Developing more thoughtful incentives

Modern employees are no longer impressed by token perks such as free parking. They’re looking for more thoughtful packages that benefit their families too. Examples are incentive-based pay, customized job offers, generous paid time off (PTO), and allowing a hybrid workplace.

• Facilitating employee training

Equipping employees with new skills shows them you care about their career growth beyond contributing to the company bottom line. They’re more likely to be loyal to your organization and eagerly implement the newly acquired knowledge.

• Conducting exit interviews

Although consulting firms can’t retain all employees, they can always ask for their reasons for leaving. Exit interviews help the management to receive honest opinions regarding the workplace culture. From this data, they can implement policies to reduce employee turnover

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the best exit opportunity for consulting?

The best consulting exit opportunities are in corporate management. Ex-consultants are most likely to be employed in private equity, hedge funds, and asset management firms. Although a background in Finance isn’t necessary, it improves your chances of landing a well-paying job.

What are the exit paths for consulting?

Your consulting skills are in high demand in the finance, non-profit, government, technology, entrepreneurship, venture capital, academia, and independent consulting sectors.

Where do consultants work after leaving consulting?

After a two to five year stint at a Big Four or MBB firm, you can easily secure a job at a Fortune 500 corporation. The possibility of working for a former client increases the chances of landing a role you’re already familiar with, such as business unit manager or COO. These high pressure roles also guarantee handsome compensation in form of stock options and bonuses.

What are the exit opportunities for EY consulting?

Former EY consultants typically start their next corporate jobs at higher roles at the C-suite level. Consulting expertise is likely to land you a senior position in corporate strategy teams. Other consulting exit opportunities include roles in marketing, operations, and product departments.

Where do McKinsey consultants exit to?

Former McKinsey consultants fit into diverse industries and roles, including product management, business development, strategy, and product marketing.