A big surprise I’ve experienced in my 40’s is the limited career flexibility I have at this point. I genuinely expected, with a good education, a couple decades of experience, and a strong professional network, I’d be much more able to navigate my career and have more options available to me than what I actually have.

In reality, I feel very much stuck and almost limited by my experience and the income watermark I’ve hit rather than being liberated by it.

How have others been able to adjust?

Hate to say it but Accenture is not a great proxy for a consulting career path. Compensation is compressed well into the MD ranks and the work is largely IT and staff augmentation, low price points, which doesn’t bode well for exits into industry.

Professional network and former clients are probably the best tools to navigate this inflection point while upskilling and retooling teams there or elsewhere.

If you find the answer I’d like to know…. The current prioritization of industry experience precluded me from even moving within Accenture when my area was impacted by cuts. Despite 10 yrs of strong performance, significant domain expertise and relevant education, I became unqualified to even work above a Consultant level in other Industries.

Wish someone told me earlier that education and strong performance really get you nowhere!

It’s a shame that we seem to have a hard time saying to the job market, “Hey! Look at all this stuff I’ve done and how many times I’ve had to learn new stuff to get my job done. Trust me, I can learn your stuff too!” Recruiters seem to be looking for needles in haystacks of people who perfectly fit a job description, even if that job hasn’t been around very long.

I have a lot more industry experience than consulting but worked alongside consultants the vast majority of my career. I was impressed with what I was able to learn and how much I grew at Accenture but it was primarily due to a completely absent SMD whose role I was fulfilling, so yeah, extremely poor management and zero leadership skills which is not what I saw from the outside as a partner a few years ago. Being there was also a bit like being in a vacuum though, ie if your industry and client were not in high tech and the top semiconductor manufacturer (which let’s be fair, they don’t spend with anyone but partner with everyone), you weren’t keeping up with the latest and greatest in AI and tech that was coming out.

I feel like being older, if we show that we’re even remotely behind, we’re doomed. No company cares about whatever Accenture has said about their AI prowess btw. It does not attract anyone. I’ve worked at other tech companies and get asked more about those companies than about Accenture. This has never happened to me in my life and it’s weird.

It’s not just Accenture — McKinsey is seeing the same thing. Over the past year, I’ve seen a lot of EMs and APs struggle to land strong roles, and I don’t think that’s a reflection of their ability. It feels much more like a tough job market.

I want to exit into the pharma industry even if I have to step down into a director role. As a lifer consultant I’m not being considered for these roles. I never expected this. Any advice for getting out of consulting?

Same. Struggling to find any opportunities in my 40s in the current volatile market…