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A PMD once told me this story that resonates with me to this day.
There’s 3 logical exit points in consulting if you joined from undergrad
1. At the 2 year mark from Analyst to Consultant - up your payback period for sign on bonus is up and you have enough exposure to get a jump start into the industry you liked.
2. At M - at this point you should have deep experience, and the comp is starting to get good. On the flip side, this is when things start to crank up between FIs, your project(s), and people tend to have kids around this age and reevaluate whether this is for them. Because of your experience level at this point you can usually exit to a nice Director level role in industry.
3. When you’ve been an SM for too long and keep getting passed for MD/PMD. At this stage the comp is really good, the stress also just as awful. Your PMDs are asking a lot from you between sales, FIs, multiple projects, dealing with people problems, etc… with no MD/PMD promo in sight it’s time to move on. You’ve managed a P&L, know how to sell, got the depth, time to jump to another firm to make MD/PMD or exit out to an Exec role
Ultimately that’s a personal choice, but here’s some food for thought,
What’s your motivation to move?
Are you getting a big comp bump? Is the comp bump significant enough to offset costs of having to go into the office 3x a week?
What’s the trajectory / career path look like at this company?
The reason why to exit at the early M is because of better WLB with compensation bump when people typically become parents and make M (early 30s).
At early SM - you would typically be at 200k+ base with great bonus potential but high level of stress. The reason to stay is if you see yourself in consulting with everything comes with it and of course the high income potential 7+ figure if you are senior partner
There is no right / wrong time to leave consulting. When you think you’re not growing anymore is the time the leave.
Best exits are usually around the manager rank, harder afterwards because of comp and tenure vs actual hands on experience (eg having managed a P&L)
That makes a lot of sense. Appreciate the response.