Achieving your goals and establishing your profession as a management consultant represent a rewarding achievement. However, there arrives a time that many consultants choose to move on to other opportunities. For whatever reasons, the choice to leave behind your established career, there are a number of potential opportunities for them. We have collected some information on exit opportunities for consultants to provide you an idea of the where what and how after consulting.
Exit Opportunities And Reasons
There is a wide range of exit opportunities available to consultants and equally as many reasons. The choices made are influenced by a number of factors, such as the consultants major. The most common exit opportunities and reasons can include:
- Moving over to more global companies with more or vaster opportunities like travel or relocation.
- Leaving to start up something independent such as to establish services like freelance consulting.
- For academic reasons such as returning to graduate school, this exit reason is more common amongst the consultants that started straight out of university.
- For personal reason such as joining family-run businesses or merely needing to make changes to accommodate family obligations.
- Following a career in other professional services, most often supported by their major such as lawyers, doctors, etc.
- Move over to internal strategy teams. These include firms like Google, Facebook, etc.
- For opportunities in General Management and as Business Unit Directors.
- Start a business.
- Sometimes the consultant will realize that this is not what they want to do and exit to follow other opportunities and dreams. An excellent example of this is former Strategy Consultant; John Legend who went on to become an award-winning musician.
A Stepping Stone Or Foundation
One of the most significant benefits of a consulting career will be represented by the choices it awards you if you were to decide to continue your vocation path elsewhere. Whatever it is you choose to do once you decide to consider the move from your current role, you will have learned a wealth of skills which will provide the foundation for your future career path.
Typical turnover was recently calculated to be between 20-25% annually (pre-MBA or post-MBA level). This is really not high considering the number entry position filled annually. Whether you join with the goal of working at establishing a career path from analyst to partner or simply to establish a foundation for future career plans, your career as a consultant will offer you a rewarding accomplishment.
An annual turnover of between 20-25% is not high and is expected in the industry. It equally does not affect the remaining workforce as, during your career as a consultant, you will become used to working with a diverse group of people, so a new team leader or partner is not something that will likely be that noticeable.
Seek Out A Career Coach
If you have career questions or are unsure about taking the right step, it is advised that you speak to a consulting career coach. These coaches are not simply available to assist in preparing you for your interviews but can offer you a wealth of experiences and share resources that can assist you in making the decisions about your future career path as a consultant.
Click here for more information on the career path for consultants.