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11 Jul 2024, 10:22
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**Not sure if this is the right forum to post in, please let me know if i should delete and re-post elsewhere, thanks!**Hi All,
Looking for some insight for a situation I find myself in, aiming to apply Fall 2025
Background:
Currently a US Citizen, been in a Sr Analyst role for about a year at a F500/household CPG brand. Due to a restructure that happened a couple months back I've felt that my opportunities for promotion here have been halted, and I find myself supporting a team that is very rough around the edges. Additionally, I find myself really not enjoying the work I'm doing here anymore.
That being said, I am currently in the interview stages with a CPG consulting firm. In this role I would be responsible for my own book of business, and would be doing relatively similar work, just this time not really attached to a specific brand. Unsure if this is important but it's also a small paycut for a similar title. I decided to pursue this opportunity because I felt that it would be a better fit and also give me a broader range of experiences being able to work with multiple industries and to be in a consulting type of role
Reason for MBA: pivot into product management or consulting
Concerns:
Thanks in advance!!
Looking for some insight for a situation I find myself in, aiming to apply Fall 2025
Background:
Currently a US Citizen, been in a Sr Analyst role for about a year at a F500/household CPG brand. Due to a restructure that happened a couple months back I've felt that my opportunities for promotion here have been halted, and I find myself supporting a team that is very rough around the edges. Additionally, I find myself really not enjoying the work I'm doing here anymore.
That being said, I am currently in the interview stages with a CPG consulting firm. In this role I would be responsible for my own book of business, and would be doing relatively similar work, just this time not really attached to a specific brand. Unsure if this is important but it's also a small paycut for a similar title. I decided to pursue this opportunity because I felt that it would be a better fit and also give me a broader range of experiences being able to work with multiple industries and to be in a consulting type of role
Reason for MBA: pivot into product management or consulting
Concerns:
- I understand that it depends on the story I tell, but would this be an immediate red flag that comes up during app season? I would work the new job until going to school (if i get in!)
- If I were to get this offer I would obviously commit to knocking it out of the park, but has anybody ever gotten a LOR with <1 year of exp in a new role?
- I know the grass is not always greener and in this new role I may also end up working on teams that are dysfunctional as well, so maybe also this serves as like a sanity check lol
Thanks in advance!!
11 Jul 2024, 16:48
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One of the biggest things Admissions does is see how vetted you are and a lateral move with less money does concern me. Unless you were able to get a strong recommendation from somebody from that job.
It kind of signals that something went wrong and it might make you look more risky.
I imagine that you plan to apply R 2 and so it doesn’t leave you much time to develop a relationship strong enough with someone who could add a lot of value.
From the recruiting standpoint, it’s a little worrying (to adcom because recruiting companies) if you are taking on the new job knowing for well that you intend to quit within a matter of months.
That said, of course you need to live your life and if you’re really unhappy, you need to do what you need to do but I would seek out ways that you could improve your situation where you are. Take on new projects kind of up level what you have now.
If this Job can show significant forward movement in terms of your post MBA goal that would potentially be something that would offset everything else.
But I would make sure that you were certain about consulting first - see how you do with casing - the increase in work hours- that kind of thing before you bet everything on that option.
Posted from my mobile device
It kind of signals that something went wrong and it might make you look more risky.
I imagine that you plan to apply R 2 and so it doesn’t leave you much time to develop a relationship strong enough with someone who could add a lot of value.
From the recruiting standpoint, it’s a little worrying (to adcom because recruiting companies) if you are taking on the new job knowing for well that you intend to quit within a matter of months.
That said, of course you need to live your life and if you’re really unhappy, you need to do what you need to do but I would seek out ways that you could improve your situation where you are. Take on new projects kind of up level what you have now.
If this Job can show significant forward movement in terms of your post MBA goal that would potentially be something that would offset everything else.
But I would make sure that you were certain about consulting first - see how you do with casing - the increase in work hours- that kind of thing before you bet everything on that option.
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MBAGuide
Joined: 24 Jul 2019
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Schools: Insead Sept'18 (A$$) ISB '19 (A)
11 Jul 2024, 17:28
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pc343
pc343 Thanks for sharing your dilemma.
I would assume that as a (Sr) Analyst in a CPG Brand your responsibilities would be focused on generating insights and making sense of data to help your Brand P&L owners make the right decisions regarding business metrics. If you had not mentioned the pay cut, and only from the storyline perspective, I would have thought "yes, this person joining a boutique CPG consulting firm where they get to look at diverse problem sets, consult multiple clients, and lead projects end to end is surely a step up from the current role." I personally think that the adcoms do not nitpick the salary progression so much, provided you worked in the first organization for a long time (2-3 years), and if they can see why you may have switched—more autonomy, variety in projects, and direct stakeholder/client management.
If you are targeting consulting post-MBA, I also want to add that consulting companies look at the depth of your experience in the industry you come from. So from the aesthetics point of view, the analyst role with a major CPG brand and then consulting work with a variety of CPG companies will make you quite attractive to a hiring consulting company. Ultimately, they will be selling the idea that you have the experience from within the industry and you are "an expert." I can also speak from my MBA experience that many people who had utmost clarity of goals and wanted to switch functions/industries took up short professional opportunities pre-MBA to add the "yes we took additional steps/ we made the pivot pre-MBA" element to the resume.
For product management goals, the switch is not pivotal. It comes down to how you present it to the adcoms.
Regarding the LOR, you should ideally obtain it from people at your old organization if you join the new one, also because you don't want to reveal your MBA plans this early to them. The adcoms will understand.
Best wishes
Aanchal Sahni (INSEAD MBA alumna, former INSEAD MBA admissions interviewer)
Founder, MBAGuideConsulting
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aanchal-sahni-83b00819/ |WEBSITE: https://mbaguideconsulting.com/| Message(WA): +91 9971200927| email- mbaguideconsulting@gmail.com
