Too little time
10 Sep
Last night, I attended the first recruiting event for this school year.
Yes, I remembered how stressful last year’s recruiting events were. They turned me into a mess. And this year, despite already having decided to apply to law school, I plunged myself into the craziness anyway. What can I say, I’m a masochist.
The result? I became utterly confused as to what I want to do. Are you surprised? No? You’re smarter than I am.
I had no real questions for the recruiters because I was still sitting on the fence about this whole recruiting season anyway. The only question I really needed answered was: how do I marry the best parts of being a lawyer with the best parts of being a consultant? More importantly, how do I choose a path that will make me happiest?
What appeals to me about law and consulting have a lot in common: working with clients, having different cases to work on (each day can be different), a great deal of ownership and autonomy over your case/ideas, and an environment where you are not only encouraged to speak up, but obligated (as the McKinsey recruiters call it, “obligation to dissent”).
These characteristics suit me well. I am incredibly passionate and motivated in the short-term, but not so good at long-term commitment. I lose interest after I cross the first hurdle with flying colours. I am very opinionated, but I only speak up if I think my ideas will be listened to, merited, or have impact.
But there are also major differences between law and consulting. Consultants are known for not really having skills. Sure, problem solving is a very valuable skill, but considering that we’re being recruited out of business school with zero industry experience, and then paid loads of money to tell industry leaders how to solve their problems, I can understand the skepticism and criticism. When I spoke to one of the recuiters last night, I was told that after 2-3 years at McKinsey, Business Analysts (our title when we’re recruited) can decide either to continue with McKinsey or to pursue a different path (MBA, grad school, working in industry, etc.). This sounds to me like people do not stay consultants for life. Sure, it may be one of the most attractive jobs you can have when you’re fresh out of business school, but five years down the road, you either commit to climbing the ladder at the consulting firm you started with, or you work in industry1. So, not only do you not have “real skills,” you also can’t switch consulting firms2.
Law, on the other hand, gives a lot of credit for experience, first surviving the education portion (learning the laws, which is a life-threatening ordeal as laws are deathly boring), and then developing your reputation as you work in the field. The more experience you have, the more popular you are. And there are no qualms about switching law firms, as long as you work in the same field (i.e. if you decide to take corporate law courses in law school, you cannot become a litigation lawyer3 later in your career).
Having said all that, one of my greatest dreams is to have the opportunity, not only to work on different cases, but to work in different countries. The international transferability of a law degree is low compared to consulting. Even if I decided to study, let’s just say for funsies, tax law for multinational enterprises (gag), I’d be able to work in a different country for a corporation that either has non-U.S. subsidiaries, or a non-U.S. parent with U.S. subsidiaries. But, I’d be working in one country. I can’t work for a year in one country, and then work another year in a different country. Comprende?
The choice I’m grappling with is whether I want to incorporate consulting into my career path, and if I do, what order should I do things in? I have created a flow-chart to outline every possible order4:
What has this shown me? That perhaps wanting to try everything is more of a character flaw than a virtue. There’s too much to try and too little time.
- (Big) Consulting firms do not hire from each other. So, you cannot leave McKinsey to work at Bain or BCG. First of all, there’s rivalry between the firms. Second of all, the whole point of recruiting you fresh out of school is so they can groom you to be a McKinsey Consultant or a Bain Consultant. [↩]
- Unless you go from a big firm to a little firm, but you would only do that if you could get a promoted title. Plus, small firms are less secure than big firms, and consultants are worried about job security as it is. [↩]
- This is assuming you’re working in a firm. If you open your own office, technically you can practice any area of law you want. [↩]
- I tried MECE – McKinsey would be proud. [↩]
Sounds like a difficult career path. I have a cousin who is a lawyer, but I don’t ask him much about his career and what he does. He was in school for a lengthy amount of time, though.
A few relatives used to tell me I should be a lawyer too, because I talk fast. I had no idea that’s all you needed to be a lawyer /sarcasm. It’s not fitting for me, hehe.
Wow, that flowchart is intense! If you chose the consulting route at the top of the diagram, would that mean it’d be 2 yrs consult + 3 yrs law all up? The only thing about law, as you’ve mentioned, is that it is somewhat less international- in a year and a bit (fingers crossed!) I’ll have an Australian law degree, which will qualify me to practise in basically Australia and possibly the UK (with further qualification or study). If I wanted to go to the US I’d have to sit the bar or something…? I’m guessing it would be just as tricky switching from the US to EU code or Cth law…
I’m sure you’ll blitz whatever it is you decide to do…good luck with it!!! :)
That’s what I’m worried about. I want to practice in the US, which is why I want to study in the US, but MAN is it expensive.
But I also don’t think I’ll want to practice in the US forever. I want to try working in Asia, Singapore, for example, or Seoul, or Hong Kong, and maybe when I’m ready to retire, Canada.
But law degrees don’t exactly work like that, so it’s just a huge limitation on my plans.
For Canada and different US states, you have to write the bar if you want to practice there. I’m not sure how it works if I go to Europe/Asia with a US law degree.
This was too professional for me, haha. I never go to the recruiting events on campus, but maybe I should! I never know what they’ll have to offer especially in the professional groups.
I don’t go to ones “on campus” either, but these ones are just for The Business School (wow I sound so elitist when I say that >.<), and EVERYONE goes. I mean, not everyone goes to every event, but if you’re interested in a particular stream (i.e. consulting), then you go to all the ones held by consulting firms. Because ALL of the big (North American) consulting firms hold recruiting events at our school. Every single one, without exception.
This is a good and bad thing. It’s a good thing that there’s this opportunity there. That’s why we pay so much to attend TheBusinessSchool – connections, reputation, etc. It’s a bad thing because if you can’t get hired through the recruiting cycle during school, you’ve already exhausted all the big-name consulting firms, and when you’re looking for a job independently, all you’re left with are the small ones, or you look in a different field all together.
So yeah, we all go to these things and we take them pretty damn seriously. Hence the high stress levels blah blah blah.
All I can say is that I think I need to start flow-charting my life choices.