| Topic Name: |
Consulting Glass Ceilings |
| Message Name: |
Helpful Advice |
| Date Posted: |
02/24/2001 |
| In Reply To: |
I posted a really long message yesterday, and it appears it was never posted, or disappeared some time today, so I'll try again. this won't be nearly as detailed, but hopefully I can convey the same general dilemma in hopes of soliciting some feedback.
I'm 22, and a Project Manager at a dotcom owned by a well-known SAT Test Prep company. I make $80,000 + 15% bonus and dotcom perks (dinner, cab, etc).
I managed to get the job out of college because I started a consulting firm at 19. Even though it only had 6 close friends as employees, we managed to win contracts with such companies as GE, Revlon, Key Bank, and the City of Albany.
I received offers during college recruiting from all the Big Five for salaries in around the 60s plus bonuses. I knew the names would be great for my career, but I felt as though they didn't take my experience seriously enough because I was still going in at entry level with a salary not much higher than everyone else.
I revolted and decided to seek positions as an "experienced professional" outside the career development center of my school, and that's how I found my job last March. I was making far more than my all of my peers with far more responsibility. The tradeoff? I'm at a dotcom that few people have heard of instead of a mega firm.
So here's the dilemma - for various reasons, I quit my job a couple of weeks ago and have started interviewing. There is an incredible backlash because of my age. I guess the failed dotcoms started by young people have soured the market. Most companies aren't blunt enough to say it, but they definitely allude to it, and look shocked when they meet me.
I have received some offers for sales engineering positions, consultant positions in small consultancies like K2 Digital, DMIND and Dynax solutions. But I'm worried that I'm going to be typecast as a "dotcom specialist" because the only entries on my resume are companies I created or dotcoms no one has heard of.
It's started already - I-banks won't look at me for non-entry level tech positions because 1) I have no i-banking experience
2) I graduated in 1999, so they see anything done before then as "internships"
Big Fives won't look at me for non-entry level positions because I have no "big corporate" or "big consulting" experience...and I graduated in 1999.
Ny questions are:
1) Can't I sue for age discrimination?
2) Where should I go from here? How do I get out of this situation and play with the "big boys", where I know I belong?
3) How do I break into Big Five/I-banking with no Big Five/I-banking experience?
4) Must I swallow my pride and take a cut in pay/rank in order to escape this dead end, or should I stick with the boutiques for a few more years and try to break into the big market later?
Any other advice, comments or questions are more than welcome! |
| Message: |
Hello Mr. Demigawd, I have read all the responses to your original email, and although I neither personally nor professionally agree with the manner in which some opinions were expressed, I have to say that - nonetheless the opinions themselves are solid. Please come to understand that the problem is NOT that you have advanced too quickly, but rather that you are impatient to have what others have worked years to achieve.
Having said that, I hope this will help..
Consulting can be and is all that it is cracked up to be - but it also can be and is all its rumored to be. What it will be for you - depends solely and exclusively on you.
There are very few "career" consultants - the average life expectacy is 3-7 years. Given that it's not likely that you will be a career consultant - I'd recommend that you look out for #1 first. Before you go knocking on too many doors, think in terms of what you want to get out of consulting and what you want to offer - then go after those targeted opportunities. It'll make your search easier.
Since you are green (yes you are) you will have some hard and ugly lessons to learn. Consulting is not a pretty business. One of the keys to success in Consulting for someone else's company is knowing where to draw your own line in the sand and respecting and knowing yourself enough not to cross it, and having the experience to get away with it. That and playing politics. You my good man don't have that yet - and will therefore take a good many lumps along the way (as we all did).
I'm telling you this for a reason. There are a great number of huge consulting firms that will take anyone who can fog a mirror (with a degree), others only take those who have years experience fogging mirrors:). You have to learn to tell the difference.
It's true. So try getting a job with one of the "less selective" companies first. I know that sounds awful - but it's easier to get your foot in the door, you will learn the same lessons, how to play the game, and get some good experience under your belt while making a measley $50-$80K a year. Not to mention you will learn alot from some good consultants who are on their way up and out to bigger companies, and more rapid career progression and money (should you choose to stay).
Sheer numbers - the bigger the pool - the more sharks. Start smaller. Learn to know the sharks from the guppies.
I hope this has been some help. And PS - I know from whence I speak the average consultant who now reports to me is 20 years older than I.
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