| Topic Name: |
Post-McKinsey options |
| Message Name: |
ok |
| Date Posted: |
01/06/2006 |
| In Reply To: |
Hi Guys - Sorry to be reposting this question but I would love to get your opinion on a question that I posted earlier.....
If you are clear on your career interest in an industry, what would be the incremental value of going to McK? For example, if you know you want to be a leader in Pharma/Biotech - does it make sense to work at McK's NJ practice vs joining one of the Top Pharma companies right out of BSchool? Based on what you have seen with McK Alums, does the 2-3 years at McK help them get better industry jobs than someone who might have joined the industry right after school?
Thanks |
| Message: |
krishnandev...first of all you need to define what you mean by "clear on your career interest". Do you mean it is clear to you that you want to work in "pharma/biotech" or it is clear to you that you want to do a "specific kind of job in pharma/biotech".
Annwer will depend on what exactly you desire to do in the future but here is my take...
McKinsey NJ does near to nothing for Biotech companies. The little Biotech work that the form does is out of Boston or the West Coast offices. NJ does work predominantly for large pharma (the usual suspects). Now that might involve evaluate a small biotech buyout but its not the same thing.
If you consult for the pharma industry, you will most likely do a variety of studies encompassing areas like - cost cutting, medicare strategy, acquisition due diligence, licensing, organizational work, operations, etc. Not all the work will be sexy cause big pharma ain't a dynamic Google or Apple. Its huge, inefficient, and has deep pockets to get both sexy and important work as well as crappy work done by consultants.
A stint at McKinsey will most likely not get you a brand manager position (at least to begin with) in pharma or biotech. Unlikey in Pharma and near to impossible in a Biotech. You will most probably get a look into groups like strategic marketing, business development, business planning & analysis, internal strategy, etc. Now, if you have doing an MBA then you might feel these areas are sexy, but to be quite honest, in the context of the pharma industry these are dead end functions. Marketing groups rule the roost in big pharma and all the rest are mere support functions! Yes, you might one day become an svp of biz dev (and make loads of money and retire with a mansion on the beach somewhere in the carribean) but you ain't becoming a CEO. Look through the resumes of most of the big pharma, specialty pharma ceo's and you will come across a lot of folks who started as sales reps and then went on to become brand managers, etc etc. Look at CEOs of most Biotechs (and I include the small ones too and not just the Genentechs and Amgens and they will be PhD's with no MBA, no sales experience (heck, Biotechs don't have much to sell!!!) but years of scientific experience.
Now, if you were a sceintist or were part of a brand team at a big pharma prior to McKinsey, then things are different. Net/net if you want to be in a support function (biz dev, finance, market research, blah blah) then McKinsey will definitely help. If you want to be the product manager or marketing manager of the next Lipitor then you are probably better off getting into a marketing leadership development program right out of b school.
Note: I don't do pharma at McKisey but have worked in that industry in the past.
|
|
