By now, my philosophy of career search/job hunting is probably starting to become pretty clear on this blog: I’m all about doing what you’re interested in and passionate about, not restricting yourself to lines of work that are dictated by the confines of your scholarly discipline. That’s why I haven’t spent a lot of time writing about companies that hire Ph.D.s. To me, most medium-to-large companies and organizations probably have a whole host of MAs and PhDs running around, simply because those people were drawn to that work, and happened to have some solid skills to make them a good fit.
But I do want to draw your attention to McKinsey & Company, a global consulting company. McKinsey doesn’t just hire MBAs; in fact, according to their website, 22% of their workforce are PhDs and MDs. They actually make a point of hiring people from a broad range of backgrounds. Yes, your PhD is an asset here.
I mentioned McKinsey to a client last week, and she drew my attention this super handy little section of their website: videos that actually spell out for you how to do well in an interview with McKinsey. How cool is that? And there’s a bit of humour in there, too–I think around the 2-minute mark in the “Experience interview” video, a PhD (or HR person playing one) starts talking about his grant application as proof of his leadership skills and…let’s just say there are some lessons in there!
And as per my previous post, McKinsey also has flexible work arrangements for good performers. (Though I do believe they also have a reputation for their people working incredibly long hours, so maybe the flexi stuff happens after you’ve established yourself. I’m not sure).
I do not know how McKinsey has fared in the global economic meltdown. But I do believe this little paragraph (by subscription) I read over at The Ladders last week:
When companies tell you they aren’t hiring because of the recession, don’t believe them. What they mean to say is that during a recession they are very, very discerning about who they hire and who they keep on their team. However, every company is always hiring as long as they believe they are getting an amazingly talented person who fits well within their culture.
Is management consulting you would consider doing? If you’ve watched the McKinsey vids, what did you think?
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Wow, it’s funny you should write about McKinsey since a friend of mine suggested the company to me a couple weeks ago. I even watched most of those little videos.
You allude to the one thing that turned me off: crazy hours. My friend said that the people he knows there usually work about 70 hrs/week. But they do make bank.
American readers may find this interesting: a seasoned management consultant I know tipped me off to the fact that Mitt Romney and Bobby Jindahl both worked for McKinsey. But Obama seems to be a fan, too.
I also found this website for those of you interested in going into consulting. This particular post is actually about paths out of consulting, but it gives you a sense of which consultancies are oriented towards big business or the non-profit sector and everything in between.
Consulting is a great option for PhDs. I recently went into life sciences/healthcare strategy consulting from a biomedical engineering background. One of the biggest differences between consulting and PhD work is the (much) shorter time frame of consulting projects; I love moving on to a new question every few months. I also love the strategic thinking and client work involved.
According to the Stanford Philosophy Department website (the job placement page), two or three philosophy PhDs went to McKinsey. (And no, Stanford didn’t place them there and there is no special hookup that I know of; they just applied.) Having a name like “Stanford” on your CV will help you get your first-round interview, but they’ve also hired PhDs from other places (e.g. UC Davis) — just make sure to highlight high special your lab is in your field. First-round interview will amount to a multiple choice exam testing your quantitative, analytic, and graph-reading skills (and yes, you should practice for it and they do have sample tests up on their website I think; and yes, if you’re a humanities PhD, you’ll be at a huge disadvantage though as I said above, philosophers have been hired there). In the U.S., your starting annual salary as a PhD or MBA McKinsey hire will be around $120k I think with a signing bonus of $40k (or something like that). Most people burn out after two years and don’t stay with the company and hardly anyone stays more than five years (since by then you probably have to decide whether you want to be partner). McKinsey does open up a lot of doors that a Wharton or Harvard MBA can open, e.g. doors to Corporate America (where you’ll then make more money than you do in your first two years at McKinsey) or doors to getting venture capital for your startup (where your odds of going out of business will be 9 out of 10, but it’ll be fun). Some people even return to academia after McKinsey. While at McKinsey, you’ll be in a highly social environment as a generalist on a team of smart people, you’ll visit other businesses and some old timers there will think that you’re just making flashy powerpoint slides and don’t really understand their business (but I suppose that’s not exactly your job anyway). McKinsey will invest a lot of time and money into training you and teaching you business and yes, there is always a risk of becoming a cookie-cutter consultant (just like the PhD experience morphs you too) and you’ll work a ton and it’ll be highly stimulating for you. In NYC or NJ, you will get up early (6am?) and get home as early as 9pm and as late as 2am on some nights (so it’ll help if you’re not 30 yet). Some offices are tougher than others (e.g. NYC is crazy I’m sure, while the MidWest is probably much more relaxed). Everyone wants to work in NYC and San Fran, so competition for those offices will probably be much higher than for some place like Minessota. Offices also vary by specialty. E.g. NJ probably specializes in pharmaceuticals given what businesses are around there (and yes, just like in the military, you have to be okay with your orders; e.g. your job might be “how to help a pharmaceutical increase its profits or market its product better” — so if you got issues with pharmas, you better be able to put them off till you’re out of McKinsey and are using your newly found empowered resume to do public-interest work). At the other end of the spectrum, you can always do the noble and severely low-paying work of a high school teacher?
p.s. You’ll obviously have to dress like an adult…
I left academia and have now moved into something with great potential for advancement and money.
Although I have not worked at McKinsey, I have had contact with the firm (not, I should add, in the US).
Don’t expect too much. That’s all I will say.