Career move...

Society Business and Career
1

Have been working for a consultancy for a couple of years and working on the SAP’s supply chain module… for that past 6/7 months, I’ve been at one of the largest confectionary companies in the world as an external consultant and have performed really well…

I’m at that stage where on one side I’m working with the consultancy, which is good to build your profile, (new projects/clients every few months and all)… but learning/money wise, I’m getting nowhere and moving slwoer than I’d like… On the other hand, I have sensed an opportunity within the confectionary company and have put my hand up to kinda see where it leads… and they have taken it very well… infact are excited about it considering the past history and the problems they have had with the contractors in my area prior to myself.
It is to a point that they have gone to the upper management, and have basically created a fulltime position for me and have advertised it internaly and have asked me to apply for it…

My initial thoughts were… working with consultancy, new projects, more learnings, broader experience very quickly, whereas in this company, it would be more steady, doing one thing, more money, a huge global name on the resume and potential to move into other areas within the company, excellent training etc. etc.

To my surprise, the role is very heavy.. and puts almost three times more workload/responsibility on my shoulder… senior role… and I was an expert in one of the sub modules, but the role expects me to pick up other modules and be the overall application owner, and training and guidance is there to pick it up and make it my own.

Very excited by it all… the technical and the behavioral interview went really well and am on to some fun testing stage with an online test to guage my leadership/motivation etc… and then an external test that is more of that numeracy/logic/IQ/ type thing…

Just wanted to see what others thought about the move… considering I might be saying no to some very good potential projects working at the consultancy, some of which are starting very soon with a view to being the technical lead in my expert area.

I however see this new opportunity as a big jump in career that I would have made maybe after another couple of years in the industry, but by luck and being there at the right time and having all key stakeholders on my side… I’m potentially making a big jump with loads of potential learnings, and hopefully move on to bigger and better things in due course.

Would also like to add that even though my present employers are great for learning… they are a small company still growing and can be stingy with pays and training and would expect more work with less reward, with me recently not enjoying my work with them and disagreeing often with the manager over different things and the working/management style.

Anyone seeing any ethical issues with this all?

2

Re: Career move...

good move for you. get the name, better training opportunitis, upward mobility, industry experience is important as well.

At the end of the day its your career and you chart it, so leave yoru current employer gently but do what is right for you, and make the most of it.

Congrats mon ami, happy for you

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Re: Career move...

[quote]
whereas in this company, it would be more steady, doing one thing, more money, a huge global name on the resume and potential to move into other areas within the company, excellent training etc. etc.
[/quote]

That sounds good no? I was gonna say what Fraud said but its more valid coming from him than from me. :D

4

Re: Career move...

Consultants who don't have industry experience hardly qualify as consultants. Industry experience would definitely help. If you ever decide to switch back to consultancy then you would definitely see the endusers and their requirements differently.

Having being on both sides of the fence, I feel it really depends on your personality which dictates the kind of career that is good for you. If you are the kind of a person who likes things on the move, different challenges, fast pace then consultancy would be a better career option, On the other hand, other than the initial learning curve, industry is more like predictable work. They will hand you three babies (modules) to raise.. so get ready to be a daddy (not a bad move though).

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Re: Career move...

Fayz but it varies from company to company
one can say that if u are on the right track at GE or P&G you can have a diversecand varied experience and dynamic opportunities

Also not all consulting is exciting
in some cases u become a one trick pony sent in to do the same thing atva diff client again and again

6

Re: Career move...

Thanks for your input guys...

I know what you are saying Fayz, and its both yes and no. Like X2 said,,, you can very easily become a one trick pony... I totally agree with the pace being slightly slow and more steady and you miss out on those learnings which you get out of working for different clients every few months... but at the same time, if its such a huge ass organization, the sky is the limit and you can pretty much write your own destiny and the learnings are there even though its just one client... I do have a couple of years of industry experience working across various industries like retail, manufacturing, building, distribution and logistics, but I know that specialist companies have very specific ways and solutions to deal with problems which can slightly vary depending on the issues and requirements, but the core methodolgies and strategies remain the same...

I just felt that the learning pace was becoming slower and slower for me after being very steep for the past two years... it was now becoming more of repetitive work with alot of presales demos and presentations showing the same thing with different colors and pretty pictures to different businesses... and then implementing what we are used to implementing with slight variations and yes I'll definitely miss out on the learnings from new clients and the way business is done there, I now get an opportunity to learn and move across a global organization... make use of better training to polish and develop new skills...and pick things up from some absolute guns who have been in the industry for decades and even though your comment is true about raising 3 modules, with an organization like this, there are acquisitions internationally and nationally, and new projects coming up on a daily basis, so the learning potential is immense, just of slightly different nature I guess...

Nothing is final yet, but things are looking good... lets see how I go. I see it as a pretty big jump from where I was.

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Re: Career move...

kakay, in the end if it is not what u want it to be you can always come back to consulting.

and with lareg organizations, u have tons of oher internal things going on that you may have to be involved as, what if your company is putting in a trade promotion mgmt solution..or solutions rather, what happens if demand signal repositories is their next initiative,m predictive analytics, on shelf availability, RFID for pallet tarcking, inventory mgmt systems, retail mgmt, u can have these specialized utilities, tools and apps but they have to seamlessly integrate with enterprise systems for it to really work. u can have multiple ecosystems overlapping designed around business issues.

all I have to say is, things are very interesting in the industry right now. and u being in it and having a role where u may be looking at all these ecosystems in terms of impact and workings will prepare you to be a better consultant if u go back to consulting.

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Re: Career move...

totally agree... all the more learning, enhancing ur skills.. plus interaction with areas that might not be directly ur expertise, but directly related to what you do and the impacts... in the end you just have a lot broader picture than being a technical guru dealing with one particular thing... so yes, exciting times hopefully. Fingers crossed... i wont lie and say im not feeling the pressure... i'll have alot to learn very very quickly and handle extra responsibilities... but hopefully it'll all come good... i know im good at adapting and picking things up quickly.. should be fun.

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Re: Career move...

An industry job makes a consultant better and a consulting gig or two makes a industry worker / manager better. Have no regrets....