Keith Van Sickle ⋅ Menlo Park, CA Tensilica ⋅ 25 years experience

Hi Lionel,

If your question is whether you should go into consulting because so many of your classmates are doing so, I would say no. You should pursue your own path. When I got my MBA, most of my classmates went into investment banking or consulting. Like you, I had an operations background. Rather than follow the crowd, I continued in operations (along with a handful of classmates) and I'm glad I did.

I don't know what the right path is for you, but I would encourage you to pursue what most interests you, even if it is not what others are doing.

Best wishes to you,
Keith

David Andersen ⋅ Alexandria, VA Avanade (Accenture) ⋅ 6 years experience

Lionel,
Great to meet you. Career change is always hard, but according to your LinkedIn profile, you have done it a couple of times already, so you have experience to fall back on. When it comes to consulting, you have experience that you may not realize. You have a background in Oil and Gas, and in Transportation. These are industries that are heavy users of consulting services. The skills that you have gained as part of your MBA can help you leverage that knowledge to help other companies succeed.
When looking at a career change, it is really valuable to use your alumni network. Use CSU-Fresno's alumni database (or LinkedIn) to find MBA alumni who work companies that you might be interested in. Reach out to them and find out how they made the leap after graduation.
Feel free to message me for deeper discussion.
David

Steve Adolt ⋅ Lancaster, PA U.S. Army, Captain ⋅ 8 years served

Lionel,

You have more experience than you think you do.

If you're up for it, let's get on a Zoom call and have a discussion. I've been in corporate America, consulting, and owned/own my own businesses, so I've got a lot of experience to pull from to help you help yourself.

Send me a net or a text and let's get this set up.

Sincerely,

Steve
smadolt@gmail.com
484-895-9789

Jeff Martin ⋅ Ashburn, VA The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ⋅ 25 years experience

Hello Lionel - thanks for your service and congrats on your upcoming graduation. It’s an exciting time for you! After reviewing your question I’m not sure what you are looking for help with. You might consider reworking the question to be a little more specific or targeted.

If you’re unsure what line of work/what career field to pursue then I’d suggest you do some reflection on what type of work gives you a sense of accomplishment and that you find rewarding. Balance that will the level and amount of opportunities available to do the type of work that you’re most interested in. Weigh the pros and cons, do some research and make the most well informed decision that you can.

Good luck.
Jeff