Friday Mailbag
I have been following your blog since the start of my career. I am a recent graduate and an associate at [Big 4] in [EU country]. I am currently working to specialize in financial due diligence for M&As.
My long term (10-15 years) plan is to become a venture capitalist / or establish a private equity firm with 3 of my other fellows working in the [other strategy consulting firm], [new global bank holding company], and [Dow replacement for AIG].
My question is that: Am I in the right path? I have been offered a dozen jobs paying 2/3 times more than [Big 4], and I am a successful graduate of a top-tier prestigious universities in [EU country]. I am telling you to emphasize the trade off I face. In [Big 4], I think I can gain considerable experience since it’s the largest M&A adviser in [EU country] in terms of due diligence. I had interviews with a couple of headhunters working for small M&A houses offering a lot of money in [local] terms. Do you think it is worth earning less for a couple of years?What else could you recommend me?
Thanks for your time and help,
Best,
My suggestion is to work for [Big 4] for a few years at least, even if the pay is lower. That assumes:
1)You can afford to earn less for a little while
2)You like the people you have met in [Big 4] and feel you could work with them, learn from them, respect the kinds of deals they are doing
3)If you stay with [Big 4] you promise me to take full advantage of all of the training, travel, and mentoring that will be available, work your ass off, do well, and think for the longer term.
I hope that answers your question. This is my opinion, based on only what I know, since I do not know the business environment in [your local country] that well. Write back if you want to talk more. Good luck and let me know what you decide and how it turns out. Keep in touch.
Francine
Dear Francine,
I will keep working in [Big 4] since I plan to go global a few years later as you said!
Thanks for your valuable mentoring.
Best regards,