Which jobs are best early career?
So we’ve seen what career capital is and why it’s important.
But how do you get it? Here’s a list of paths that we’ve found are often good for gaining flexible career capital early on. Note down any that could be a good fit for you. More information on each career path can be found in Appendix 8.
1. Work at a growing organization that has a reputation for high performance
Rob Mather is the founder of Against Malaria Foundation, which GiveWell rates as the most cost‐effective, proven and well‐run charity in the world (as of 2016). But he started his career in sales and management consulting. He says these positions gave him the management and persuasion skills he used to make AMF so lean and efficient.
Consulting isn’t usually seen as the socially motivated choice. But if you’re really unsure what to do long‐term, it can work. Consultants go into a very wide range of areas, including the public and social sector, and often reach senior positions more quickly than they would if they hadn’t started in consulting. The same can be true of other “professional services” jobs. If you’re worried about getting “sucked in” to the lifestyle, then make a commitment to your friends to leave after a certain number of years.
Consulting works because the companies make you work hard, train you up, and put you around other productive people, building your skills and connections. These jobs are
also widely recognized as competitive positions, which gives you a credential.
But there are many other positions that provide similar benefits. In fact, if you have a clearer idea about what you want to do long‐term, then there’s probably something better than consulting or professional services.
Moreover, any position where you have a good mentor or team can help you learn quickly. And any organization that is growing quickly can let you gain responsibility quickly.
Here are some of the most common types of options that seem promising. Try to identify the ones you’d be best at, and focus on those.
The following offer the most flexibility, so are best if you’re especially uncertain:
The technology sector – This sector attracts many of the most ambitious people, often leads other fields when it comes to best practices, is growing, and working in the sector can let you develop useful technical skills. See our profiles on software engineering, data science, startup early employee and startup founder.
Management consulting – If you’re really uncertain, management consulting, especially strategy consulting, can be a good option. These firms often invest heavily in training, and you meet lots of other high‐performers, while exploring lots of industries. Management consultants exit into almost all sectors.
Professional services – This includes accounting and other advisory services, and most often involves working at the Big 4: Deloitte, Ernst and Young, PwC and KPMG. This path provides similar benefits to management consulting, but is less competitive, as well
as less prestigious and with a weaker range of exit options.
Work in a small but rapidly growing company with a good boss. You’ll get to try out lots of areas, learn quickly and advance rapidly.
The following are especially relevant to a certain area, but also good general first steps:
Government position leadership schemes, such as the Fast Stream in the UK, or Presidential Management Fellowship in the US. These are especially good options if you want to work anywhere in the policy world or social sector.
Think tank research roles are reasonably prestigious, and open up options in policy and the social sector.
Working for a politician (e.g. as a researcher or staffer) is often the first step into political and policy positions.
It’s also demanding, prestigious and gives you lots of connections.
Positions in major media companies, because you build communications skills and connections, and these jobs are often prestigious.
Teaching accelerator schemes, such as Teach for America and Teach First, because they’re highly demanding and focus on rapid training. Though, if you know you don’t want to enter the education sector, other options are probably better.
Top non‐profits, such as Evidence Action and GiveWell. Although the typical non‐profit isn’t usually the best option for career capital, if you can join an effective team, or take a role where you’ll learn a lot, it can still be a top option. Working at a non‐profit is also better for developing a network of people who care about social impact.
Anywhere you can work with a high‐achieving mentor.
Law and investment banking are also common options for career capital, and have similar characteristics to consulting. If you have relatively better verbal skills, law is likely to be the better fit. If you have relatively better social skills, then consider the “dealmaking” positions in investment banking, such as mergers and acquisitions. If you have relatively better quantitative skills, then consider sales and trading or asset management in investment banking.
In general, however, we prefer consulting to these options because: (i) it’s growing, whereas these industries are flat and have a worse outlook (ii) it seems to give you a wider range of options (iii) the work is often more engaging at the early levels (though often still boring!) (iv) you get to explore several industries (v) there’s better arguments that some parts of law and banking are harmful. Law also requires an expensive up‐
front investment.
However, consulting is lower paid, so if you’re relatively set on earning to give and a good fit for either of law or investment banking, it might make sense to enter them (and focus on a non‐harmful area).
Example: David wasn’t sure what to do with his life. He seriously considered pursuing a PhD in international relations, but decided academia wasn’t for him. He worked in finance, started and sold a business, then worked for Founder’s Forum for Good, a network of entrepreneurs who want to further social change. Eventually he hit on the idea of getting startup entrepreneurs to pledge some of their shares to charity. The network of entrepreneurs and credibility he had developed gave him access to the right people. The sales skills he had learned enabled him to convince his connections. In under a year, he raised $70 million of legally binding pledges, and is advising the entrepreneurs on the most effective places to donate.