Hi all!
I'm back with an update for the new chapter of my path at McKinsey at this two-year mark. For those who don’t know, McKinsey business analysts (BAs) have a world of options in front of us after our first two years with the firm. Some BAs continue in their trajectory, moving into a senior BA role and then an associate role; some go on secondment with external organizations; others decide to pursue advanced degrees or opportunities outside of McKinsey; still others do rotations in specialized roles or with different offices or practices.
I’ve done a wide variety of work in two years—everything from consumer products to agriculture to insurance to electric power—and I was ready to try something totally different. As I was trying to figure out my next steps, I thought about my long-held interest to do work in the social sector, particularly around non-profits and education. A fellowship with Generation USA came up at the perfect time, and I have officially started my tenure here.
Generation is an independent non-profit that was founded by McKinsey in 2014; its mission is to empower young people to build thriving, sustainable careers and provide employers the highly-skilled, motivated talent they need. In layman’s terms, we train young people with targeted curriculum and then work to get them employed, filling the talent gap of employers! There are some great stories and videos on the website featuring Generation graduates.
I'm grateful and excited with this opportunity to spend my next year working for a mission-driven organization, learning from a cool new group of people, and seeing a totally different side of the business world. You can see Generation at work in the photo to the left, which was the first day of an IT training for a new class. I also included a picture above of me with another former McKinsey Generation colleague, Christina. She actually started as a fellow and is now a full-time staffer there.
On another note, I had a fun summer, which was wrapped up with a beautiful end-of-summer cruise for the Chicago office. The picture of us third-year BAs is a little bittersweet, as many of us are heading off in different directions. These two years have flown by, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Stay tuned!
Jane