I’ve spent the last few weeks talking to people who’ve successfully moved from consulting into corporate strategy, and I’m noticing a pattern. The ones who landed really solid roles didn’t just apply to job postings—they built what I’d call an intentional exit playbook.
What I mean is: they identified specific skill gaps they needed to close, they built relationships with people already in strategy roles, they got strategic about timing (some waited for specific trigger events, others didn’t), and they positioned their consulting work in ways that resonated with corporate hiring managers.
I’m trying to distill what I’m hearing into something actionable because I feel like this move requires more intentionality than just “update resume and apply.”
Here’s what I’m figuring out so far. First, skill positioning matters. Consulting gives you frameworks and analytical rigor, but corporate hiring managers want to hear about stakeholder management, prioritization under constraint, and execution accountability—things that already exist in your background but need to be framed differently. Second, timing signals matter. People mentioned things like moving when you have specific accomplishments to show, when your firm gets busy (so you’re not leaving during your best billing season), and sometimes just when the market for talent is favorable. Third, networking seems critical but has to be strategic. Reaching out to random VPs of Strategy on LinkedIn doesn’t work. Having a mutual connection warm-intro you does.
My question: for people who made this transition successfully, what was the ONE thing that actually tipped the scales—the specific action or realization that moved you from “thinking about this” to “actually making the call”?
The decisive factor for most successful transitions is clarity of outcome. Before you execute any of these tactics, you need to be genuinely honest about why corporate strategy appeals to you and what success looks like in that role. If you’re moving because consulting is exhausting but you’re not clear on what corporate strategy actually offers, you’ll make poor interview choices and take offers that don’t suit you. The most successful transitions I’ve seen involved people who spent four to six weeks conducting informational interviews specifically focused on understanding the day-to-day reality, then used that knowledge to refine their target list and messaging. The timing and networking matter, but clarity of intent matters more—it changes how you show up in conversations and how credible you sound.
Data from successful transitions suggests a multi-stage approach: Months one to three involve building a target list of three to five companies with strong strategy cultures and interviewing current or recent strategists at those organizations. Months two to four involve upskilling in areas specific to your target companies—financial modeling depth, industry-specific knowledge, M&A due diligence experience. Months four to six involve active outreach through warm introductions and potential off-cycle opportunities. Success rates improve significantly when job applications are preceded by at least two substantive informational conversations with people in those roles.
honest take? the thing that actually moved the needle for me was just doing it. i had the skills, i wasn’t using them, and i knew people in strategy roles who were mostly fine. so i just reached out cold to someone i’d met at a conference, we grabbed coffee, and turns out their company was quietly looking. all the planning and timing and perfect resume frame-work is kinda overthinking it—sometimes you just gotta make the move and see what happens.
so like, its not super complicated? you just connect with ppl and tell them ur interested? that seems way less intimidating than i thought lol
For me it was identifying one friend who’d made the jump, asking her honestly what I should focus on, and then explicitly building that into my interview narrative. She told me to emphasize times I’d driven execution against ambiguous requirements—something I’d done dozens of times in consulting but never framed that way. Changed how I came across in interviews. Sometimes the unlock is just one person telling you what actually resonates.
one more thing—don’t get caught in the skills trap. people spend forever trying to become the ‘perfect’ candidate and never actually apply. you’re already qualified. the move is about positioning yourself as someone who chose strategy deliberately, not someone who’s running away from consulting.
Timing windows are real. The most common successful entry points occur during quarters two and three, when budget planning and strategy cycles are underway. Off-cycle opportunities emerge when companies are scaling or post-acquisition. Additionally, conversion rates are highest when candidates have been in consulting roles for two-point-five to three-point-five years—long enough to have deep experience, short enough to retain flexibility.
wait so like, when you apply actually matters? i never thought about like hiring cycles or whatever for strategy teams lol