Episode description

This week I speak with Carter about his path to management consulting. Coming out of college, he took a year to do a fellowship in Taiwan. While he enjoyed the experience, it didn't exactly help him figure out what he wanted to do long-term. Going back to his political science roots, he took a few political consulting roles in Washington, D.C. Through those experiences he started to home in on what he liked and didn't like in a professional role. After building out a spreadsheet of every job he could think of, Carter decided to direct his job searching attention towards management consulting. Despite describing himself as someone who hates to network, Carter managed to network his way into a management consulting role in Los Angeles. Tune in to hear about what Carter learned along the way, why he decided not to become a comedian (or a lawyer), and what he would advise college students and those a few years out *not* to do.

Best for: learning how to pivot into consulting if you're not coming out of college or an MBA; trying things in bite sizes early in your career and reflecting on what matters to you professionally; how to find and prepare for interviews for political consulting roles in D.C.

Contents:

01:00 - Meet Carter and hear about his professional background

06:41 - Finding his fellowship in Taiwan and then finding his first role in D.C.

12:33 - Day-to-day of Carter's first political consulting role in D.C.

16:50 - Other roles he considered in D.C.

19:07 - What he liked/didn't like about his first political consulting role (and a bit about why he didn't go the law route)

23:37 - Carter's second political consulting role in D.C. and how he found it

27:33 - Day-to-day at Carter's second political consulting role

30:19 - The pros and cons of his second role in D.C.

32:58 - The spreadsheet and transitioning to management consulting

41:53 - Day-to-day in management consulting 

48:57 - Pros and cons of management consulting

51:13 - Lessons learned

Note: Carter mentions a few websites for finding roles in D.C. They were Brad Traverse, Tom Manatos, and District Daybook.