Navigating my exit from Big 4.

Trading teams for textbooks after two years in corporate.

In three days, I will hit the two year mark at my first full-time corporate job. And, in ten days time, I will say farewell to that very same job.

I was twenty when I signed my employment contract, eager to exit university after a somewhat underwhelming undergraduate experience. I was three weeks into my first year when the 2020 lockdown came into effect, and five weeks into living in a new country. During this time, nearly every part of my university experience became about ‘getting through’ rather than intentionally figuring out what I loved and wanted from a career. By the time restrictions began to ease, I was more than ready to leave university, no matter where I went.

Cut to 2023, I began my first full time corporate roll in a Big 4 graduate program. Relived to be out of zoom university, I had little understanding of the challenges which waited for me.

In my first two weeks I knew that consulting wasn’t for me. That was a tough pill to swallow but I was determined to make it work. I had been hired at the beginning of the ‘market softening’ which meant that there were fewer projects available than they had anticipated there would be. It was competitive to get on project and being on the bench (also known as being off project) was something I became very familiar with. After 4 months in, I started to find my feet and got staffed on a solid project which led me to moving into a team more suited to my abilities.

My new team was great, until it wasn’t. I had a good 6 months with them where the learning curve was steep and my experience was growing everyday. But, like a tale as old as time, the market ‘softened’ further and projects were, once again, slow to come. Whilst this was happening, I also witnessed two rounds of redundancies and lost friends and mentors to these conditions. Overall, I had a deep sense of instability and was starting to feel that I needed to make a change.

I had looked into different jobs but something kept pulling me back to going back to university. Law was something I had always thought about and on a random Monday in early November last year I finally pulled the trigger and applied for a post-graduate law degree. One week later, I received my acceptance letter. You could say the rest is history but I then proceeded to spend the next 3 months going back and forth about part time vs full time study. I spoke to everyone from my manager to recent law grads to current students and ultimately decided that my heart wasn’t in consulting so, why delay the inevitable?

Whilst the last two years weren’t what I wanted, they were what I needed. I got two years of professional experience, two years of having weekends for myself, two years of recovery post zoom university and two years to take stock.

A small part of me can’t help but feel like I’m moving backwards by exiting corporate to go back to university, but I know when I’m 30, 50 & 89, I will be nothing short of happy with this decision. That’s enough for me.

So, if you feel like you are in the wrong place or that you are going down a path which is not for you, let this be your sign to make a change. It can feel scary but I’d like to argue that standing still is scarier. Quit the job. Apply for the degree. Move countries. I’ve done them all and I’m still here!

As I write this, I am fifteen days from my first day of law school, and I couldn’t be more terrified or excited.

As Always,

Jules