Career advice after a nine-month analyst role in energy consulting

[SereneRoseRobin]

Hi all,
I’m looking for some honest career advice.
I’m in my mid-20s and recently completed an MSc in Economics.

My background is in economics, data analysis, sustainable finance, energy/climate work and consulting. I’ve previously worked in financial services/restructuring, responsible investing, project finance/estimating and most recently in an energy/data-focused analyst role at a consultancy.
In my most recent role, I worked on things like energy market analysis, Python/data workflows, decarbonisation work, EV/grid-related projects, and internal automation. I also have experience with R, Python, Excel, Power BI, econometrics, ESG/climate analysis and stakeholder-facing work.
However, the role did not work out, and I’m now trying to work out my next move. I’m worried about how to explain a short stint it was 9 months-, whether I should stay in energy/climate analytics, pivot back toward finance/investment research, apply for general analyst roles, or aim for public sector/economics roles.

On paper, I think I have a strong profile: MSc Economics, consulting experience, data skills, sustainability/energy experience, internships in finance/investment, and volunteering/leadership experience. But I feel quite shaken and unsure how realistic different paths are now.
What would you do in my position?
Specifically:

1. Should I lean into energy/data/climate roles, or broaden out?
2. How much will a short role hurt me.... it lasted for 9 months
3. What kind of roles would be most realistic for someone with my background?
4. How should I explain leaving without sounding defensive?
5. Would recruiters see this as a decent profile, or am I overestimating myself?

I’d really appreciate blunt but constructive advice, especially from people in consulting, finance, energy, analytics, economics, policy or recruitment. Thanks.

But what do you want to do? What area would you like to work in? Where do you see yourself in 3 years?

It sounds like you aren't really sure what you want to do.

just want to make money asap tbh

You can try, but if you are found to have knowingly misled a recruiter then you can wave goodbye to the job you are going for 🤷🏼‍♀️

Sounds like something like finance is for you then. Can you apply for entry level finance jobs? Why did your previous role not work out (not the energy one)

Everyone wants to get rich quick but very few will

how would they know i have misled them?

presumably your new job will want a reference from the job you have just left?

Also it's common for contacts between industries to ring each other to find out the gossip/situation with an applicant

They might ask for references and then follow up on them? They might have contacts at the previous place? I'm not saying they will definitely know, but it is always a risk to knowingly mislead people when you're going for a job.

Were both the previous jobs on grad schemes? It’s not clear. It might be tricky to get onto another one, if so, if you failed to pass on both of them.

I think you are approaching things the wrong way.

It sounds like you oversold your energy experience to get your energy job, and thought you could learn on the job. But the job was expecting you to have the skills, not to train you up, and let you go.

You are now asking how you can 'spin this' to get another high paying job. But if you spin it dishonestly, you run the risk of ending up in another job that you don't have the skills for and will struggle in.

What did people on your course end up doing? What were the expected career paths? What is the best paying role that you feel you would be good at and could do?

what do i do abt it now

Yes this.

I suspect you are being unduly negative. Which areas did you do better in? Are you strong on data analysis for example but less so on how to apply it?

Use that role as a demonstration that you've gained valuable experience and look for roles at a similar level. You may just have been unlucky regarding the training side there.

All the 'find any job' isn't helpful. You may not have secured a permanent role there but you must be taking extra skills and experience from it for the next one.

Is there any additional training you can do? I don't mean masters level stuff but any further technical upskilling on data programmes etc? Just something so that if you have a gap you can say you reached the end of your contracted period, there wasn't a permanent role for you, and in the meantime you've been further establishing your skills in X and y, which complement the practical experience you've gained.

If you need complete strangers to tell you this, you have no chance getting a decent job.

Find a consultant to advise you ?

Fraud act 2006.

"It is illegal to lie on your CV, according to The Fraud Act 2006. Lying on your CV is classified as “fraud by false representation” and carries a maximum 10-year jail sentence. A false representation is defined as something that's “untrue or misleading, and the person making the claim knows that it is, or might be, untrue or misleading.”

Source :

The risks of lying on your CV: what you need to know | TopCV

And I think that if you failed probation, then go on to misrepresent that probation as contract work, it would be really easy to uncover. If not be pretty obvious to people with more experience.

I’m not sure that consultancy is for you right now.

Can you look at smaller firms to gain qualifications in accountancy?

It seems like you have the academic level you need to succeed but perhaps find other areas difficult. What are those? Time management? Project management? Personal/social adaptability? Are you better at detail but struggle to see and plan for the bigger picture? Can you deliver? What can you actually deliver?

I think you need to reflect and take some ownership
gor failing your probation in your most recent role. The employer didn’t take time to train you and that is a reasonable critique but what did you do to upskill on the job? In a competitive consulting role I think it is reasonable an employer expects you to use some initiative (esp in current age of AI etc) to teach yourself on the job.

No one can tell you what to do next as no one knows what you want to do (other than make some money). Based on the limited info given I would prob try to get onto another big 4 or similar grad scheme.

The best thing you can do is figure out what you want to do. At times when I have been stuck i have asked myself (or talked with DH or friends)

1. Do I want to work in public sector or private sector?
2. What area of work/experience filled me with dread? Why? Was it the topic or the organisation? If the topic, take the experience (even if it is just "delivered work to deadline, efficiently and effectively met requirements to the satisfaction of client/team") and move on.
3. Is there an area i enjoyed working in? Write a list.
4. Of those areas, what companies or organisations are involved?
5. What roles am I looking for? At the start of my career, it was roles that helped me develop out my education and learning, I accepted i wasn't an expert but that I had basic or standard experience and needed to become the expert. So stop looking at roles that require experience in specific matters if you only have a few months under your belt. Look at graduate or entry level jobs that will help you to work up to being experienced.
6. Where are the jobs? Can you move location easily to take advantage of roles?

I would reframe the existing experience so that you aren't over promising on what you have done. No point in listing everything as though you have multiple years working as an experienced and expert consultant on the topics when you haven't. You have some knowledge so that you will be able to.build on it quickly but you are not the expert yet.

You will get there, but you have to put in a lot more effort at figuring out where your interests lie.

I also wouldn't fudge your 9 month role as a contract. Any hint of fudging or lying about a failed probation will back fire. Be honest when asked about how the role or organisation was not a good fit for you. But don't lie.

This is great advice. You do need to do some basic legwork yourself - we can’t spoon feed you.

Also, not everyone is cut out to be a consultant or even a manager, even, or sometimes especially, with great academic credentials. There are skills you can learn and develop, sure, but your questions here lead me to think that at the moment you need to be in a role where you are very much told what to do and then you do it. If you are successful at that, then build on those strengths to expand your skills. That may be in a role that’s not advertised as a grad role at all.

Consultancy is used as a broader term. I work for one and we have people who are engineers, architects, planners, etc. Think of it more as "problem solving" than consultancy......Clients come to us with a problem or brief e.g. "my asset is causing problems, please work out how best to fix it", or "I need to make this building more energy efficient", or "we want to make this urban area safer for pedestrians and cyclists", and the consultants assess the problems, look at options to resolve them, and make recommendations to the client as to the best option. Sometimes we do detailed design and oversee the implementation / construction of solutions too. People work in project teams comprised of people with a range of experience. We don't just bung a fresh graduate in to lead a project and do direct facing work with a client, you start them at the basic level tasks with guidance from seniors and more experienced team members. You really can not just google this stuff!!

thanks for your kind words

We run a small consultancy in the energy sector - your skills are much in demand but from what I've read from you - your adjustments are too hard to accommodate in a fast moving, highly pressurised environment - your need for hand holding is going to waste a lot of expensive time from your seniors.
I would try to get a role with one of the regulators or DESNZ or even one of the energy companies - thing run at a different pace and you'll be more likely to find your feet. I don't think consultancy is a good match - it doesn't do hand holding very well unless you are amazing at the analysis and that makes up for it.

You're not missing anything. Someone straight out of Uni is not called a consultant - they work as an analyst for a consultancy company. Their job involves researching options, grinding the numbers (senior team member show them how), producing tables, chasing people (the junior clients), sometimes doing the junior client's jobs when they can't do it themselves, supporting data teams, admin/co ordinating projects, organising meetings, pulling together packs - they do all the grunt work and gradually they pick up more and more of the complicated ideas and experience starts to sink in, they start to use their breadth of experience to organise their work and know how to approach problems.
In the bigger consultancies they rarely meet a client until they have quite a few years behind them, because you are absolutely correct why would a senior business leader want to talk to a grad analyst - they really don't (but interviewing them, it's what they all think they should be doing!)

You posted when you left the big 4 didn’t you?

can you go back to your uni and seek their advice?

That's because it is. You can't possibly have gained all the experience you say you have in all these disparate fields.

How many years have you had an actual job?