Entry level negotiation at Kearney

Hi,

I was from Kearney and I also made the lateral hire switch to BCG (and took a tenure cut) so sharing a couple of pointers.

Yes, there is a way to secure recognition but that will depend on 3 things typically

1. Your ability to negotiate
2. Your performance during the interview
3. The credibility of your previous experience & the firms willingness to acknowledge it 

What you need to negotiate on is basically your tenure. In my experience, its difficult to normally push for more than 50% of tenure of a role (e.g. if its a 2 year role, they might at most recognize 1 year out of that 2 year)

• The general principal / expectation is that your experience at a smaller firm ‘counts for less’ versus a bigger firm, so it would be challenging to get full recognition of your tenure
• So you'd probably expect some sort of factor applied to your boutique experience
• Remember, firms may not fully recognize your previous experience because they have very little to go-on in terms of how well/strong you would adjust to a new culture / way of working etc

When I left Kearney, I took a tenure cut / downgrade. But this was a decision that I did not regret at all. The additional year gave me time to ramp up, acclimatize to the new culture/expectations etc. I have seen people over-negotiate and come in to a role where they just crashed and burned. YMMV. 

One final piece of advice - if you are playing the long game, a few years really does not matter :)

All the best!

Hi there,

Hire a coach for a session (or half session!) to help you negotiate.

You can try it yourself and miss out on thousands. Just like doing taxes yourself means you lose money you didn't know you could get, same here.

Try to not be penny-wise and pound-foolish!

Ultiamtely, with negotiations you need to ask for the right things and do so in the right way. You have to defend the ask and strike the right balance between firm/demanding but also polite and “human”.

Lots of ways to do this wrong versus right.

Feel free to reach out for support (I've negotiated ever offer I've received…with BCG I doubled my signing bonus from $20k to $40k)

Hi there,

congratulations on the offer. It sounds like your role is fixed in the offer terms. This means that the base salary and bonus range is usually the same for all employees in that role. You could negotiate potential signing bonus or relocation package. For everything else, you would have to be offered a position higher in seniority than the one currently on the table.

When joining a new firm, it can be helpful to get some extra time in a position with “lower” expectations and demand for you to get settled in, learn their ways of working and establish your network.

So unless you’d be taking a significant paycut from your current job, I wouldn’t stress too much about it. If you are up to the task, you will perform well. And if you perform well, you’ll get promoted quickly.

Best of luck

Hi there!

Cool situation. You're fortunate. 

No, you can get ‘promotion’ points. And I wouldn't rely on anybody ‘remembering’ these things either. 

You can only negotiate the role that you're getting in at (and thus the corresponding base salary that is associated with that role) AND the signing & relocation benefit. 

If you believe you don't have much leeway on the former, then put more emphasis on the latter. If you're good you're going to get fast-tracked promoted anyway, so it won't make a huge difference in terms of base compensation over the long-run.

Best of luck in Kearney! It's a great place. 

Best,
Cristian

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Hi there,

Congratulations on the offer! In terms of your question:

Q: My primary question is how I can leverage my existing experience during the negotiation process to potentially fast-track my promotion within Kearney. Is there a way to secure recognition for my experience right from the start?

The best way to negotiate is to have an “opportunity cost” of another offer and leverage it. If you don’t have alternatives (either other companies or your current employer), you won’t really have much leverage.

For general tactics, I would recommend Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss, which is a great book on the topic.

I agree with Benjamin that long-term getting a bit of extra seniority or not won’t matter that much in any case.

Good luck!

Francesco

At this point you have an offer. They already decided what is the right seniority. Unless you have clear leverage and have a reason to say no, that is the offer you'll have.