Kearney Middle East recruiting process red flags?

Question

Context: I'm an MBA student at a US school (intl student) and applied to job through campus portal. 1. Scheduled interviews 1-2 days before

2. In one of my first rounds a senior manager trashed Strategy& and even said 'don't apply there'

3. No feedback between first and second round

4. Rejection email 2 weeks after the final round (only offered feedback the following week)

5. Had gotten accustomed to calls after round 1 and final round at MBB so this was disturbing

Answer 1

Hi Anonymous,

My perspective on that:

Short-term schedule: without details difficult to say - but in principle nothing that unusual; if it would not work for you should be possible to re-schedule
Definitely unprofessional - but it's a single person's view and behaviour (and possible it was even a test of your reaction), not sure how much it can be generalized
While you usual get feedback from MBB, oftenly is not detailed and not actionable ... if nobody gave you feedback proactively, did you ask for it and did they decline? Even if so, it's legitimate - they don't have an obligation to give feedback, and it's still you who wanted the job in principle, so you need to adapt to their rules
Recruiting processes were slowing down in general - sometimes looks even on purpose - could be true also in your case. But be assured that one single candidate is not the top 1 priority of partners - even if you might be inclined to see that differently.

Hope this helps - if so, please give it a thumbs-up with the green upvote button below!

Robert

Answer 2

Not sure what the question is, but at least their recruiting is by far the most unprofessional I've ever encountered

Answer 3

Hi there,

Sounds like it wasn't a great experience and you would not have enjoyed the role/company...in which case, you dodged a bullet!

Answer 4

Apply to Strategy& Middle East!

It is the third biggest firm (after Mck and BCG) in the region and has a very strong foothold in the market. People are really nice and the salaries are higher too.

I am going to be joining S& Dubai soon!

Come join us! :)

Answer 5

Hello there!

Sorry to hear that you had such an experience. Situations like yours might happen, people are different everywhere. As for the feedback, it's more important for the candidate, so reaching them out for it would be a great idea, hope you did that.

Anyway, good luck in your future career path and hope everything is fine by now.
Happy holidays!

GB