rejection after 5 interview rounds due to hiring strategy change

Question

Hi,

I have done 5 partner rounds (4 + intro round) of interviews with Kearney Australia.

Between the 3rd and 4th round they seemed to be stalling with a 3 week gap despite confirming after 1-2 days informally that I have passed it. Then the the final round finally took place even though I told them after the 2nd round that I had an alternative offer (which I did) and the 3rd interview was my best one by far.

After that I waited 2 weeks to then be told that feedback from everyone across all dimensions was great, yet they decided not to proceed to to a change in hiring strategy. I seem to have heard that it was also down to hiring capacity now. Note I applied for the manager role in the FS team.

At the end the (fairly junior HR person that gave me the news via a call) said that they may want to reach out back tome again at the end of the year (so in 4-5months time) or start of next if things change.

Is that just an Australian polite way to reject someone and make you feel good or is it actually likely down to the fact that business is down (just like in Europe atm) and they froze hiring.

I suspect change in hiring strategy could also mean they were looking for someone locally from Australia or a diversity hire (which I am not).

I also wonder if me letting the partner in the final interview know that I got a promotion at my current company (one of the best FS firms in the world) impacted it negatively to the extent that they though ok well if we give him the offer now he will probably reject us.

I am super confused since despite pushing the HR lady at the end to highlight anything that I could improve on she couldn't / didn't highlight a single item -which is a first for me since in every other case I was told I could improve on x or y.

Also it was the longest and most frustrating interview experience spread over 3-4 months that I ever head and getting this odd message at the end is incredibly confusing.

Answer 1

Hi there,

First of all, I am sorry to hear about the rejection from Kearney Australia, especially given the lengthy application process!

I would be happy to share my thoughts on your situation:

First of all, it's important to remember that the decision not to proceed does most likely not reflect your qualifications or interview performance. Strategy changes in hiring can result from a variety of factors, such as a hiring slowdown or even freeze due to unforeseen circumstances, and it seems Kearney tends to keep current recruiting processes running, even if there is no chance for candidates to receive an offer. I would advise you not to over-interpret their feedback and decision.
Moreover, regarding their offer to reach back out in 4-5 months, it's difficult to say definitively whether this is just a polite gesture or if they genuinely intend to reconsider your application when conditions allow. However, it would be beneficial to keep an open dialogue with them, in case you would still want it after your negative experience with Kearney Australia.
Lastly, regarding the feedback, if the recruiter did not provide any specific areas for improvement, it is likely your performance was up to their standards, but external factors beyond your control affected their final decision.

You can find more on this topic here: How to deal with a rejection from a consulting company.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to address your specific situation, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

Answer 2

Hello,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience, this sounds incredibly frustrating. I would guess that you performed very well and they did really like you, but hiring has slowed down a bit and/or they had several strong candidates and couldn't make the offer to everyone. If you made it so far, they were clearly interested in you, and they may reach out in the future if they have more openings. They certainly could have preferred a local hire (less risk + paperwork), but I also doubt that this had anything to do with you letting them know about your promotion - persisting with the interview process despite the promotion is a sign of interest, and plenty of candidates leave their jobs or start looking for new roles straight after a promotion, in hopes of translating that to a more senior position or a higher salary.

Answer 3

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about this frustrating experience. I too went through a confusing experience during one of my consulting interviews (although context was a little different).

At the end of the day, the reality is that you will never know the -real- reason why they did not hire you. It could be any (or a combination) of reasons as mentioned by the other coaches already.

While it is frustrating, please don't let this stop you if you really want to break into consulting. Kearny is one firm - there are many others. You've definitely demonstrated the capabilities to pass 3 out of 4 rounds at the very least - so its not that you don't have what it takes.

I would ask again for feedback just to confirm that there was -really- no negative feedback. Then I would look for other opportunities and continue to keep the momentum of your case prep and performance. I was turned down by my ‘dream’ firm once and got into another firm, but in hindsight, things worked out very well for me. I hope you achieve what you set out to and wish you all the best!

Answer 4

Hi there,

I'm really really sorry to hear about this.

Look, the honest answer is I think they hired my candidate. I was just training someone for Kearney Australia and they received an offer.

The fact that they were delaying might indicate they were trying to figure out other candidates/offers.

That said, regardless of the above, it's also likely that their pipeline shrunk a bit and they had fewer spots than expected.

I don't think letting the partner know about the promotion was a bad/negative thing. I think it's absolutely likely they would favor a local hire over an international one (especially if you had needed a visa). It's possible diversity hire played a role.

Ultimately, I'm sorry to hear about your experience. It's not fun and it's definitely soul sucking.

That said, if you made it this far you are a strong candidate and you CAN get an offer elsewhere. Keep networking + applying and bide your time….luckily you have your current job + promotion!

Answer 5

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about the rejection after so many months - I imagine how frustrating that can be. In terms of your questions:

1) Is that just an Australian polite way to reject someone and make you feel good or is it actually likely down to the fact that business is down

I would expect this to be true. There is no reason for them to make this up and they would have not proposed to reach out in a few months otherwise.

2) I also wonder if me letting the partner in the final interview know that I got a promotion at my current company (one of the best FS firms in the world) impacted it negatively

I don’t think this is the case – it should have actually validated you as a good candidate.

Overall, I agree with Ian that your performance shows you have the potential to get offers from other consulting companies. If you still want to get into consulting, I would continue the process with other companies. If you do get an offer, you could then reach out again to Kearney if still interesting to you to leverage it and see if they could be interested to continue the process then.

Good luck!

Francesco

Answer 6

Hi there,

Sorry to hear all of this.

Yes, most likely they just froze hiring. They weren't able to take more people even though you were good.

It has nothing to do with the Partner learning that you got a promotion because they understand you also would have no interest in spending your time interviewing if you didn't want an offer after all.

My recommendation would be to apply again in the next cycle. The market will have recovered by then. And to manage for the risk of something like this happening again, I'd suggest you go broader with your application strategy. This guide goes into more detail on how to do this:

Maximising your chances of getting a consulting job during an economic downturn

Best,
Cristian