Tricky Situation... what would you do?

I believe there are three options that are available to you:

1) Quit now

2) Ask MBB for a deferred start and quit after 6 months /1 year

3) Decline MBB offer

A factor that will weight on your decision is how tight is the consulting community where you live. If it's very tight my rank-order would be 2-1-3. If it's not tight you can think about doing 1-2-3. However be aware that your story will be quite memorable at the firm you are leaving (e.g. "do you remember the guy who quit after just one week?) especially if you met a lot of people at the office.

So, assuming you don't want to decline this opportunity I would try to negotiate as hard as you can a delayed start (at least 3 months, better a year, ok 6 months) at MBB.

Hope this helps,

Andrea

Hi,

First of all - definitely go for an MBB offer. It's a great opportunity for you and you should not lose it

Secondly - tell your MBB company what's the situation and ask for a 3-months deferred offer

Thirdly - work for 3 months for the 2nd Tier company. It's enough to do at least 1 project and it will not look that awkward. At the same time, 3 months is not a big gap if you decide not to put it on your resume (and to be honest I would not put). 

Also, try to relax and don't perceive it as a huge problem. Consulting companies have thousands of employees and your case is not unique.

Best!

You need to be selfish about your own career because companies are selfish about their bottom-line. MBB >> tier 2, any day. If you perceive no issues w/ the MBB firm if they find out you are already at tier2 firm, I'd leave now instead of staying there any longer for lower salary, experience, brand, etc. An A+ resume is better than an A+ resume with a B+ tier-2 entry -- the longer you stay at the tier-2 the harder it becomes to "skip" that brand in your CV without creating a noticeable gap.