Working full-time for only 4 months. Is it allowed? Is it worth it?

Question

Hello everyone. I have an internship offer from an MBB firm in the middle east office. The internship is from July to September, full-time starts in January 2024 (I'm MSc student). In the meantime, I applied to a T2 consulting firm, also middle east office, and got accepted for a full-time position. I'm pondering the following:

Start the MBB internship, hopefully convert it into full-time
After the internship done, I would start full-time at the T2 firm in mid-September and work there for a few months
In January/February, I leave the T2 and start full-time at the MBB

Might sound bizarre but I really have a lot to gain from working after the internship, financially and professionally. I'm just curious if this is ever allowed.

On the tier-2 firm contract, the only thing that's unvague is that I will have to give up my signing bonus and other sign-on benefits, and pay back any sponsorships.

Answer 1

Hi there,

First of all, congratulations on the offers!

I think this is an interesting question that may be relevant for many people. I would be happy to share my thoughts on it:

From my perspective, in the long run, those 4-5 months of additional work experience would not change anything, both financially and experientially. Additionally, please keep in mind that you would most likely burn the bridge with this strategy consulting company for good.
If you still want to pursue this strategy, I would highly advise you to ensure that you are not violating any non-compete agreements or other contractual obligations with either 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

Hi there,

I can't quite comment on what you “should” do, but you “can” do this.

If you do, remember that you are burning all bridges for that T2 firm. Additionally, you are almost certainly going have to give up the signing bonus, sign-on benefits, and sponsorships…check the contract…there is almost always a 1 or 2 year term on this. Also, check tax implications (because you have to pay taxes on the bonus).

Congrats on some great offers but just make sure to think through this decision thoroughly!

Answer 3

You should approach this as a strategy consultant. First, you have to consider all the scenarios. You are only considering one single course of action, but there are other possibilities.

For example, you can ask Mckinsey to actually start earlier (e.g. right after you finish your internship). I believe this would be the best option for you.

Your suggested course of action is not great. It will damage your relationship with that company (and the people who work there… who will move to other consulting firms, who will join some of your clients, etc). It's not like you're doing the most outrageous thing in the world, but nevertheless it damages your reputation. And it can hurt your reputation at Mckinsey as well.

Of course, you have deadlines to meet. You probably have to accept the full time before you get an offer from mckinsey. You probably even have to START working there before you hear back from Mckinsey. If that's the case, then what you have to do is to be upfront with Mckinsey before they give you an offer and ask to start earlier. And if you receive the offer, you should not wait until the last minute to let the T2 know.

Answer 4

Hi there,

Congratulations on the offers! In terms of your question:

Q: Working full-time for only 4 months (Tier 2). Is it allowed? Is it worth it?

To address the two points you mentioned:

In terms of the “allowed” part: you will have to check if the MBB internship and Tier 2 full-time contracts include any anti-competitive clauses.
In terms of the “worth it” part: once you have secured the MBB offer, I would rather recommend to explain them the situation and ask if you could start earlier with them.

In any case, I would not reject the Tier 2 offer until you have confirmation about the MBB full-time offer - there is always the risk they won’t extend an offer for full-time.

All the best,

Francesco

Answer 5

Hi there,

sounds like you have certainty about the MBB internship and the T2 full time offer. You don't know if you will get an MBB return offer after the internship.

As others here have correctly pointed out, your current course of action would leave scorched earth with the T2 consulting firm.

To avoid that, you could

Ask the T2 to push your starting date to January 2024 -
- if you do get an MBB return offer, you could cancel your gig with the T2 before you have started there. Not a super move but still better than only joining for a few months
- you have a job in case MBB does not invite you back and you take some time to recharge after your internship
Ask MBB to let you start earlier for the full-time position (only works if you get an offer of course) if you really don't like the additional free time between internship and job

Good luck