Hi,
I am writing this post to seek advice and assess what went wrong and plan the best next steps to progress in my career.
Context: Fresh master's graduate with a top-class European school joined strategy consulting at big4 in the Nordics. However, faced challenges that can be put into these boxes- 1. Non-diverse team and being the only international and female cand. 2. Heavy usage of the local language in all problem solving, project-related team discussions, and usual cross-talking 3. Felt like was being watched over constantly and given almost too much feedback making it impossible to improve on the real development areas
Issue: Poor project review for 1st project ( 1 month after joining) from a 1yr senior colleague seeking promotion after which was counseled to leave or improve fast-track on key focus areas. Closely followed on all 3 projects after with constant critical feedbacks (however not poor), until 5th project (9 months in) with harsh review and finally made to leave.
Key Questions:
1. I found my experience harsh and unfair- is this normal in the context of the industry as a whole or a merely a “fit-issue” wrapped in poor performance/skill-set
2. Should I continue in consulting but at other firms or just change the industry?
3. Given that I am still a fresh graduate, what would be good target firms/ industries to pursue?
Considering I am staying in the Nordics in the long run due to my family being here and also starting to work on language skills