Counseled out by BCG after 8 months

Hi there,

First of all, I am sorry to hear about the fact that you were asked to leave!

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

• First of all, given the current tight economic situation that has also led to a recruiting slowdown and sometimes a freeze in strategy consulting, chances are high that the decision was made independent of your individual performance or behavior. While it might be worthwhile to ask about the rationale behind the decision, I would highly advise you to take it with a grain of salt, even if you are a current colleague of theirs.
• Next, I would advise you to find out what you truly want to do professionally. While continuing in strategy consulting might feel like the only logical next step, I would advise you to do some soul-searching for different options you might have. You might even consider talking to a coach about it.
• Lastly, I understand that you do not want to disclose that you were asked to leave in a future interview, and this information might even lower your chances of landing the job. While I would not advise you to lie, I feel it would be acceptable to say that there was a mutual understanding that there would not be a great fit between you and the company anymore.

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

Hello,

I'm sorry to hear that you were "counseled out" by BCG, I can only imagine how confused you feel right now. It's important to remember that this doesn't necessarily mean that you aren't suited for consulting, but it may be worth taking some time to reflect on your experience at BCG and identify any areas where you could improve. In my opinion, this is the number one priority for you: to understand what happened and use this knowledge in your advance. As if you have a rejection during the interview process with BCG and an upcoming interview with McKinsey. Using the feedback from the first could help you succeed in the latter.

When applying to other consulting firms you -again in my opinion- shouldn't mention the fact that you were “counseled out”. You could apply for a different location and say that due to personal reasons you needed to change city or anything else like that. 

BUT if they ask you specifically about this and you choose to be honest it is important to be transparent and at the same time frame it in a positive way. You could explain that while you had a challenging experience, you learned a lot about the consulting industry and have identified areas where you could improve. You could also emphasize any successes or accomplishments you had during your time at BCG, such as completing a project or receiving positive feedback from clients.

In addition to applying to other consulting firms, you may also want to consider other career paths that align with your skills and interests. Consulting isn't the only industry that values analytical and problem-solving skills, so it's worth exploring other options as well.

Ultimately, it's important to stay positive and persistent in your job search. Rejection is a natural part of the process, but it's important not to give up and to keep working towards your goals.

Good luck!

You are thinking about this backwards: First you have to decide what you want. Only then you decide how to do it. Not the other way around (deciding what to do based on knowing priorly how to do it).

If you want to remain in consulting, not having yet a good story to tell is not a problem.  You will be able to think of one (the business environment is bad, people understand that some consultants will be counseled out).

Hi,

I am sorry to hear that! 

There are a lot of consulting firms out there besides BCG who are happy to have you.

I have seen many colleagues that left voluntarily or involuntarily before the first promotion and managed to land a job with other renowned consulting firms. So stay positive!

Some thoughts on the storyline. You can of course be very transparent about it up front, or not mention it unless asked. I would go for the latter, because an application is forward looking and you should focus on why you apply to another company, what you are good at, rather than on if and why a specific company counselled you out.

• In the current macro environment, it is not uncommon to face this situation. Likely, more people than usual are counselled out. Make the overall situation part of the story in case you want to be transparent
• Find some reasons which attract you to the employer you are applying for compared to BCG. Those could be industry/function focus, international project exposure, work-life balance (there is a difference between MBB and some of the other consulting firms), etc. 
• Chances are that the company you are applying for understands from your CV that you might not have gone voluntarily. If they still invite you, and that shouldn't be unlikely given that you still made it into BCG, are a top candidate and the current situation isn't easy, they are interested in you and your capabilities, not reasons why you left BCG.

And besides that. ask for specific feedback from your career advisor at BCG on what caused them to counsel you out. Even though you were doing well, maybe other people where doing better in some aspects. It is important to understand what your development areas are. 

Best

Marvin

Hi there, 

First of all, sorry to hear that it didn't work out as hoped with BCG. Yet, don't worry, there will be plenty of new opportunities with other, excellent firms.

Given the sensitive nature of the topic, please feel free to reach out via PM to share a bit more context (geography, level etc). Based on that, happy to have an informal chat and discuss what makes most sense in your case and how exactly to position the messaging. 

Regards, Andi

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about your situation. A couple of pointers:

1. The decision might have come as a surprise, but you are definitely still owed an explanation by CDC and your CDA - do reach out to them and get feedback on what didn't work
   • The purpose of this is less to challenge the decision made but more to understand potential blindspots or at least what the firm perceived as your weaknesses
2. If you are still interested and passionate about consulting, you can consider applying to other offices
3. In terms of the story, you should never lie about it if asked directly but you do not have to bring it up if it is not asked
4. Lastly, even if it is hard to break into another firm at this time, it is not the only option or time that you have to do it. You could always do a stint in corporate/MBA and come back again to consulting. 

All the best!

Hi there,

The greatest accomplishments come from temporary defeat.

I'm SO sorry to hear about what happened. It's not easy :/

Know that you are capable and will achieve great things. It's possible this was bad luck. It's possible there were things you needed to improve. It's possible you're not a great consultant (but, have all the skills to be a great x, y, and z).

Take some time (only a little) to feel a bit bad for yourself. Then, pick yourself up!

You have BCG on your resume - how amazing!

Figure out what you want to do. Figure out what you enjoy, what you're good at (could still be consulting!), and work towards that! Reach out to your contacts both in BCG and outside. Reach out to people on LinkedIn. Leverage BCG's resources (they help place you in role when you're being pushed out). Consider hiring a career coach as well.

Best of luck to you!

Sorry to hear that. I personally know people who were counseled out and it ended up being exactly what they needed for their career to take off so it truly can work out better in the long run. 
 

Since you want to remain in consulting it is totally fine to apply to other companies. I think that having a clear explanation of why BCG or the project was not a good fit would be a good approach to take. People are asked to leave companies at all times the key is to explain why it applies to that scenario but not to your future work. Examples could relate to culture, industry, team set up etc. 

Take some time off and think through next steps from a place of calm and positive thoughts so that you don’t rush into anything you won’t enjoy. 
 

Best,

Udayan

I’m sorry to hear about that experience. There are some good answers here already. 
 

Take some time to reflect on what should be your next step. Maybe consulting isn’t the only way and after your experiences, maybe it’s also not necessarily the right setup for you. There is no shame in that. The BCG reference will certainly still be valuable, the storyline might be easier in case you choose to consider a corpoRate role for example. You can always say that your previous job wasn’t a good fit for what you actually want to do etc.

Best of luck