Hi everyone,

First of all: I know that this is a sensitive topic. This post is in no way intended to either attack or criticise anyone. Instead, I am simply interested in an “inside-perspective” as well as the general experiences and opinions from other (aspiring) consultants.

Over the last years, almost all relevant firms within the industry have massively increased efforts in order to specifically attract members of groups within the population that were- and still are significantly underrepresented within the industry. Besides the well-known Women-, LGBTQI+-, …-only events, many consultancies nowadays offer specific mentorships, personal development coaching, etc for members from these groups. 

Considering an ongoing lack of applications from these groups, combined with the long-established and repeatedly showcased benefits of diverse teams, there is no question about the legitimacy and usefulness of these programmes. 

That said, while many firms were very proactive and supportive when it came to advertising the industry as well as the specific job of a consultant (and, of course, themselves as attractive employers) to e.g. members of underprivileged groups, no exceptions or special arrangements were made when it came to the actual hiring process and, more specifically, the required level of skills and experience for an applicant to initially make it to- and afterward through the interview stages.

However, both around campus and across a number of (virtual) forums, rumors and – frankly speaking – complaints about a sudden “gap in candidate requirements” are surging in recent months (maybe years already?):

Following two years of work experience in Banking as well as a subsequent MBA, I am currently interviewing for (experienced) consultant roles at one MBB as well as multiple other consultancies. Even though I do not belong to any of the before-mentioned groups (quite the opposite as a rather privileged white-male coming from an academic household), I have so far never faced any issues when it came to getting interview spots at some of the top companies (in banking after my bachelor's and, considering my success with interview invitations recently, in consulting). Hence, so far, I have mostly disregarded these complaints and allegations as understandable yet false and, to some extent, unnecessary noise by mostly unsuccessful candidates looking for some excuses why they ultimately did not make it into their aspired jobs. However, being in the middle of applications and interviews at the moment, I must admit that – at least for consultancy roles with a bit of prior professional work experience – candidate requirements indeed seem to be differing slightly lately (of course, this is all anecdotal evidence which is why I would love to hear your opinions and insights). 

More specifically, in one case, despite an internal referral, I was recently informed by HR that I was not possessing enough professional experience to be considered for an experienced-hire role. While this generally makes perfect sense, I was very much surprised to hear that only a few days after, not one but three of my female MBA-classmates were invited for interviews for the respective vacancy, even though they were bringing just as much / just as little prior work experience as me (+ an overall very similar profile in terms of academics, etc.). 

In one extreme case, a good friend of mine (openly identifying as a member of a disadvantaged group and, in fact, being invited to the interviews following a group-specific hiring event) mentioned that, despite performing bad- to maximum average across several interviews, one big industry player seemed to be very keen on offering a position.

In other cases, ex-classmates from my bachelor days who recently graduate from their master's degrees are reporting a lack of invitations to job interviews – sometimes reasoned by a lack of experience or insufficient academic performances – while, simultaneously, diversity candidates with evidently weaker profiles are making it to the interview stages. 

Similar cases like the described ones have not only been brought up both by other classmates recently, but also, can be found across other platforms such as Reddit in increasing scale lately. 

Again, despite the one case as mentioned before, I, personally have never experienced any of the indicated “differences” in candidate-requirements (grades, experience, etc.) and, so far, have been very successful and happy with my personal application journey. 

Nonetheless, considering the amount of “evidence” out there, I was wondering if consulting firms are indeed "shifting the bar" for applicants that fulfill e.g. diversity criteria? From my very own experiences in Banking I know that expectations may differ for applicants – how does it work in the consulting industry? 

While many of the big firms (or their respective HR-representatives respectively) officially deny any quotas on e.g. share of members identifying as a member of the LGBTQI+ community or similar, I was wondering if there were any internal guidelines or “recommendations” on that matter?

Again, I want to stress that this post is in no way intended to criticise anyone / anything. Instead, I am simply interested in the experiences and insights of other users here as, as outlined previously, everything is based on purely anecdotal and, obviously, subjective insights at this point.

Looking forward to your answers &

Best

(editiert)