Name and Shame: Simon-Kucher North America SOAR advanced degree program

Question

Not as much a question but more per title and want to warn other people. Attended their SOAR summer program for advanced degree candidates which guaranteed a final round interview. Out of 20 attendees that interviewed, only 1 person got an offer who happened to be the only White male in the group (also British and speaks with a British accent, not sure how much that factored in. Most of the group was Chinese/ Indian). Might as well have told all the applicants that they plan on freezing hiring and saved us two days instead of pretending that you're still hiring by giving one token offer out of twenty.

Future advanced degree applicants, be wary if they do open full-time hire. Might be the same BS as their summer program

Answer 1

Wow, sorry to hear it went down like this.

Indeed, that can't feel good.

Leaving aside bias, it's also a fact that this is not a great time for recruitment. The only thing you can control for is really how many applications you send out and the quality of these applications.

I laid out the critical steps to doing this in the resource below. Hope it helps:

Maximising your chances of getting a consulting job during an economic downturn

Cristian

Answer 2

Hi there,

Yes, recruiting/hiring is really tough right now! That's why it's all that more important to shine above the rest.

Right now you will have to work harder. You will have to apply to more firms, and to more + better interview preparation than before. You will need to dedicate more time to making sure you have a killer resume and are networking effectively.

As a side note, white males are actually currently at a disadvantage right now, statistically. Firms targets are very much for diversity and the # of each group targeted for hiring divided by the # applying is a far lower % for this group (and I've seen this play out a lot with my own candidates). This individual was probably exceptional.

Chin up. This was 1 interview. Your odds were never high (they never are). That's why you need to make sure you're applying to a ton of firms, networking with a ton of firms, and figuring out what went wrong in your interview and fixing it.

Good luck!

Here's some reading to hopefully help: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/pitfalls-case-interview-preparation

https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/how-to-shift-your-mindset-to-ace-the-case

Answer 3

Hello,

I’m sorry to hear about your experience. Hiring is definitely slower these days, and it’s always difficult to assess with these programs how streamlined the pipeline to a job really is. Best of luck with any other opportunities you are currently pursuing!