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When is the best time to start with with a consulting company?

Bain BCG McKinsey
Neue Antwort am 29. Sept. 2021
7 Antworten
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Anonym A fragte am 22. Sept. 2021

Hi, I have received an offer from a tier 1 consulting firm, they are flexible with my intake time (which I thought would be next year) but prefer me to start now so that I can shadow projects and then take holiday during Christmas and New Year and start again, hitting the ground and running. 

I personally prefer to start next March due to some personal reason. Does anyone have some thoughts on best time to join the company? And hopefully any tips on joining at a time that you can start with good cases, rather than sitting on the bench or being assigned to bad cases…

Thanks a million!

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Cristian
Experte
Content Creator
antwortete am 22. Sept. 2021
#1 rated MBB & McKinsey Coach

Hi! First of all, congrats and good luck on this new journey. 

There are no standard ‘best’ times to start, but rather some times to avoid. Primarily, this is summer. Usually in summer clients tend to take a break, there are few major projects going on and as a consequence most consulting firms also ramp down. In some offices, I believe this was Milan for McKinsey, the entire office would take off August because there usually was not work. The other period to avoid is around the Christmas holidays. 

But aside from this there's no right time to join. You should rather consider whether you want to take some time for yourself, go traveling, work on whatever personal situations you want to work on or just focus on personal development. Once you start it's a bit of a rollercoaster so it's nice to give yourself a treat now that you've the offer. Once I found out I had my offer I went backpacking across Sri Lanka for 6 weeks. It was awesome! :)

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Florian
Experte
Content Creator
antwortete am 22. Sept. 2021
Highest-rated McKinsey coach (ratings, offers, sessions) | 500+ offers | Author of The 1% & Consulting Career Secrets

Hey there,

The best time is the one you feel most comfortable with. 

If I were in your position (and I basically was - got my offer in September, started in February the year after, postponing my start date in between), I'd take some time off and travel or spend more time with friends/ family/ hobbies before starting

The Christmas period is usually quite low in demand, at the beginning of the year demand picks up as many new engagements kick-off. I believe March is a good time.

Cheers,

Florian

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Ian
Experte
Content Creator
antwortete am 22. Sept. 2021
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

Hi there,

This statement “I personally prefer to start next March due to some personal reason” is the most important thing here :)

If you prefer to start in March, and you'd feel better starting then, then you should!

The main considerations for me would be starting with a cohort. This is the most important thing in my view to future success. Given you're not starting just before New Years, you should be ok in terms of being benched.

Congrats on the offer and good luck!

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Antonello
Experte
Content Creator
antwortete am 23. Sept. 2021
McKinsey | NASA | top 10 FT MBA professor for consulting interviews | 6+ years of coaching

Hi!

I don't think there's an ideal time to joining a firm.

You could join in March or now and start getting more exposure with Partners, which might help you get staffed on the projects you like the most.

Best,

Anto

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Udayan
Experte
Content Creator
antwortete am 23. Sept. 2021
Top rated Case & PEI coach/Multiple real offers/McKinsey EM in New York /6 years McKinsey recruiting experience

There is no perfect time to join, because you will never be able to predict when demand is high and when it is low. In general demand slows down during the holidays in December and during the Summer but that is not always the case (for example this summer was crazy)

In short - join when you think is best for you.

 

Udayan

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Adi
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Content Creator
antwortete am 22. Sept. 2021
Accenture, Deloitte | Precision Case Prep | Experienced Interviewer & Career Coach | 15 years professional experience

Best starts times would be Sept-Oct or Jan-Mar. Avoid peak summer & winter/xmas period as people tend to be on holidays. Demand also falls during this period.

All the best!

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Sofia
Experte
antwortete am 29. Sept. 2021
Top-Ranked Coach on PrepLounge for 3 years| McKinsey San Francisco | Harvard graduate | 6+ years of coaching

Hello,

Congratulations on your offer! Some great advice here - I absolutely agree that there is no standard best time to join a company and you should do what is best for you! Here are a few extra things to bear in mind:

- If you are coming in as a junior consultant, typically August-September will have the largest starting groups (as it is when most people start after graduating). If you are looking to be part of a big cohort, this might be a good idea.

- Some people push back their offers for as long as possible and pursue other opportunities in the meantime, sort of like a ‘gap year’. This might be a nice idea if you are thinking about staying in consulting for a long time and want to try out something else beforehand.

- I wouldn't say there's a huge difference in quality of cases over time, particularly now with COVID, when the effects aren't seasonal. End of December tends to be rather quiet as most clients are winding down for the holiday, while summer can be quite busy.

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