Hi there, 

sorry to hear about your experience. I am myself experienced hire starting as a Project Leader in BCG with no consulting experience, so I can relate the internal pressure we can put on ourself. 

I would recommend to:

1. shift mindset from “they must like me” to “do I really like it”, “does it fit what I expected?”.  We often forget that job is both way relationship, not just one and I wonder how much you explore if the company satisfies you vs. what you expected/was promised

2. Clarify with you career advisor/sponsor what is expected from you and at what timeline. you may have high expectations just in your head, they must not be real. Lateral expert hires, may not necessarily lead projects, rather being used for content. 

3. Get official feedback on your current performance (not hearsay), make sure you remember positive as well, then ask what resources you can leverage to grow.

4. Leverage strong your expertise your brought. You may not lead the same complexity of projects as your peers, but they may not have the same expertise you have. This is very important as this stands you aside, through that you can shine (most of your peers usually bring consulting experience but not expertise)

5. Ask for coach to help you clarify your position and how to move forward, at MBB we do have this resource available, you may as well 

I am happy to connect to chat. 

Lucie

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Hi there, 

Sorry to hear you struggled in the beginning! This is quite normal. Everybody goes through it. I actually wrote an article here on PrepLounge about it with some practical tips. You might find it useful - https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/entry-level-consultant-what-is-it-like

The ‘right mindset’ in the beginning boils down to two things in my view:

1. Be willing to fail early. In the beginning you feel vulnerable and all your instincts tell you you should lay low. It's best to actually do the opposite and run into all the possible problems as quickly as possible. It will be painful on the short-term, but it will really accelerate your trajectory in the firm.

2. Proactively ask for feedback and work on it. It doesn't matter where you fail, it matter how well you recover from it and how much stronger you emerge. Ask for feedback from colleagues across all levels, as well as suggestions of how you could improve. Also find a mentor that can guide you through this early stage. 

You'll be fine! 

Best,

Cristian

This happens quite frequently. You need to:

1) Ask help from your manager/principal

2) Ask help from the more experienced consultants that are reporting to you.

You need someone to explain you, on the job, how to do it. There's not alternative to asking for help.

Hello!

I echo what other coaches are saying: it´s super normal! We were all once consultants in our first weeks and we all felt super pressured, regardless of the tenure!

Cheers, 

Clara