Have got an offer letter. Can it be rescinded due to recession/Covid19?

Hi Anonymous,

I fully agree with Clara - it is unlikely that your offer is taken back.

Needless to say, we are currently in a global situation of uncertainty and political actions (see Italy) like not having been since long long time ago. It will definitely have an impact on consulting industry since some consulting projects and budgets are temporarily already frozen - people sitting a bit on the sideline to observe what is going on. However, once the uncertainty is going away, typically consulting projects are taking up speed again - think specifically about cost cutting and reorganizations. And for that, consulting firms also want to be prepared human-resource-wise.

In addition, it's a small industry and rumors easily go around - and it doesn't sound good within the industry, and even worse for the image for future applicants. So if it's reasonably possible to avoid, they will avoid cancelling issued offers!

Hope that helps - if so, please give it a thumbs-up with the green upvote button below!

Robert

Hello!

Once the offer is extended, it would be EXTREMLY rare that it gets rescinded. 

What seems clear by now is that this is truly harming economy, and in the next weeks we will see whether we are heading to a global economic recession.

If this is the case, and we indeed face a global recession -even if not as hard as the previous one-, this will have an impact in consulting. Why? Simply because there would be less clients, less engagements with the usual clients, and an overall freeze in spending.

This, for sure, will impact recruiting, reducing the classes of BAs and Associates for a couple of years.

However, this won´t affect you if you are "in" already. 

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Totally agree with Clara, companies might reconsider the number of people they will recruit in the short term but I expect them to honour the offers they have already extended.

Best of luck!
Marco

Hi Anonymous,

I don’t see a real possibility that the company could rescind the offer – worst case they may propose a later start. Recruiting will likely slow down due to the current uncertainty but not at the level of rescinding offers.

Having said that, you may accelerate the process of signing the hard copies to avoid problems with a possible later start.

Best,
Francesco

From what I'm told McKinsey didn't rescind any offers in 2008 however they hired a lot fewer people in 2009 and then ramped up hiring significantly in 2010. These are cycles the economy goes through. Your offer is safe 

Hello,

It would be extremely difficult to rescind the contract, if it's a full-time offer. Once that they send you the job offer, they are formally committed to the offer. More over, the middle east will be one of the last market to suffer of the corona virus effect.
Send the signed copy and wait for their news. Don't be afraid to contact the HR staff if you want to discuss this with them, they are there to help.

Best,
Luca

Hey A,

First of all my congratulations to your offer!

I understand that you are now very uncertain about your future career in consulting. But I want to assure you that rescinding an offer is not a common practice. So you may be sure that you will start this year at your company of choice. What might indeed happen is that HR might contacting you asking whether it’s possible for you to start sooner or later than originally planned depending on their stuffing situation.

This being sad I would recommend you the following:

1. Sign the offer and send it back to HR (if not done yet)
2. Calm down from the virus paranoia
3. Focus on the things which really matter in your life – have some good rest, spend a lot of time with family and friends (you will miss this time in consulting ?), read books and take care of yourself!
4. Get ready to start in consulting and prepare yourself for your future career – feel free to drop a line to get tips if you are interested.

I wish you all the best for your career!

Best,

André

I'm going to talk against the others' answer with my personal experiences : yes they can, by doing it very trickily.

In resume, what happend to me to Kearney Paris :

- Have been successful with all 4 Partner/Principal interviews.

- Another Partner (also Kearney's global representative at Davos), never exchanged before, told everyone that I "called him day and night" to get a recommandation.

- HR called me the next day to cancel my offer, without any explanation.

- Extreme deception with psychiatric care.

- Another partner close to me told me the truth only after his departure (the one diffaming kind of cofounded the Paris office...).

The real reason are both: 1. Asian origin - suspicion on my future performance. 2. Political battle - I was recommanded by the newly appointed office chairman at that time - who won the position at the expense of the one diffaming me.

Afterwards:

2 years later, I "revenged" this Partner by cancelling all the future applications from Kearney China within a Chinese leader in Telco (as i'm the son of one of its R&D founders by coicidence). I'm also working in one of European's leading insurer as an Internal Strategy Consultant...

I have an offer from an MBB firm (signed contract). Was due to start soon but have recently been told it will now be deferred by approx. half a year. They also didn't rule out rescinding, but said that is unlikely and not being considered at this time.

I want to share a recent experience that has jolted me personally and professionally.

Recently, BCG India approached me for a role in their APAC marketing team. After multiple rigorous rounds of interviews with marketing and consulting leaders from two continents at BCG, I got the job offer. Excited, I humbly accepted it.

Weeks before the joining date, the recruiter told me that BCG decided to revoke my offer. I was understandably shocked and asked for details. The team refused to share any.

It was unimaginable for me that any MBB firm would work in such an unprofessional manner and leave a candidate with such an unpleasant experience.

I am sure this is not a one-off incident. I am also not the only one dealing with immoral and unfair professional conduct during COVID. Every organization must conduct recruitment ethically and engage with the employees fairly, transparently, and on merit. And every employee going through any unethical practice must highlight it in a forum to bring awareness.

Being aware is the only way to be safe.