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Kearney Middle East recruiting process red flags?

2nd round ATKearney A.T.K. AT Kearney ATKearney Big4 Middle East Middle-east MiddleEast
New answer on Dec 29, 2020
5 Answers
1.7 k Views
Anonymous A asked on Oct 20, 2020

Context: I'm an MBA student at a US school (intl student) and applied to job through campus portal. 1. Scheduled interviews 1-2 days before

2. In one of my first rounds a senior manager trashed Strategy& and even said 'don't apply there'

3. No feedback between first and second round

4. Rejection email 2 weeks after the final round (only offered feedback the following week)

5. Had gotten accustomed to calls after round 1 and final round at MBB so this was disturbing

(edited)

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Robert
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Oct 20, 2020
McKinsey offers w/o final round interviews - 100% risk-free - 10+ years MBB coaching experience - Multiple book author

Hi Anonymous,

My perspective on that:

  1. Short-term schedule: without details difficult to say - but in principle nothing that unusual; if it would not work for you should be possible to re-schedule
  2. Definitely unprofessional - but it's a single person's view and behaviour (and possible it was even a test of your reaction), not sure how much it can be generalized
  3. While you usual get feedback from MBB, oftenly is not detailed and not actionable ... if nobody gave you feedback proactively, did you ask for it and did they decline? Even if so, it's legitimate - they don't have an obligation to give feedback, and it's still you who wanted the job in principle, so you need to adapt to their rules
  4. Recruiting processes were slowing down in general - sometimes looks even on purpose - could be true also in your case. But be assured that one single candidate is not the top 1 priority of partners - even if you might be inclined to see that differently.

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

Robert

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Anonymous B replied on Oct 20, 2020

Not sure what the question is, but at least their recruiting is by far the most unprofessional I've ever encountered

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Ian
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Oct 21, 2020
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

Hi there,

Sounds like it wasn't a great experience and you would not have enjoyed the role/company...in which case, you dodged a bullet!

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Gaurav
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Dec 29, 2020
#1 Career Coach for Aspiring, Practicing & Ex-Consultants|The Only 360° Coach - Ex-Mckinsey, Certified Coach & Recruiter

Hello there!

Sorry to hear that you had such an experience. Situations like yours might happen, people are different everywhere. As for the feedback, it's more important for the candidate, so reaching them out for it would be a great idea, hope you did that.

Anyway, good luck in your future career path and hope everything is fine by now.
Happy holidays!

GB

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Anonymous C replied on Oct 21, 2020

Apply to Strategy& Middle East!

It is the third biggest firm (after Mck and BCG) in the region and has a very strong foothold in the market. People are really nice and the salaries are higher too.

I am going to be joining S& Dubai soon!

Come join us! :)

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Anonymous D on Oct 21, 2020

Thanks so much for your comment. Can I message you?

Anonymous E on Oct 21, 2020

interested as well, can we chat?

Anonymous F on Oct 21, 2020

Anonymous C, when will you be joining ? I'm set to join them soon as well.

AR on Oct 21, 2020

Hey guys! sure happy to chat. just PM me here! :)

AR on Oct 21, 2020

Anonymous C, I will be joining in Feb. How about you? Let's connect!

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