Please help - tips on passing probation (first 6 months)?

Other people's experience is pointless.

You have to be mindful of what are your weaknesses.
You cannot expect to be coached extensively by others and you have to close your gaps independently. 

Therefore, take a piece of paper, and jot down your issues and how other people perceive you.

Then, try to identify a buddy at the firm or formally ask for one.

Hey there,

1- Don't stress about it

The more you overthink the probation period, the more it affects your performance. The probation period is nothing to worry about and it's only put in place for the people who fall way off the track. You can afford to make many mistakes to learn, that's okay.

2- Learn from your mistakes

In the probation period, it's less about whether you make mistakes and it's more about how much you learn from them. Keep track of people's feedback and show that you can tackle it.

3- Pace things

Don't only choose the most intense and tough projects. Diversify things and give yourself some space to learn.

Mario

Hi there,

You should hire a coach. If you're at risk of not passing probation a case/career coach can help you do your job well and learn the skills required.

Some other tips:

1. Lean on your peers
2. Work on 1 weakness at a time
3. Read the below:

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MOST IMPORTANTLY: Know that no-one can perfectly prepare for the job and that's the point: You will mess up, you will learn, you will be trained and supported. That's OK!

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First: I have a consulting survival guide handbook with 25 key tips for surviving the consulting world. Feel free to message me for it!

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Second: In terms of things you can learn/do to prepare beforehand:

1) Daily Reading

• The Economist, The Financial Times, BCG/Mskinsey Insights

2) Industry deep-dives

• Learn, in-depth, how the industries/companies your office advises, work. (PM me for an industry overview template)

3) Analytics tools

• Alteryx, Tableau, etc.

4) Excel

5) Powerpoint

• Best practices/standards
• Different layouts
• Quickly editing/updating slides
• Thinking in PowerPoint

6) Presentation skills / sharp communication

• There are some online/virtual classes for this

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Third: In terms of doing well in your role when you're there:

1) Understand the context/prompt (what role are you in, what company, who's watching, etc.)

2) Understand the objective (what, specifically, is expected from you...both day to day, and in your overall career progression)

3) Quickly process information, and focus on what's important - Take a lot of information and the unknown, find the most logical path, and focus on that.

4) Be comfortable with the unknown, and learn to brainstorm - think/speak like an expert without being one

In summary, there will always be a flood of information, expectations, competition etc. and not enough time. Find out which ones matter when. (i.e. be visibile and focus efforts on the things that people care about)

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Fourth: Here are some great prior Q&As for you!

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/what-makes-a-good-consultant-how-to-get-a-good-review-6790

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/how-hard-is-it-to-excel-in-top-consulting-firms-6762

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/how-to-become-an-engagement-manager-and-partner-quickly-6722

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/need-to-learn-skills-in-the-ample-free-time-before-starting-at-an-mbb-what-should-i-do-6774

I can imagine that this must be a very stressful situation. My start into consulting definitely felt like a rocky experience too. Here are a few things I think you can try to address going forward:

• Definitely focus on the things your manager told you to work on so that you can show them “improvement” - you don't have to master any of those skills/behaviors just yet, a general upward trend already goes a long way
• Be as proactive as you can be - you want to signal to the manager that you are goal-oriented (especially if they expect the teams to work independently) - always bring a draft work product to the discussion so there is content to base feedback on
• Leverage your other team members to “pressure test” any draft work product before you go and discuss it with your manager - also get their input on how to best approach him/her
• Make junior team members work for you - delegate work packages to them that otherwise you'd have to do yourself but that are simple enough to not require extensive context. Check in with them regularly to make sure their work goes into the right direction for the output to be useful 
• Talk to your mentor (assuming you were assigned one at the start of your job) to discuss the situation and get guidance
• Try to engage with everyone who is supportive of you and knows the company stakeholders/culture, get them to coach you through the remaining months and cement their support

I wish you all the best and hope youpass the probation time

I would advise you to talk to your senior mentor in the firm (or another person who is responsible for overseeing your Performance Track record). Identify the situations that went wrong, analyze why they went wrong and what skills are most critical to develop, and work together on an improvement plan.

It‘s not in the firm‘s interest to let you go during probation time, so it‘s good to utilize any resources they have and treat them as a friend and not as an enemy.