Struggling as an entry-level consultant

Question

Hi everyone,

I'm a Junior BA at McKinsey. Just joined the firm ~5wks ago and have been staffed for 2.5wks.

I have really been struggling as a fresh graduate and with McKinsey as my almost first professional working experience. Would love to hear your “first year” experiences and how you navigated through that. Also, any advice during this tough time would be appreciated.

I am on an implementation project, which my teammates say is already an easier and more chilled one. Despite that, I feel like I'm almost useless, if not even weighing everyone down.

I have a LOT of difficulties with communication (within the Firm, to client, etc.), and my overthinking nature does not help. Sometimes, it takes what seems like an hour for me to write, rewrite, and overthink my emails/messages.

Many times I also feel so stupid for not understanding/ fully absorbing catch-up materials. When it comes to tasks/requests related to my workstreams, I'm lost and often have to ask more senior consultants in my team, and I also feel like I'm wasting a lot of their time.

Not even 3 weeks in and I have been sat down for a pretty critical feedback session. Although feedback is expected, that was incredibly hard and basically destroyed my mood for the day.

What should I do? Do I even belong here? When will it get better, or will it ever?

Answer 1

Hi,

What you describe remind me my beginning at McKinsey.

First of all it's normal to find it complicated to adapt yourself to the way of working at McKinsey.

I can Give you 5 advices:

1. When your EM or Associate give you a task, always clarify till it's crystal clear for you. It's his/her job to be clear. You can ask him/her to draw the slide, to help you structure the database, etc.

2. If you see that you won't meet a deadline, raise your hand asap. EM hates to discover last minute that the job is not done

3. When you're lost try to take a step back and to see how what you're doing contribute to the objective of your project (EM, Partner). Looking at the final objective will help you to see really focus on the most important things.

4. On the communication side, I would say the same : ask yourself what the objective of this email, phone call, etc. It will help you to have the right focus + always structure your written communication

5. It's normal to feel what you feel, wait 6 months and ask a feedback session every 2 weeks to see what you need to correct. And ask for actionnable feedback.

Hope this helps

Alexandre

Answer 2

Hi there,

hard to generalize individual experiences and challenges - nevertheless - just my two cents in addition to Alexandre's answer, which I find very helpful and would follow

0) Satisfaction = Reality - Expecations.

So spend time really being crystal clear upfront on expectations from your EM and on client on your module (through EM if the setting is that you are not “welcome” to freely interact w/ client) i.e. WHAT is the definition of SUCCESS of my module

1) Figure out your main stakeholder “working style”. Figure out the non-written rules to satisfy your main stakeholder (EM) and abide to them (e.g. he is a micro-manager vs. a big-picture thinker…) - look for “working styles profiles" on internet and try to catalogue him + act accordingly

2) Start reasoning as soon as you can in “EM mode” and “client mode” based on the definition of SUCCESS on point 0)

i.e. always ask yourself

→ What is the 20% important “stuff” that I should do that will enable to reach the above definition of success for the project from my EM's point of view? Discard the rest unless asked explictly by MDP or needed to satisfy your main stakeholder working style

→ What is the 20% imporatnt “stuff” that I should do that will enable success for the above definition of success point of view? Discard the rest unless asked explictly by MDP or needed to satisfy your main stakeholder working style

2) During feedback sessions with EM agree on specific and practical improvement actions - e.g. agree that you will do thing xx to show improvement within zz. Next session show up with written/tangible proof that you really tried hard to do that and the trajectory is improving. Trajectory matters a lot

3) Build relationship w/ client stakeholders via strong content, strong structure and being a human-being vs. robot. Do not underestimate the power of that and devote at least 15% of your time to that - the ROI will be good

4) Find a mentor (e.g. a more experienced consultant) that you can resort to when in doubt

→ Figure out a way to keep providing some kind of value for him/her, to keep this positive loop going

Disclaimer: I, like most of MBBs new joiner, had a hard time adapting to consulting working mode. It gets better over time as long as you LISTEN and show TRAJECTORY improvement. Do not beat yourself and show CONFIDENCE

Hang in there champ!

Answer 3

Hi there,

You are being paid $, correct? And you don't want to lose the job, correct?

Use aforementioned $ to hire a coach! Seriously. A coach can help you improve your weakness areas and turn your performance around.

The first 10 months I really struggled. Then it got much better. Most of your peers are also struggling.

Pick yourself and get a can do attitude. No one ever told you this would be easy.

You are in the marines. Do you want to be a marine or just regular infantry? You have to work. If you weren't trying to be the best you wouldn't have to work and it wouldn't be hard. It's hard because you are learning and being pushed.

I highly recommend you read my consulting survival guide

Here are a couple of snippets from that guide, based on what you've said:

This job is inherently stressful, and you are not going to be the first person to struggle with stress. Consulting firms have mechanisms in place to try to keep consultants from burning out. If you are struggling, reach out early.
You need comrades - your people for the really good and the really garbage days. Find them and stick to them.
There will always be pressure, but not every task will make or break the bank. If the success or failure of the project relies solely on the one slide you’re making, there are bigger issues going on.
Keep a one-page version of the case story up-to-date every couple of days.
Always bring solutions, not problems.
You learn so much more when you are fully transparent about what you don't understand.
You will do your best work once you are okay with being fired.
Your Project Lead/Principal is not inside your head. Learn how to communicate and guide their attention to what they need to know. Work to their style and your life will be easier.
You have to stand up for yourself. And people will respect you for it (98% of the time).
People’s perception of your performance is just as important as your performance.
Communication is as important as content. Communication isn’t what you say, it’s what they hear.
Being good at the qualitative aspects of consulting (presentation, communication et c.) Is significantly more important than being good at the analysis/excel/quantitative side of consulting.
Consulting is a confidence game. Always have a strong opinion, lightly held.

Answer 4

Hi there,

First of all, I am sorry to hear about the poor experience thus far at McKinsey!

I think this is an interesting question that may be relevant for many people. I would be happy to share my thoughts on it:

First of all, while it is absolutely normal to feel overwhelmed in the first couple of weeks/months, I would highly advise you to reach out to a coach about the feedback you have received.
Without further context, you might have either taken the feedback overly harshly, or there really is the perception of you underperforming.
Lastly, I would advise you to work on the feedback given - or reach out again to ask for constructive feedback you can actually work on - either way, and consider talking to a mentor/advisor at McKinsey.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to address your specific situation, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen