All questions tagged offer - Consulting Q&A - PrepLounge.com

Hey there,

It doesn't matter whether the the offer is signed digitally or physically. Once you sign (regardless of format), you accept the offer.

If you really want to cancel it, here is what you should do:

• Wait for the 2nd offer to officially come in, so you have a real option
• Tell the 1st company politely and seek their understanding in pulling back
• Once you reach agreement with 1st company, then you cancel the 1st offer and after that you sign your 2nd offer

Before you do all these, do think carefully - is the difference between the 2 firms / offers big enough to worth such effort?

Best,

Emily

Hi,

The most important thing you need to understand is that consulting is a client business and client is always first. Here is my subjective view of what's needed to succeed on different levels of hierarchy. Pls take into account that it's the ideal state and getting these skills is a journey.

Analyst / associate level

• Having a good DGL / career counselor, etc. (Each company has different names). This is a person who guides your development in the company, collects the feedbacks on you, and presents your case to a promotion committee. Make sure to have a person who is organized enough to collect the feedbacks in time, who is a nice person in general and who has enough authority in the company (i.e. Senior partner - the more power he has - the better)
• Choosing the project you work on smartly (i.e. collect the feedbacks on each and everyone prior to accepting the project)
• Perfect technical skills (Excel, PPT, Problem Solving)
• Good feedbacks on you from the client. Thus try to make friends with your clients (Both senior and non-senior role. Even a bad feedback from a blue collar can ruin your career)
• Ability to manage your own standalone workstream with minimum supervision. TOP performers bring the end products that impress others
• Being proactive - helping the team with daily routine, scheduling, etc. Participating in the office initiatives
• Establishing relationships with your managers and partners. Ideally, you should have multiple senior partners to be excited about you and to support you)
• Being lucky!

Manager level

A lot of the above, plus:

• Having your client happy - this is the most important! If the client is happy - everything else will work
• Managing multiple partners who have different opinions. Since partners have a busy schedule it becomes very tricky to synchronize them and to align the viewpoints
• Good feedbacks from your team - having a happy team is important. Unfortunately, sometimes it's a trade-off between having your client and partner happy
• Telling about your success on projects to others - I'm personally not a fan of this kind of selling, but I know many people who made a career using this skill

Principal level

A lot from the above, plus:

• Having multiple clients happy
• Having a long list of partners supporting you (More than 10)
• Contributions to the development of the company (Knowledge, office ops, etc)
• Selling the projects. If you manage to sell to existing clients or even bring the new clients - you are the champion.

Partner level

A lot of the above, plus:

• Sales, sales, sales

Best,

Hi there,

First of all, congratulations...you have an enviable choice in front of you (not many people get even this far)!

Second, I recommend the following:

1. Ask OW if you could delay signing by a month - confirm that if they can't you're happy to sign (make sure 100% they won't pull the offer from you)
2. #1 has a low chance of success, so if it fails, sign the offer
3. Interview with BCG + McK
4. If you get an offer, then re-evaluate and make a decision as to whether you'd like to leave (you may realize you love OW and don't want to go, who knows!)

Hi,

There is no need to worry, it’s a typical situation in current circumstances. Just wait and invest your time in self development, etc. The majority of consulting firms have postponed many offers.

Best,

Anton

Hi,

The most important thing you need to understand is that consulting is a client business and client is always first. Here is my subjective view of what's needed to succeed at the start levels. Pls take into account that it's the ideal state and getting these skills is a journey.

Analyst / associate level

• Having a good DGL / career counselor, etc. (Each company has different names). This is a person who guides your development in the company, collects the feedbacks on you, and presents your case to a promotion committee. Make sure to have a person who is organized enough to collect the feedbacks in time, who is a nice person in general and who has enough authority in the company (i.e. Senior partner - the more power he has - the better)
• Choosing the project you work on smartly (i.e. collect the feedbacks on each and everyone prior to accepting the project)
• Technical skills (Excel, PPT) should be mastered before starting the job
• Good feedbacks on you from the client. Thus try to make friends with your clients (Both senior and non-senior role. Even a bad feedback from a blue collar can ruin your career)
• Being proactive - helping the team with daily routine, scheduling, etc. Participating in the office initiatives
• Establishing relationships with your managers and partners. Ideally, you should have multiple senior partners to be excited about you and to support you)

Best

Dear A ,

My congratulation to your other offer and to successful passing McKinsey interviews. I'm pretty sure, they will get back to you soon. Otherwise, I would recommend you to follow-up with them next week.

Regarding the next steps. McKinsey might take so long, because with digital assessment they have multiple candidates in the pipeline, and they always want to be sure that they have selected the best candidates. So, they still might have time to interview your other peers to figure out, whether you are the best in your peer group, and whether they should take you.

Hopefully you are, and they will get back to you soon.

Good luck,
André

Hi A,
Shortly to mention, yes, it's worth to negotiate, but you also need to have a couple of trumps in your pocket, may be like another offer for competition.

Hope, it helps

Best,


André

First of all Congrats!!!

Here in South East Asia Bain as a slight edge if you want to exit to PE as they have more projects for PE clients so probably check this in the office you will start.

Having said that there are a couple of BCGer moving out to PE although in the portfolio management role of the PE not in the investment side.

Either way, you should also consider how you like the culture and people in the office you will start as that is also an important factor

Hello,

Usually you receive it within the a couple of days and you will have a week to give an answer. If you ahve not received the written contract, I would suggest to call the HR and ask if there is any problem. Don't worry: if they confirmed that you will have an offer, you will receive one.

Best,
Luca

Hi! I personally didn't have such a clause in my contract (McKinsey Germany), but as far as I know for other regions of the world it's a pretty standard practice, so doesn't surprise me at all.

Best,
Daniel

Hi!

Given your description you have a couple of options:

A. Join Bain in Dubai

B. Join McK in Karachi

C. Try to join McK in Dubai

Since you don't feel comfortable with working in Pakistan, are concerned about the compensation and miss the personal click, it is a no-brainer that option A dominates option B. The question is whether McKinsey in Dubai would be a better fit for you (compared to Karachi)? Compensation wise for sure, but what a bout the people?

• If you still see a better fir with Bain, even if you compare the Dubai offices, then go for option A!
• If it is not the case, then you have nothing to lose by being open with McKinsey and tell them that you have decided to start in Dubai and that you have another offer there. Just ask whether starting in Dubai would be an option. If yes, great. If not, go for Option A.

Cheers, Sidi

Hi!

The last info I know is that in Germany and Austria for Associates it's 110 k base and for Fellows it's 70 k base (it is increased by 5 k every year you spend at the Firm). The bonus then depends on your performance and if i'm not mistaken is max 60k and 30 k, respectively.

Plus, in Germany and Austria you get a car that you will be able to choose and buy yourself (any model, any on-top things, leather seats, big wheals, all of that stuff). Budget for the car is 65 k for Associates and 35 k for Fellows as far as I remember.

Switzerland it's a completely different story. The only thing I know is that it's much more, but I don't know how much more.

Hi!

Couple of points:

1. Please make sure BCG understands that you are having these offers and need to decide soon. Normally they are very open to expedite the process under these circumstances!

2. If this does not work, please be open about the situation with RB/OW and ask for a couple more weeks.

3. If they refuse to give you more time to decide, then just decide and take one of the offers. Then do your BCG interviews and see what comes out of it. If you get an offer by BCG and want to accept it, then you quit with RB/OW. Please don't second guess too much. Normally the firms should understand it and you would not be forced to such a move. But if they don't, then you just take a reasonable rational personal decision! And by the way - firms also don't hesitate to rescind offers or delay starting dates if external condiditons force them to do so. This has, e.g., happended a lot when the last financial crisis unfolded.

Cheers, Sidi

in McKinsey Germany it's 10-25% and depends on your performance in the last review cycle of the year (October-November)

Hi Kevin,
unfortunately I do not know the exact amount in SEA, but I would like to add that you can usually negotiate it (there is a range of 5-10k, depending on the role and the office), leveraging on other offers

Hope it helps,
Antonello

Hi,
it is a common situation. I do not think you would have legal consequences in rejecting the offer (in Italy it is only a letter of intent and you do not incur in them, since each part has 6 months by the beginning to terminate the contract). Of course it is not 100% fair, but also the HR play their cards keeping the deadline too short.

Hope it helps,
Anto

Hello there,

There is nothing unprofessional about contacting a person who have put up their profile on a public domain such as LinkedIn. Reaching out through people from Linkedin is a completely acceptable way to expand your network and engage in professional matters as the platform is tailored to provide such functions.

What will determine whether the outreach is professional or not is the tone and delivery of your message. General best practices such as utilizing polite dictions and be respectful of their time / not being pushy works perfectly.

Another note, actively reaching out would actually showcase your strong interest towards the firm and let them know you are someone who will proactively pursue things, a desirable traits of a prospective candidate.

Hope it helps.

Kind regards,

Nathan

Hi! Höchstwahrscheinlich wird es keine rechtliche Konseqeunzen geben. Das ist ja nur ein Instrument für die Beratungen ein bisschen Druck aufzubauen. Aber am Besten einen Anwalt fragen, hol dir eine arbeitsrechtliche Beratung, wirst wahrscheinlich nur eine Stunde brauchen um das zu klären, wird nicht so viel kosten (EUR 150 oder so, es könnte sein dass die erste Beratung sogar kostenlos ist)

Hi,

You should hear back in a week max.

Best,

Deniz