Hi,
The answers for most of the questions would vary from office to office, practice to practice and by level of responsibiities. e.g. I know that the implementation and transformation practices are expectedly very busy and hiring new talent as well whereas S&M (sales and marketing), Strategy practices have slowed down. Managers and upwards, people are busy preparing proposals, manaing remote team-remore client situations which are difficult to handle.
Given the level at which you are entering, let me put my 2 cents basis a few conversations I have had with Associates and Analysts, some from North America offices and some from Europe offices.
- A lot of people have 'accepted' the fact that now a lot of projects will have to be executed without physically being at the site. Clients have also accepted that. Most of the consulting skills requirements will remain same or become tougher e.g. now Communication needs to be much clearer, crisper. Team work/team effectiveness needs to be taken to another height.
- Feedback metrics, appraisal metrics have not been changed yet, not sure if they would in near future
- For those who have been on client projects, the working hours have remained same or have increased, mostly due to communication inefficiencies - more time to agree intenally, client calendar issues, client busy handling firefights etc.
There was one article that spoke about how Mckinsey is handling this situation. It was published in April, a few things would have changed for better but it can give you few more pointers.
https://www.consultingpoint.com/news/2020/4/2/the-art-of-being-a-mckinsey-amp-co-consultant-during-lockdown
Hope this answer helps. Feel free to ping me in case of any clarification. I do take a session on 'how to be successful at MBB internships and convert them into the offer'. Happy to tell you more, in case you are interested.
Cheers,
GB
