Which consulting firms are still recruiting in Middle East

Question

Hi Community,

I wish to understand which consulting firms are still recruiting heavily in Middle East market - given the COVID crisis. If someone has an insider view, then that would be absolutely wonderful to understand.

Answer 1

Dear anonymous,

There is no company that is recruiting as much as before the COVID crisis. I know that BCG is still trying to move forward with the interviews, using video calls, and that is one of the most active (in Italy they have also started some personalised recruiting campaign for the quarantine period).
Anyway I would suggest to apply asap, the only risk is to be added to the pipeline. Waiting will not increase your chances to get an interview, since the effects of the COVID will last for at least some months and the pipeline of candidates will be huge after these months without interviews.

Best,
Luca

Answer 2

Hey A,

Over the past 6 weeks I helped several mentees to receive several from BCG, Bain, Strategy & (2 mentees) and RB in Dubai.

So here is the latest information I have:

All companies have slowe down the hiring efforts at the moment and moved the hiring to the online format - Skype interviews and phone calls.

BCG: still hiring, but the number of opened positions reduced significantly. March interviews got postponed to April-July
Strategy &: contniue hiring but with a reduced effort. Interviews postponed to May-June
Kearney: interviews still take place even with some delay
Roland Berger: currently assesses the situation. Promised to get back to the candidates by mid April with new dates for the interviews
Oliver Wymann - all interviews postponed until further notice
McKinsey - hiring freeze, current interviews postponed until the further notice
Bain - very slow hiring continues

My recommendation at this moment - speed up, utilize your network or network of others to get referred and secure your interview asap!

I am happy to help you with referrals and preparations to your online interviews.

Cheers,
André

Answer 3

Hi! 2 insights for Dubai from my coachees:

My BCG coachee for Dubai was successful in the first round and the second round had to happen ~2 weeks ago –> it got postponed until further notice (no date specified)
My McKinsey coachee for Dubai had to have an interview ~3 weeks ago –> also got postponed until further notice (no date specified)

The Middle East seems like one of the most conscious regions in terms of recruiting freeze –> other regions slowed down the recruiting, but it seems like the Middle East almost stopped it completely.

Best,

Daniel

Answer 4

Hello!

The only thing you can know for sure at this point is that all processes have been moved to VC, and this will continue to be like this for weeks.

This said, for recruiting, the landscape is changing daily.

Touching base with colleagues and coachees, there is not a hiring freeze for MBB in ME. However, interviews are being rescheduled and pushed back -not cancelled.

Do you alredy have an interview scheduled? Or are you trying to assess your posibilities of MBB in ME vs. other geographies that could be less affected?

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Answer 5

Hi,

I just had my 3rd interview with Kearney today. My process started in Feb and after my interview with the partner today I asked the question on recruitment and he mentioned that there will be some sort of delay either in the process or starting dates but is directly correlated with the response from the region on whether projects are merely paused or cancelled.

So far he mentioned projects are just on pause with some still carrying on with activity that can proceed without being on the ground. He didn't mention anything specific about my situation but I proactively mentioned that I wouldn't be able to start till Sept anyway.

Answer 6

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