Management Consulting Discussion

R.O. Thornhill · Feb 23, 2011

Originally Posted by merkur

Why do some partners at MBB leave? Isn't the money at equity partner level pretty good?

A lot of reasons:
1) You get asked to leave. At McKinsey you have 6-7 years to make Director from Partner, and if you don't make it you will be asked to leave. A pretty small percentage make it
2) A perfect opportunity comes along. As a partner you get plenty of very interesting job offers. Occasionally one is just too good to turn down
3) You want a change of lifestyle. Even as a partner you will be working long hours, and spending a lot of time on the road. Some people just get tired of this after ten years or so

A combination of 2) and 3) is probably the most common

yjeezle · Feb 23, 2011

for those that left the consulting industry:

when leaving for greener pastures, do companies discriminate (pass you by) if you're willing to take a pay-cut to work for them?

ie. you're making 150k as a consultant but you're willing to take 100k or even less when transferring industries (like a 8-5 at a manufacturing company)

Artisan Fan · Feb 24, 2011

Originally Posted by R.O. Thornhill

A lot of reasons:
1) You get asked to leave. At McKinsey you have 6-7 years to make Director from Partner, and if you don't make it you will be asked to leave. A pretty small percentage make it
2) A perfect opportunity comes along. As a partner you get plenty of very interesting job offers. Occasionally one is just too good to turn down
3) You want a change of lifestyle. Even as a partner you will be working long hours, and spending a lot of time on the road. Some people just get tired of this after ten years or so

A combination of 2) and 3) is probably the most common

This is right on the money.

Artisan Fan · Feb 24, 2011

Originally Posted by yjeezle

for those that left the consulting industry:

when leaving for greener pastures, do companies discriminate (pass you by) if you're willing to take a pay-cut to work for them?

ie. you're making 150k as a consultant but you're willing to take 100k or even less when transferring industries (like a 8-5 at a manufacturing company)

Sometimes it doesn't matter as they respect your background if they understand its value - most do, some do not.

Sometimes it does matter as they worry about you leaving prematurely for better pay.

Biggskip · Feb 24, 2011

Originally Posted by R.O. Thornhill

1) You get asked to leave. At McKinsey you have 6-7 years to make Director from Partner, and if you don't make it you will be asked to leave. A pretty small percentage make it

This seems very odd to me (not that I doubt you, though, I don't), but I thought the whole point of making partner is that now you are part of the ownership of the company.

Correct me if I am wrong, but at most other firms making partner is very hard and once you're in you're in for life (very similar to the NwO

). It seems like at McK partner is only just another title and rung in the ladder, rather than the end of a journey so to speak.

R.O. Thornhill · Feb 25, 2011

Originally Posted by Biggskip

This seems very odd to me (not that I doubt you, though, I don't), but I thought the whole point of making partner is that now you are part of the ownership of the company.

Correct me if I am wrong, but at most other firms making partner is very hard and once you're in you're in for life (very similar to the NwO

). It seems like at McK partner is only just another title and rung in the ladder, rather than the end of a journey so to speak.

First of all, making partner at McKinsey is not exactly easy - and as a partner you are in a very real sense an owner of the Firm (in that you have a buy-in, and hold an equity stake)

Neertheless, it is not the end of the journey: you continue to be reviewed (annually) and can still be asked to leave. This does not stop if you make Director - though evaluation is semi-annual, and it is fairly rare for Directors to be asked to leave

pwy95a · Feb 26, 2011

Originally Posted by Artisan Fan

In my experience they like Berkeley and UVA students a lot.

I went to U Missouri and work at McK. It's possible. Don't let your school be a roadblock.

AF, I'm in the ATL office. Was there as an Exp Hire BA from 07-09 and just returned post grad school. Great thread.

akatsuki · Feb 26, 2011

So I made third round - f'ed up my interview. Tried again, got canned on first round but told by my reviewer that I should really reapply again (as in, I rocked one case and fumbled the second).

Not sure if I am just hitting my head against a wall at this point... Is it worth trying again or do those prior failed attempts pretty much put me out of the running?

axlpendergast · Feb 27, 2011

about to graduate from b-school, been looking for corporate finance and decided to chance an interview from a pretty small (boutique if you want to be nice) firm for a strategy position. i ended up with an offer and probably will accept. any of you ex McK-ers have any advice in regards to what typical rookie mistakes MBAs make when they first jump into consulting?

Bhowie · Feb 27, 2011

Originally Posted by pwy95a

I went to U Missouri and work at McK. It's possible. Don't let your school be a roadblock.

AF, I'm in the ATL office. Was there as an Exp Hire BA from 07-09 and just returned post grad school. Great thread.

Have any advice for state schoolers?

Jbreen1 · Feb 27, 2011

I would love to get my MBA and get into consulting. Problem is, I went to a smaller/medium sized private college and graduated only with a 3.2. My degree is in business administration with a concentration in management but I doubt I'd ever be able to get into a better MBA program with my GPA. I'm working as an accountant/administrator for a growing start up. I want to get at least a couple years of working in before applying but we'll see. Not really a fan of accounting but it's a great experience so I'm toughing it out. I really enjoy strategic management, and that was by far my favorite class I took as an undergrad.

spacecowboy · Feb 27, 2011

Originally Posted by akatsuki

So I made third round - f'ed up my interview. Tried again, got canned on first round but told by my reviewer that I should really reapply again (as in, I rocked one case and fumbled the second).

Not sure if I am just hitting my head against a wall at this point... Is it worth trying again or do those prior failed attempts pretty much put me out of the running?

At least they encouraged you to reapply. I interviewed with McK last year and got dinged at the second round interview. One of the three interviews went bad as I can't understand the Russian(or some eastern european) accent of the interviewer. They didn't say whether I should reapply or not. But i heard Mck had this rule of not considering any reapplication within 18 months, is it really strict? How can I convince them to reinterview me this fall?

jbharris88 · Feb 27, 2011

Originally Posted by Jbreen1

I would love to get my MBA and get into consulting. Problem is, I went to a smaller/medium sized private college and graduated only with a 3.2. My degree is in business administration with a concentration in management but I doubt I'd ever be able to get into a better MBA program with my GPA. I'm working as an accountant/administrator for a growing start up. I want to get at least a couple years of working in before applying but we'll see. Not really a fan of accounting but it's a great experience so I'm toughing it out. I really enjoy strategic management, and that was by far my favorite class I took as an undergrad.

As long as you do well on the GMAT and write legitimate essays you can get into a strong MBA program. All of the big 3 consulting firms recruit from the top 14 programs and a 3.2 gpa is not going to keep you out. While some schools like Harvard or Stanford have ~10% acceptance rates and avg gpa's above 3.5, other schools like Michigan, Chicago, Duke, etc. have higher acceptance rates. MBA programs are the perfect path for career changers trying to break into consulting. Most of these schools send >20% of their students into consulting.

akatsuki · Feb 27, 2011

Originally Posted by spacecowboy

At least they encouraged you to reapply. I interviewed with McK last year and got dinged at the second round interview. One of the three interviews went bad as I can't understand the Russian(or some eastern european) accent of the interviewer. They didn't say whether I should reapply or not. But i heard Mck had this rule of not considering any reapplication within 18 months, is it really strict? How can I convince them to reinterview me this fall?

I am pretty sure I would do well in consulting, but the interview process is the big hurdle. The mix of depth and shallowness of case questions is pretty alien to me. I was told that the reason I get reviews that vary from brilliant to so-so is because I am too intuitive in my answers - but I really find it hard to be so non-integrative (or mutually exclusive as they say) in my answers - I tend to think about things as moving systems where addressing one issue shifts others. Also doing math quickly in my head is easy, but I've been trained out of it by my prior careers which emphasized always writing it down because mistakes were lethal.

As for reapplying, I waited about two years, since I had another venture going in the middle.

Jbreen1 · Feb 27, 2011

Originally Posted by jbharris88

As long as you do well on the GMAT and write legitimate essays you can get into a strong MBA program. All of the big 3 consulting firms recruit from the top 14 programs and a 3.2 gpa is not going to keep you out. While some schools like Harvard or Stanford have ~10% acceptance rates and avg gpa's above 3.5, other schools like Michigan, Chicago, Duke, etc. have higher acceptance rates. MBA programs are the perfect path for career changers trying to break into consulting. Most of these schools send >20% of their students into consulting.

Cool thanks. I wouldn't even attempt anything like Harvard or Stanford. I am however heavily looking into Cornell. I know the town quite well and lived there for 4 years. Great place to be and that would be my ideal place to go. I'm planning on studying for the GMAT's shortly and I'm going to do everything possible to get a good grade on them.

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