McK are primarily salespeople and not consultants. Their employer branding is awesome. But to be successful there, you have to be a sales genius. First you have to sell yourself internally and later sell projects to customers. Selling is much more important than expertise; expertise is needed in the real economy.
Sales= is the real economy That is creating business. And keeping clients is what a corporation is all about. If you can’t sell then you need to work back office or with production. Not with clients
But why work for McK? You are so young, so much life and life energy within you? Use it your benefit!! I worked for very large Companies as well. Yes, the money was good, but I was happy to turn the page, and I am now branching on my own with a Classmate I met in Grad. School. The Corporate Farm is made for some. Not for all. And thank God for that!!
As someone with experience in a large consulting firm, I can say with some confidence that if they had enough projects to keep you busy, they wouldn’t have let you go. It seems they used the probation period as a convenient way to cut costs during a downturn in clients needing McKinsey’s services. The system is designed to protect the firm’s interests and shift blame onto individuals, which is why feedback from performance reviews in these situations is rarely constructive or helpful. I’m really sorry this happened to you, but kudos to you for asking for feedback right away! You’re absolutely right that this doesn’t reflect negatively on you at all, and you’re definitely better off not working there 👏
(Notwithstanding the narrative that such performance reviews occur at the end of an individual's probationary period), she probably should have asked how many other people were being let go that week/month. And firmly brushed back any "privacy" obfuscation with "I didn't ask you for names; I asked you for a number".
"It seems they used the probation period as a convenient way to cut costs " Probably not. She said she spent a large amount of her time there "on the beach" which means she wasn't generating any revenue.
Damn Straight! I found this in almost every job I worked as a Sales Engineer: you were expected to spend 75% of your time in the Office Schmoozing. If you got caught spending too much time ACTUALLY DOING YOUR JOB in the field Seeing Customers, you'd be Fired for 'Not Meeting KPI's
I'm a consultant and "consulting" should be the actual job. I.e. doing what you're supposed to be good enough at to have valuable input to your client. Generally, technical people tend to be more on the _nerd_ side of things and are not very good at selling themselves. It's ridiculous and a total waste of time that's not spent doing technical things. Best case; you're good at it. Then you're still competing with your colleagues instead of generating actual value for the company and whatever project you find might otherwise just have gone to another employee. Unless of course your company's business model is selling the business equivalent of snake oil. I don't have to find my own clients. We have sales people for that who are specialized in it.
Failure to adapt to company culture can absolutely get you fired. Pay attention to how others react to hard work, don’t just blindly work hard if it’s not recognized by the company. I have researched getting an MBA, and after reading forums from MBA students and consultants, it seems 100% about networking and being liked, not about hardcore work performance. So yeah, just working heads down everyday and not building a network will definitely get you fired. I’m not really convinced the mba is worth 200k, at least at Emory, just to make friends and be liked.
@@wardibald I was fortunate enough to have worked commission sales to pay my own way through college which meant that I am one of the few geeks that can truly interact well with others. I also was on the bleeding edge of technology for the past 30 years and part of my " value" to clients was my ability to call BS on both the sales force as well as the engineers. This helped me point out where proposed engineering would take FAR LONGER than the engineering team was promising and also when the sales teams demanded feats of technical impossibility.
Not consultancy , but had a very similar experience: hired in one call, one day of boarding, bunch of severely derailed projects to clean up, 4 months of extreme stress, partial bench, empty pipeline, fired on 1st anniversary. - Never again.
having worked for consulting companies and going through all of this (laid off because no work) I realize, its a joke. You don't want to do that. No one should do that. These consulting companies, they need to go out of business. Immediately. Like all of them. They underpay for their employees and let the go the minute the work dries up. If you are going to do that, just work as a temp for cash. What difference does it make? Make more cash.
Same here. You're usually hired because they need a sucker who will clean up the mess of your predecessor and dispose of you as soon as it's cost effective. Glad I can afford not to do it anymore.
In my opinion they let you go because hirering you for them didnt pay off. They are like a shop where you can pick people and apparently for them it was a mistake thinking that their clients need a battery enigneer. So they pulled the plug to minimize their losses on you. Its actually a case of its not you, its them. Dont feel bad about it, be glad you are out and enjoy life again! :)
Sounds like a horrible company to work for. They hire you, and then expect you to go sell yourself to project teams, perpetually trying to stay employed by repeatedly getting hired over and over to various projects. That's awful.
You impress me as an hourly employee destined for poverty. She wanted to play in a man's world. Now she has no kids and debt. THAT sounds more horrible to me than the company. Another pretty girl who threw away her life pretending to be a man.
I have to say, it really doesn’t sound like they have a very good system for cultivating and retaining talent. Then again, this is the same firm that recommended Purdue Pharma “turbocharge” their opioid sales.
@@StefanTaf It only scratches the surface of how corrupt this company is. They also are heavily involved in providing logging companies and the fossil fuel industry with fake expertise on climate change. There's a book called The Big Con which goes through a lot of the fraudulent work done by McKinsey.
McKinsey and the other MBBs is a high potential place, where only sharks survive. Yes you got no projects, but they expect you to be on projects anyways,.. is this possible? The brutal answer is: they do not care, what they care is: are you performing above average and are you on projects,... how to do that is on you. Take McK on your resume as a plus point and move on in life.
No it is not about Shark, it is just business. No shark can control whether the Economics is going down and companies have no money to throw out of the window
I worked with McK for 3 months, as an embed while they were working with my employer. It taught me a lot but most of all how I don’t want to work for a consulting company or in a culture like that. Very long days, drinking, working and producing the shiniest 💩 you’ve ever seen.
Went through a very similar experience many years ago as a consultant, similar reactions. It took me a while to appreciate what I understand now: performance appraisals are never about your "performance" in the first place. You were judged against criteria for navigating a maze management designed. The failure wasn't yours: it was /theirs/.
Ist mir auch mal passiert, Einstieg bei der Beratung, allerdings auf Management Level, kurz vor Ende der Probezeit wurde der Vertrag aufgrund interner Machtkämpfe aufgelöst. Mir hat es sehr geholfen, dass ich dann zu einem Ihrer Kunden gewechselt bin und da das erste Jahr daran gearbeitet habe meinen Ex Arbeitgeber vor die Türe zu setzen und sie erfolgreich die letzten 5 Jahre draußen gehalten habe. Kostet sie jedes Jahr einen 7 stelligen Umsatz pro Jahr und ich freue mich immer wieder ihre Angebote abzulehnen.
To succeed at McKinsey you have to be an expert watch borrower and bullshit merchant. You probably failed because you actually solved real problems rather than creating a need for more consulting. You need to sell “packs” not solutions. I would take it as a major affirmation to be fired by these vultures.
This isn't news-it's always been like this. I've spent many years working as a consultant, including time at the world's largest consulting firm. When the sales team failed to secure projects, it was common for team managers to either pressure you into leaving voluntarily or engineer a poor peer review to justify a layoff. At the end of the day, life isn’t fair, and business operates the same way. Treat work for what it is-just business, no emotions.
@@bbsara0146 In Europe, it’s hard to fire employees because of strict labor laws. Companies have only a few valid reasons to let someone go without paying compensation. Poor performance can be a reason, but it’s hard to prove in court. Because of this, employers sometimes try to make the workplace unpleasant, and one way to do this is by focusing on the employee’s poor performance to make them feel unwelcome, hoping they’ll leave on their own.
@@bbsara0146 because that would be admitting the sales guns weren't sales guns and in many places would also be illegal or at least cost a lot more - most of the world does not have "at will" employment. Redundancy - position no longer required - is usually far more expensive than employee screwed up.
Like many other consulting firms, McKinsey neglects the well-being of its employees, who often work tirelessly and bear significant economic risks. Many managers engage in unethical behavior, deceiving their employees and prioritizing their own interests. It's troubling to see that employees often bear the burden of financing high bonuses for top management, who readily implement layoffs during economic downturns without considering the harmful health and psychological effects on their employees.
Hi Anna, I went through similar experience several years ago. You will be ok. I took it as a learning experience and build a successful career elsewhere. Only specific type of people may thrive with lack of sleep, constant socialising, and hours spent on aligning boxes. Fingers crossed for your next ventures! You will be ok.
Bullshit Jobs for a Bullshit Economy... what to expect. I am actually sorry for so many poor souls that have to or choose to work in such organizations. What a soul crushing experience...
It is ironically a success to be fired from McKinsey, most of those who want to join McKinsey will never work there. McKinsey will forever be one of the qualifications on your CV. The No. 1 student in my year also had a tough defeat to deal with when he was fired after only 9 months. He was fired of the position of a CEO by the owner and billionaire .... and now he has an equivalent position and sucess again. The experience you gained will be very valuable and you will make your way. I wish you all the best for your future projects.
I did consulting for a few years --and will never do it again. The bottom line is that I am too honest to be a consultant. Those companies operate on generating hourly revenue regardless of the need to the customer.
Its not always what you know, its also who you know. I've worked in listed national and multinational companies, federal and state government as well as small private organisations, including my own small consultancy. In every one of them you have to grind to get anywhere AND attach yourself to a raising star mentor who assits with your promotions. All businesses rely on winning and delivering projects and getting paid for those projects, you can't just sit around and expect to be paid, let alone get promoted. There are three major stages / levels in a career. 1. Becoming a subject matter expert, 2. Managing a team of subject matter experts, 3. Communicationing to others the need to buy into your projects using either hard cash or the expenditure of appropriated budgets. At all levels you need to explain your successes and challenges and failures. All three of these outcomes adds to your experience and allows you to grow in experience as an employee / manager / business owner. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep going.
Perfect answer. Made me think about myself and gives me reason to work a lot more on stage 2. I'm still too focused on pure engineering tasks and not paying enough attention to team building.
In your whole saga did it ever occur to you that you are working for an evil company? Because if it didn't, if you are really so morally blind to the effect of forms like McKinsey on people's lives, then they made a mistake because you belong with the ghouls.
I don't know, Anna. Since "the first time I met you", I've always thought that you were "too good for this", I mean, too good for the technicalities of engineering (not even to mention consultancy), etc. You've been so humble enough like to start this channel, talk about sensible topics most people don't want to talk about or just hide, so tender enough, so noble enough, that I'm not surprised that you didn't fit there, nor they deserved to have you with them. And I'm glad for who you are: a great person and woman.
Thank you for sharing. I feel it’s so important for all of us to get informed about failure, how we react, and to move forward. I went through similar stages, but the process was protracted and more painful. Through luck, perseverance and time, I’m in a much better place now. Wishing you all the best and thanks again!
They hired you without knowing whether they will have enough projects or not, so sorry this happened to you. You are an amazing communicator with an engineering background, your future is bright, it’s hard right now but you will get through this.
Not only a horrific experience but also traumic, which no young, ambitious person should be subjected to. Her experience at McKinsey was dehumanizing there is something deeply immoral about the way she was treated.
Consulting firms are bullshitters. If you like the pharma industry, apply to those firms. Working on your own firm’s assets is, IMHO, much more satisfying than various short-term projects
Many congratulations on having the strength of character to put up this video and explain why you were let go. This is in fact a sign of great strength and a testament to your character. Clearly the people at that firm didn’t realise what an excellent employee they had and if they’d bothered to invest further in you, I’m sure that you would’ve delivered excellent results over time. After all, Rome it wasn’t built in a day. You are very intelligent, a good communicator and a hard worker there can be no doubt whatsoever that you will find the appropriate niche and go to great success.
I worked as a consultant before in a different firm. The key was not working more but selling more-bringing projects to the firm. Additionally, I got to keep a 5% founder's fee for any project I brought to the firm. That was many years ago, though. Consulting has changed a lot since then; now, I see consulting firms securing government contracts. There's no more pain or suffering in the process. During my time there, I also gained many clients through the company-clients who later wanted to work with me independently, outside the firm. With that kind of network, it’s entirely possible to start your own consulting firm and take clients with you.
Anna, I rejected an offer to work for McKinsey in 2011... they were stunned... as in how dare I refuse them... but here's the deal for you - the fact that McKinsey hired you in the first place implies that you're in the top 1% or so of your industry - so, Congratulations!!! The other good thing is that you've seen the belly of the beast from the inside... and like all bellies of all beats, it ain't pretty... but, you've seen it - you may not realise it now, but this experience in itself is going to be worth its weight in gold for you professionally - very soon!! And, finally, like all Harvard dropouts who may be dropouts but are elite dropouts nonetheless - so are you - an elite McKinsey dropout - kudos to you young lady!! God bless you for the future!
Thank you for this video. I agree with others who posted comments. You seem way to nice and human for a company like McK. Having working with them and knowing a lot of friends who had McK at their company I can say..."it's a big marketing and sales company", most of the young(er) consultants don't know anything about the industry/markets they do their consulting at. So basically: Be happy you "left" and can do some real and effective work, not just reselling (old) ideas from one client to another!
Thanks for sharing your story. In the past, I worked for a boutique consultancy and we did some projects for large organisations (banks, hedge funds, ETF funds, consultancies like Deloitte) and I observed people working in those places. I think such jobs are good for people who compartmentalize their emotions. Initially, I thought that working in some companies/firms would be a dream job, but after some experience I realised it would never be a good fit.
I'm sure with your experience in battery technology will pay off. Stay strong and I'm sure you'll bounce back. As someone with an engineering background who moved into marketing, a low key approach that engineers have can end up being a deterrent to climbing the corporate ladder. However, this is only within bad organizations that put more emphasis on salesmanship rather than merit. In good organizations what you know will be rewarded, keep looking!
As an introvert listening to your story, this could very well have been me. I certainly couldn’t thrive in an environment that relies on networking in order to survive.
I have been a consultant for 15 years (no longer, I left that god awful position as consultant. Much happier working for a product company), and this is bullshit. You essentially have been fixed because they are bad managers, it it the manager's job to ensure that everybody within a firm is billable, not the employee's responsibility. Where have they learn to manage a company? McKinsey sounds like a bunch of amateurs who have failed upwards.
Well, the thing is you get to decide whether being fired says something negative about you. They give you the reasons and you think: are those reasons that I accept? Are those parameters that I want to be measured by? And if the answer is no then screw it.
That's a sad story, particularly from an empathy perspective. It's unfortunate when colleagues are separated after the probation period, but I think it's reasonable for the company to do so if they've provided a fair chance and sufficient support. Unfortunately, it seems this wasn't the case here. The system of delivering bad news through people you've never met is beneath any respectable company's standards. To be honest, McKinsey has a reputation that precedes them, and I'm not surprised by your story.
That’s such a tough and stressful job to be constantly having to convince people to take you on for a project and building a network. Not everyone is cut out for it, I know I’m not lol
Why don't they just be honest and say we don't have enough work for you. You have to be smart to get into a firm like that. If they had to let you go than perhaps they failed to train you properly or they just didn't have enough work.
Well.. you got paid for 6 whole months and didn't have to do a whole of work in that period. It's not bad. Some years ago I took a job at a car dealership because I wanted to get some sales experience. I was there for two months and didn't sell a single car. I talked to literally 3 customers that entire time. Of course they let me go - but I got $2k out of it and it wasn't bad. I was still heavily interviewing for IT work and could make all the calls I needed during those two months.
Being an introvert is absolutely a disqualifier to being a management consultant. The entire job is networking and relationship building, you can be completely incompetent and succeed if you know how to socialize and people like keeping you around.
It sounds like they didn't have enough projects, and looked for someone to fire Be glad: high workload, obligated socializing, work in the weekend ... sounds like a terrible job
When you're young you want to be at the top of the food chain mainly in order to impress your peers. A few decades later you realise that it's all smoke and mirrors and not worth the price. You can be quite happy being a cashier as long as you're healthy and are able to pay the bills. Just move on and regard your time at McKinsey as a welcome experience.
It's hillarious when overacheivers lose not because they weren't able and willing and skilled, but just that they didn't like your style, and watching them not handling it well
Thank you for these open words. After all Consulting is all about billing and McK is responsible to make this happen not you. Only after 5 years a Consultant could be expected to feed himself. Stand tall and shame on McK
When a company downsizes staff, it's your imperative to make them realize that they also failed you. I have had it happen twice and flipped it back on my boss that they didn't provide enough work for me and should have not hired me (four years earlier) if they weren't going to utilize my skills better. I had been searching for another job already and was able to get a new job within a week.
These companies are so cold and methodical. There is no sympathy or sensitivity. They just want constant performance. Do yourself a favor. Tighten your belt, live below your means and work for people who are human and care about humans and let these corporations and executives cannabalize themselves
This sounds to me as if you should start building a career as independent consultant. Given that - as you mention - the battery industry is a growth area, there might be opportunities there. If I go by your explanation McKinsey doesn't really seem to offer anything (apart from its famous name) that an independent consultant couldn't offer better, much cheaper and faster. You are very young so you could grow with the industry.
I know this might feel like a setback, but please don’t take it personally. The world of Big 5 consulting is often more about self-marketing than it is about genuine work or personal growth. It’s a machine designed to push individuals to their limits, often at the cost of their mental wellbeing. I go so far as to saying you are selling your soul - at least to a considerable extend. You’re lucky to see this side of it now, rather than years down the line. Take this as a sign to reassess your path: Is the Big 5 experience really the right fit for you? Maybe consider exploring opportunities with a smaller, more personal boutique consulting firm, where your skills and value will be recognized in a more balanced and supportive environment. There’s much more to a fulfilling career than being part of the machine. You’ve got this!
so let me get this straight. you have to find your own projects and then work on the projects that you found for yourself? so what do you need McKinsey for?
As an introvert engineer, consulter, product manager and top manager I can totally feel you. After 20 years through all the lows and highs of constantly working your ass off for others I can say: this life is taking a huge toll on your health and personal relationships. Especially we introverts get killed slowly. Focusing on the good live now with family and friends instead seems to be a way better aproach for me now. Sure, we have less money but our life is so much better, more friendly, welcomming, honest, good paced then it was when I was chasing those trophies of "a carrier". All the best to you and enjoy life!
I think you are starting to undestand how this big consulting firms operate for decades. The main reason they hire you was to remove you from the market. So clients can not find you and need to depend of this consulting companies. This is why there are tons consultants in benchs with no projects.
I’m sorry this happened ! But now you have McKinsey on your cv - the Probation period doesn’t need to give reasons…. The battery industry is in high demand, and is apply for Porsche, Tesla, and others , sustainable firms and others. If you need help I’m happy to help
About 20 of us were let go because we were only hired for one lawsuit, which settled. Even though I was laid off, not even fired, it was traumatic and I cried, too. So don’t feel shame for an honest, emotional reaction.
Young woman: Be glad that you no longer work for this company...I don't understand why you do this to yourself anyway. And my personal impression: you are far too nice and not arrogant enough for this kind of employer.
I have a friend who works at mckinsey. Unfortunately in the business world it's all about reading between the lines. Apparently even if they say "you don't need to be this or that right away..." , theyre still scrutinizing you and watching you. If a "casual" coffee chat interview is informal, it is not casual and it is formal and can decide to reject you. They are always watching and taking notes.
In professional companies as a professional, don't expect high levels of support, no matter what they say, it's in fact unusual for that to happen. They want to see a LOT of initiative, pushing very hard for projects, or some activity etc, I'm aware of how McKinsey operates. It's not a reflection on you, but on how they do business. The "on the beach" thing is a test in my mind.. to see what you will do, kick back, or grind hard and use your time effectively, maybe even innovate a process in the business. What they won't like to see, is people taking that time for a breather or to relax.
Emerson's law reigns supreme to this day, despite the trendy suggestion to "quiet quit"... overdeliver and the Forces that be will compensate... sooner or later... even if one feels underappreciated, the Universe compensates those who serve
Consulting companies are marketing companies. Ideas are their products. Most Ideas have no permanent value. So, Selling is more important than doing work. I work for a management consulting firm and learned it. Just imagine how idiots the clients are who need ideas from a McKinsey junior consultant. The senior management at the clients can't even think for themselves
It’s not that senior management can’t think for themselves. Usually they already know the answers without having to go to any consultancy unless they have an inbred management structure full of group-think and fawning sycophants. The reason that they hire the Big 3 consultancies is so they have a fall guy for anything that goes wrong. Plausible deniability is an asset for highly paid C-level execs. After all if McKinsey or BCG recommends an action, it has to be smart, right? Because they are the smartest of the smart, or so the conventional wisdom goes. Also, good for liability protection in shareholder lawsuits and proxy fights if an independent third party endorses management decisions. In fact, acting as the potential fall guy is one reason why these firms can demand such high fees.
Anna, every experience is also a good experience! McKinsey is part of your CV and no one can take that from you. Turn this experience to your advantage. You got this!
Last year, I was working full time, budgeting groceries, unable to afford date nights, and missing time with my kids. Now I learned how to make money online. Now am a SAHM, homeschooling, and making profits every week.
I was let go by a different strategy firm within the first year. The reality is that when a services firm isn't selling enough client projects, they continue to PAY YOU while you're not generating any revenue. It's unsustainable. At the same time, high-profile firms like McK rely on "counseled out" employees not going public, as in this video - hurts their brand even more than their work for Purdue Pharma, Gupta brothers, Swissair, etc.
I am myself a consultant, and have seen lot of my colleagues get fired in these downtimes. Personnally I had to go into an interview competing with a colleague I knew well and it sucked. It is brutal nowadays, and you need to fight, be highly visible right now. However I think it is better to say we cant keep you any longer. But they dont want the word come out that they are struggling. At the end of the day it is always a business decision, dont let it break you❤ you are more then a job 😊 every time I am banched I actively look for work and let my boss know I do not want to be benched longer then 2 months. I can find other jobs by myself, so if they cant, why would I work for them?!?
I'm sorry that happened to you but honestly I've worked with many consultants from the big firms over the years and unless you are willing to eat/sleep/and repeat a WORK & BUSINESS TRAVEL ONLY lifestyle, it's just not a good fit. I, like you, feel a strong sense of self-worth from academic achievements but NEVER associate self-worth with a JOB. It's a recipe for disappointment because there is NO LOYALTY in the workplace. If the numbers at finance are weak, guess what? All those folks 'on the beach' who are not directly bringing revenue in are the first to be sacrificed. Then it's everyone else except for a very small few who keep the lights on. Thanks for sharing your story. I enjoyed your video and think it will help many people who need to hear your story. All the best in your next adventure!
You learned the most valuable lesson about working, which is networking. You can be the smartest person on the team but fail to connect with the other you will not make it. I mentor young engineers and that’s the 1st thing we get into as most of them are focused on more school. They are smart enough but know no one and their career stalls. Really, I should say NO ONE KNOWS THEM!
At first, thank you that you are so honest to tell what happened. The courage to tell all that in public means a lot. I had a lot of experience with this business from both sides of the aisle. It always was a tough business even 30 years ago. Working as a consultant means, you are 24/7. I had times, wasn't at home for weeks. And learning was always in my so called "private time" it was expected. You can gain knowledges and experiences in this business you never get anywhere else. But I saw, this is not for a lifetime. After a few years you should find a job in a normal company. You have all the possibility to build up connections. If you are looking for work/life balance, this is absolutely the wrong way to look for it. But there is nothing wrong about you. If you fit not in with the system you must find another way. I think you are on the right track now. And with your education as an engineer it shouldn't be to difficult to find another job. Good luck and all the best from an old white man.
Sounds to me like there are lots of retired or former military in leadership positions at McKinsey because the review process you described is very much like how performance reviews are handled in the military. In most civilian companies, a performance review is written with the evaluated person primarily as the intended audience. In the military, the performance review is written with others as the intended audience, specifically individuals who will sit on a selection board for your next career milestone, whether that is a promotion in rank or a new position within your chosen occupation specialty. A review board is convened annually and officers who most likely do not know you personally will brief your record and hundreds of others to the board and the board will vote on whether to select or not . There is an art to writing those evaluations since it must convey to people who don’t know you whether you are ready for the next step. A poorly written evaluation can doom an otherwise worthy candidate just as easily as a well crafted evaluation can improve the chances of an otherwise borderline candidate. For instance a seemingly benign phase such as, “Making excellent progress toward exceeding expectations of someone so junior,” is a gunshot to the head since it literally says you are not exceeding expectations. The person briefing your body of work, which gets larger as you become more senior, has only a few seconds to summarize your readiness (as written by someone they might not know either) and then the board votes and moves on. Failure to select is tantamount to a “firing” since there is no where for the unselected to go. “Up or out” is not just a catch phrase but it is how the military narrows the pyramid to the top ranks.
Dave Ramsey says, "To be unclear is to be unkind." To only give feedback that you're not busy enough at the six month mark and not: 1) tell them, and 2) not help them is unkind, unprofessional, and lazy, actually. Not everyone in the consulting world will treat you this badly, but those people exist and your video was great for helping us digest the experience and learn from what happened. Keep on keepin' on, Anna! You have a lot to offer the world!
You are a widget in a company like this. They don't care about your career or you. You sound very bright, so I think you would be an asset to any company. Good 🤞🏻.
Welcome to consulting; Billable hours and sales - most of that of yourself is king. They don't need any reason to fire you, so hopefully you don't take it too personally now. (I tied my self worth to my achievement too - to my detriment)
I think you got fired because you lacked a crucial skill called "kissing a**". Some people call it a very important add on skill to networking. Your mistake was you did your work diligently instead of praising your collegues.
Mind that when being on the beach, you have to commercialise yourself. Mind when they say you are not forced yet to get a project! It's WRONG, it's a lie. From your first day, you have to chase for project. That's not only valid for big ones, that's true for any cy in that field.
The consulting business is in for a rude awakening once AI starts to really drive business optimization. Their entire model is in danger of being consumed and they know it
I work for a B4 consultancy firm. They're all the same. It's 50% networking and getting the right people to like you, 30% utilization (not being on the beach), and 20% work quality.
Good storytelling on this. Thanks for sharing, getting laid off is always a rollercoaster of emotions. Sounds like you probably escaped a bad situation before it got worse.
Asking a lot of question during a meeting where you are being fired doesnt seem to be a good advice. You will never know if what they say is right or wrong. They have reasons. Those might or might not be connected to your actual performance. There is nothing to be gained here. Take your resignation letter home and see if there is anything worth fighting for and take a lawyer or just look for a new job. Even if they tell you something truthworthy then what? How would you know if that can be useful for your next job? In such situation being professional means to be still polite, and accept their decission, and simply don't talk much.
Not your fault; management consulting business this year was tough, reportedly because their potential clients were investing into AI (cheaper cost for the same depth of insight, apparently). But whatever the reason for slowdown is, McK principals failed to bring the business. They should hire BCG for help 🤷♂️
Here in the UK, the few ex McKinsey people I have spoken with have told me of the insane hours, they were working. They couldn't maintain relationships and broke up. Having seen behind the scenes in a few organisations, too often there are toxic people, and/or an huge imbalances.
Years ago when I used to do consulting, I was scared to spend any time on the bench/beach without knowing I already had a new client. Fortunately for me, it was just one day on the bench before I was shipped back out to clients. I heard of people spending weeks on the bench but I knew if times get bad, the bench would be cleared so I didn't want to stay on it.
If I was going into “consulting”, I would get BA in Accounting with CPA, JD/LLM with speciality in Tax Law, etc. Get some experience with government, etc. The pm work for myself. No way I would work for some bucket shop like McKinsey. Find some way to work for myself. Plumber? Even if making less!
McK are primarily salespeople and not consultants. Their employer branding is awesome. But to be successful there, you have to be a sales genius. First you have to sell yourself internally and later sell projects to customers. Selling is much more important than expertise; expertise is needed in the real economy.
Sales= is the real economy
That is creating business. And keeping clients is what a corporation is all about.
If you can’t sell then you need to work back office or with production. Not with clients
@@Ikaros23 well, but at some point something needs to be delivered.....
They’re a consultancy company that employs a lot of engineers.
The real economy or the fake economy?
But why work for McK? You are so young, so much life and life energy within you? Use it your benefit!! I worked for very large Companies as well. Yes, the money was good, but I was happy to turn the page, and I am now branching on my own with a Classmate I met in Grad. School. The Corporate Farm is made for some. Not for all. And thank God for that!!
As someone with experience in a large consulting firm, I can say with some confidence that if they had enough projects to keep you busy, they wouldn’t have let you go. It seems they used the probation period as a convenient way to cut costs during a downturn in clients needing McKinsey’s services. The system is designed to protect the firm’s interests and shift blame onto individuals, which is why feedback from performance reviews in these situations is rarely constructive or helpful.
I’m really sorry this happened to you, but kudos to you for asking for feedback right away! You’re absolutely right that this doesn’t reflect negatively on you at all, and you’re definitely better off not working there 👏
‘Churn and burn’ is the phrase. I heard used when I was consulting.
(Notwithstanding the narrative that such performance reviews occur at the end of an individual's probationary period), she probably should have asked how many other people were being let go that week/month. And firmly brushed back any "privacy" obfuscation with "I didn't ask you for names; I asked you for a number".
I guess you haven't lived the "up or out" policy... Yet...
It is a business decision for sure.
"It seems they used the probation period as a convenient way to cut costs "
Probably not. She said she spent a large amount of her time there "on the beach" which means she wasn't generating any revenue.
McKinsey discovered she was doing actual work instead of consulting, and she had to be let go.
Damn Straight! I found this in almost every job I worked as a Sales Engineer: you were expected to spend 75% of your time in the Office Schmoozing. If you got caught spending too much time ACTUALLY DOING YOUR JOB in the field Seeing Customers, you'd be Fired for 'Not Meeting KPI's
😂😂
I'm a consultant and "consulting" should be the actual job. I.e. doing what you're supposed to be good enough at to have valuable input to your client.
Generally, technical people tend to be more on the _nerd_ side of things and are not very good at selling themselves. It's ridiculous and a total waste of time that's not spent doing technical things.
Best case; you're good at it. Then you're still competing with your colleagues instead of generating actual value for the company and whatever project you find might otherwise just have gone to another employee. Unless of course your company's business model is selling the business equivalent of snake oil.
I don't have to find my own clients. We have sales people for that who are specialized in it.
Failure to adapt to company culture can absolutely get you fired. Pay attention to how others react to hard work, don’t just blindly work hard if it’s not recognized by the company.
I have researched getting an MBA, and after reading forums from MBA students and consultants, it seems 100% about networking and being liked, not about hardcore work performance. So yeah, just working heads down everyday and not building a network will definitely get you fired.
I’m not really convinced the mba is worth 200k, at least at Emory, just to make friends and be liked.
@@wardibald I was fortunate enough to have worked commission sales to pay my own way through college which meant that I am one of the few geeks that can truly interact well with others. I also was on the bleeding edge of technology for the past 30 years and part of my "
value" to clients was my ability to call BS on both the sales force as well as the engineers. This helped me point out where proposed engineering would take FAR LONGER than the engineering team was promising and also when the sales teams demanded feats of technical impossibility.
I just got the same treatment at EY, you really helped me get through a piece of the trauma
You’re best out of it.
It's just a job, people should stop traumatizing themselves over faceless corporations run by accountants.
Trauma. I'm glad you weren't fighting in world war ii.
@@VenturiLifeI’m glad you’d be willing to cover mortgage and food payment for me. Cheers
@@VenturiLife No these are slaves bad jobs. But people need to make money. Better to find a job elsewhere. I also got rejected by them.
Not consultancy , but had a very similar experience: hired in one call, one day of boarding, bunch of severely derailed projects to clean up, 4 months of extreme stress, partial bench, empty pipeline, fired on 1st anniversary. - Never again.
Engineer's should be trained by Cost Accountants to fulfill their employment opportunities and Two Files Radio Band Licence can give work to everyone
having worked for consulting companies and going through all of this (laid off because no work) I realize, its a joke. You don't want to do that. No one should do that. These consulting companies, they need to go out of business. Immediately. Like all of them. They underpay for their employees and let the go the minute the work dries up. If you are going to do that, just work as a temp for cash. What difference does it make? Make more cash.
Same here. You're usually hired because they need a sucker who will clean up the mess of your predecessor and dispose of you as soon as it's cost effective. Glad I can afford not to do it anymore.
Absolutely. - They spend most energy justifying their existence than doing any usefull work.
In my opinion they let you go because hirering you for them didnt pay off. They are like a shop where you can pick people and apparently for them it was a mistake thinking that their clients need a battery enigneer. So they pulled the plug to minimize their losses on you. Its actually a case of its not you, its them. Dont feel bad about it, be glad you are out and enjoy life again! :)
Being on the beach at McKinsey is not good..if you are on the beach too long..the door is open for your exit
Sounds like a horrible company to work for. They hire you, and then expect you to go sell yourself to project teams, perpetually trying to stay employed by repeatedly getting hired over and over to various projects. That's awful.
You impress me as an hourly employee destined for poverty. She wanted to play in a man's world. Now she has no kids and debt. THAT sounds more horrible to me than the company. Another pretty girl who threw away her life pretending to be a man.
I am amazed on you being so open to share both your sucesses and hardships Anna. You are gonna do well in your future projects, I'm pretty sure.
Thank you so much!
Where is your husband?
I have to say, it really doesn’t sound like they have a very good system for cultivating and retaining talent. Then again, this is the same firm that recommended Purdue Pharma “turbocharge” their opioid sales.
Didn't know about their purdue recommendation, wow
The same company whose former director for pharma consulting together with a few more alumni destroyed Bausch and Lomb (Valeant)
They also like to advise dictators on how to find dissidents. McKinsey, BCG and Bain have so much blood on their hands. Evil, evil organisations
@@StefanTaf It only scratches the surface of how corrupt this company is. They also are heavily involved in providing logging companies and the fossil fuel industry with fake expertise on climate change. There's a book called The Big Con which goes through a lot of the fraudulent work done by McKinsey.
McKinsey and the other MBBs is a high potential place, where only sharks survive. Yes you got no projects, but they expect you to be on projects anyways,.. is this possible? The brutal answer is: they do not care, what they care is: are you performing above average and are you on projects,... how to do that is on you. Take McK on your resume as a plus point and move on in life.
I love the metaphor of sharks. Cant agree more.
market is cruel. You either gets better, survive or you die. No matter what industry you are in, it is called invisible hand
No it is not about Shark, it is just business. No shark can control whether the Economics is going down and companies have no money to throw out of the window
6 months at McKinsey is not a plus on her resume. I would bury it.
@@chijen2010 agreed.
I worked with McK for 3 months, as an embed while they were working with my employer. It taught me a lot but most of all how I don’t want to work for a consulting company or in a culture like that. Very long days, drinking, working and producing the shiniest 💩 you’ve ever seen.
Went through a very similar experience many years ago as a consultant, similar reactions. It took me a while to appreciate what I understand now: performance appraisals are never about your "performance" in the first place. You were judged against criteria for navigating a maze management designed. The failure wasn't yours: it was /theirs/.
After the OxyContin scandal I would never hire anyone from McKinsey.
I worked with a guy from MacKinsey once. Useless, incompetant, a bully, absolutely clueless. He was fired.
Ist mir auch mal passiert, Einstieg bei der Beratung, allerdings auf Management Level, kurz vor Ende der Probezeit wurde der Vertrag aufgrund interner Machtkämpfe aufgelöst.
Mir hat es sehr geholfen, dass ich dann zu einem Ihrer Kunden gewechselt bin und da das erste Jahr daran gearbeitet habe meinen Ex Arbeitgeber vor die Türe zu setzen und sie erfolgreich die letzten 5 Jahre draußen gehalten habe. Kostet sie jedes Jahr einen 7 stelligen Umsatz pro Jahr und ich freue mich immer wieder ihre Angebote abzulehnen.
To succeed at McKinsey you have to be an expert watch borrower and bullshit merchant. You probably failed because you actually solved real problems rather than creating a need for more consulting. You need to sell “packs” not solutions. I would take it as a major affirmation to be fired by these vultures.
This isn't news-it's always been like this. I've spent many years working as a consultant, including time at the world's largest consulting firm. When the sales team failed to secure projects, it was common for team managers to either pressure you into leaving voluntarily or engineer a poor peer review to justify a layoff.
At the end of the day, life isn’t fair, and business operates the same way. Treat work for what it is-just business, no emotions.
👌
why do they need to engineer a poor review... why not just say "we dont have any projects for you, your fired. good luck"
@@bbsara0146 In Europe, it’s hard to fire employees because of strict labor laws. Companies have only a few valid reasons to let someone go without paying compensation. Poor performance can be a reason, but it’s hard to prove in court. Because of this, employers sometimes try to make the workplace unpleasant, and one way to do this is by focusing on the employee’s poor performance to make them feel unwelcome, hoping they’ll leave on their own.
@@bbsara0146 because that would be admitting the sales guns weren't sales guns and in many places would also be illegal or at least cost a lot more - most of the world does not have "at will" employment.
Redundancy - position no longer required - is usually far more expensive than employee screwed up.
@@1337flite in america most places are at will meaning you can quit or be fired at any time
Like many other consulting firms, McKinsey neglects the well-being of its employees, who often work tirelessly and bear significant economic risks. Many managers engage in unethical behavior, deceiving their employees and prioritizing their own interests. It's troubling to see that employees often bear the burden of financing high bonuses for top management, who readily implement layoffs during economic downturns without considering the harmful health and psychological effects on their employees.
I've been fired millions of times for being an introvert - it's all good
Hi Anna, I went through similar experience several years ago. You will be ok. I took it as a learning experience and build a successful career elsewhere. Only specific type of people may thrive with lack of sleep, constant socialising, and hours spent on aligning boxes. Fingers crossed for your next ventures! You will be ok.
Bullshit Jobs for a Bullshit Economy... what to expect.
I am actually sorry for so many poor souls that have to or choose to work in such
organizations. What a soul crushing experience...
It is ironically a success to be fired from McKinsey, most of those who want to join McKinsey will never work there. McKinsey will forever be one of the qualifications on your CV. The No. 1 student in my year also had a tough defeat to deal with when he was fired after only 9 months. He was fired of the position of a CEO by the owner and billionaire .... and now he has an equivalent position and sucess again.
The experience you gained will be very valuable and you will make your way. I wish you all the best for your future projects.
I did consulting for a few years --and will never do it again. The bottom line is that I am too honest to be a consultant. Those companies operate on generating hourly revenue regardless of the need to the customer.
Its not always what you know, its also who you know. I've worked in listed national and multinational companies, federal and state government as well as small private organisations, including my own small consultancy. In every one of them you have to grind to get anywhere AND attach yourself to a raising star mentor who assits with your promotions. All businesses rely on winning and delivering projects and getting paid for those projects, you can't just sit around and expect to be paid, let alone get promoted. There are three major stages / levels in a career. 1. Becoming a subject matter expert, 2. Managing a team of subject matter experts, 3. Communicationing to others the need to buy into your projects using either hard cash or the expenditure of appropriated budgets. At all levels you need to explain your successes and challenges and failures. All three of these outcomes adds to your experience and allows you to grow in experience as an employee / manager / business owner. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep going.
Perfect answer. Made me think about myself and gives me reason to work a lot more on stage 2. I'm still too focused on pure engineering tasks and not paying enough attention to team building.
Sounds like a crappy job anyway, especially for an introvert. Getting fired shouldn't come as a surprise. If it does, it's usually a management issue.
In your whole saga did it ever occur to you that you are working for an evil company? Because if it didn't, if you are really so morally blind to the effect of forms like McKinsey on people's lives, then they made a mistake because you belong with the ghouls.
I don't know, Anna. Since "the first time I met you", I've always thought that you were "too good for this", I mean, too good for the technicalities of engineering (not even to mention consultancy), etc. You've been so humble enough like to start this channel, talk about sensible topics most people don't want to talk about or just hide, so tender enough, so noble enough, that I'm not surprised that you didn't fit there, nor they deserved to have you with them. And I'm glad for who you are: a great person and woman.
Thank you for sharing. I feel it’s so important for all of us to get informed about failure, how we react, and to move forward. I went through similar stages, but the process was protracted and more painful. Through luck, perseverance and time, I’m in a much better place now. Wishing you all the best and thanks again!
Stay strong, Anna. Like you said, don't let your external achievements define you. I truly admire your honesty.
They hired you without knowing whether they will have enough projects or not, so sorry this happened to you. You are an amazing communicator with an engineering background, your future is bright, it’s hard right now but you will get through this.
Not only a horrific experience but also traumic, which no young, ambitious person should be subjected to. Her experience at McKinsey was dehumanizing there is something deeply immoral about the way she was treated.
Consulting firms are bullshitters. If you like the pharma industry, apply to those firms. Working on your own firm’s assets is, IMHO, much more satisfying than various short-term projects
Big four plan on twenty five percent turnover for hiring. It is all about selling. Introverts need not apply.
Many congratulations on having the strength of character to put up this video and explain why you were let go. This is in fact a sign of great strength and a testament to your character. Clearly the people at that firm didn’t realise what an excellent employee they had and if they’d bothered to invest further in you, I’m sure that you would’ve delivered excellent results over time. After all, Rome it wasn’t built in a day. You are very intelligent, a good communicator and a hard worker there can be no doubt whatsoever that you will find the appropriate niche and go to great success.
I worked as a consultant before in a different firm. The key was not working more but selling more-bringing projects to the firm. Additionally, I got to keep a 5% founder's fee for any project I brought to the firm. That was many years ago, though. Consulting has changed a lot since then; now, I see consulting firms securing government contracts. There's no more pain or suffering in the process. During my time there, I also gained many clients through the company-clients who later wanted to work with me independently, outside the firm. With that kind of network, it’s entirely possible to start your own consulting firm and take clients with you.
Anna, I rejected an offer to work for McKinsey in 2011... they were stunned... as in how dare I refuse them... but here's the deal for you - the fact that McKinsey hired you in the first place implies that you're in the top 1% or so of your industry - so, Congratulations!!! The other good thing is that you've seen the belly of the beast from the inside... and like all bellies of all beats, it ain't pretty... but, you've seen it - you may not realise it now, but this experience in itself is going to be worth its weight in gold for you professionally - very soon!! And, finally, like all Harvard dropouts who may be dropouts but are elite dropouts nonetheless - so are you - an elite McKinsey dropout - kudos to you young lady!! God bless you for the future!
I literally had to rewrite McKinsey reports on an assignment as an independent consultant. They were useless.
Sounds like torture. Super stressful and no job security. Sorry you had to go through this
Thank you for this video. I agree with others who posted comments. You seem way to nice and human for a company like McK. Having working with them and knowing a lot of friends who had McK at their company I can say..."it's a big marketing and sales company", most of the young(er) consultants don't know anything about the industry/markets they do their consulting at. So basically: Be happy you "left" and can do some real and effective work, not just reselling (old) ideas from one client to another!
Thanks for sharing this! Sitting as a consultant in the US since April, moving here from Sweden, I feel the pressurea as well.
Thanks for sharing your story. In the past, I worked for a boutique consultancy and we did some projects for large organisations (banks, hedge funds, ETF funds, consultancies like Deloitte) and I observed people working in those places. I think such jobs are good for people who compartmentalize their emotions. Initially, I thought that working in some companies/firms would be a dream job, but after some experience I realised it would never be a good fit.
I'm sure with your experience in battery technology will pay off. Stay strong and I'm sure you'll bounce back. As someone with an engineering background who moved into marketing, a low key approach that engineers have can end up being a deterrent to climbing the corporate ladder. However, this is only within bad organizations that put more emphasis on salesmanship rather than merit. In good organizations what you know will be rewarded, keep looking!
As an introvert listening to your story, this could very well have been me. I certainly couldn’t thrive in an environment that relies on networking in order to survive.
I have been a consultant for 15 years (no longer, I left that god awful position as consultant. Much happier working for a product company), and this is bullshit.
You essentially have been fixed because they are bad managers, it it the manager's job to ensure that everybody within a firm is billable, not the employee's responsibility. Where have they learn to manage a company? McKinsey sounds like a bunch of amateurs who have failed upwards.
Well, the thing is you get to decide whether being fired says something negative about you. They give you the reasons and you think: are those reasons that I accept? Are those parameters that I want to be measured by? And if the answer is no then screw it.
Fully agree! And my answer is no ;)
Anna - I am so blown away by the honesty. This is why you are a great creator. You share both sides. Love love love love love it.
Thanks so much Liz!! Truly!
That's a sad story, particularly from an empathy perspective. It's unfortunate when colleagues are separated after the probation period, but I think it's reasonable for the company to do so if they've provided a fair chance and sufficient support. Unfortunately, it seems this wasn't the case here. The system of delivering bad news through people you've never met is beneath any respectable company's standards.
To be honest, McKinsey has a reputation that precedes them, and I'm not surprised by your story.
That’s such a tough and stressful job to be constantly having to convince people to take you on for a project and building a network. Not everyone is cut out for it, I know I’m not lol
Why don't they just be honest and say we don't have enough work for you. You have to be smart to get into a firm like that. If they had to let you go than perhaps they failed to train you properly or they just didn't have enough work.
Well.. you got paid for 6 whole months and didn't have to do a whole of work in that period. It's not bad.
Some years ago I took a job at a car dealership because I wanted to get some sales experience. I was there for two months and didn't sell a single car. I talked to literally 3 customers that entire time. Of course they let me go - but I got $2k out of it and it wasn't bad. I was still heavily interviewing for IT work and could make all the calls I needed during those two months.
How ambitious of you.
Being an introvert is absolutely a disqualifier to being a management consultant. The entire job is networking and relationship building, you can be completely incompetent and succeed if you know how to socialize and people like keeping you around.
It sounds like they didn't have enough projects, and looked for someone to fire
Be glad: high workload, obligated socializing, work in the weekend ... sounds like a terrible job
You will be fine. You seem smart, honest and thoughtful...Wait maybe you won't be okay. 😊
When you're young you want to be at the top of the food chain mainly in order to impress your peers. A few decades later you realise that it's all smoke and mirrors and not worth the price. You can be quite happy being a cashier as long as you're healthy and are able to pay the bills. Just move on and regard your time at McKinsey as a welcome experience.
It's hillarious when overacheivers lose not because they weren't able and willing and skilled, but just that they didn't like your style, and watching them not handling it well
Thank you for these open words. After all Consulting is all about billing and McK is responsible to make this happen not you. Only after 5 years a Consultant could be expected to feed himself. Stand tall and shame on McK
Your firing probably was because they needed money to pay for the opioid settlements. You got in the door, that’s an accomplishment in itself.
When a company downsizes staff, it's your imperative to make them realize that they also failed you. I have had it happen twice and flipped it back on my boss that they didn't provide enough work for me and should have not hired me (four years earlier) if they weren't going to utilize my skills better. I had been searching for another job already and was able to get a new job within a week.
These companies are so cold and methodical. There is no sympathy or sensitivity. They just want constant performance. Do yourself a favor. Tighten your belt, live below your means and work for people who are human and care about humans and let these corporations and executives cannabalize themselves
This sounds to me as if you should start building a career as independent consultant. Given that - as you mention - the battery industry is a growth area, there might be opportunities there. If I go by your explanation McKinsey doesn't really seem to offer anything (apart from its famous name) that an independent consultant couldn't offer better, much cheaper and faster. You are very young so you could grow with the industry.
I know this might feel like a setback, but please don’t take it personally. The world of Big 5 consulting is often more about self-marketing than it is about genuine work or personal growth. It’s a machine designed to push individuals to their limits, often at the cost of their mental wellbeing. I go so far as to saying you are selling your soul - at least to a considerable extend. You’re lucky to see this side of it now, rather than years down the line. Take this as a sign to reassess your path: Is the Big 5 experience really the right fit for you? Maybe consider exploring opportunities with a smaller, more personal boutique consulting firm, where your skills and value will be recognized in a more balanced and supportive environment. There’s much more to a fulfilling career than being part of the machine. You’ve got this!
Burnouts are very popular among the big five consulting but never talked about!🙃
so let me get this straight. you have to find your own projects and then work on the projects that you found for yourself? so what do you need McKinsey for?
As an introvert engineer, consulter, product manager and top manager I can totally feel you. After 20 years through all the lows and highs of constantly working your ass off for others I can say: this life is taking a huge toll on your health and personal relationships. Especially we introverts get killed slowly. Focusing on the good live now with family and friends instead seems to be a way better aproach for me now. Sure, we have less money but our life is so much better, more friendly, welcomming, honest, good paced then it was when I was chasing those trophies of "a carrier". All the best to you and enjoy life!
I'm not going back to the consulting world. This role definitely sucked out the soul from me!
Good for you, better to be healthy and free than in a hamster wheel of psychopathic destruction. Good luck with your new venture! 🎉❤
I think you are starting to undestand how this big consulting firms operate for decades. The main reason they hire you was to remove you from the market. So clients can not find you and need to depend of this consulting companies. This is why there are tons consultants in benchs with no projects.
I’m sorry this happened ! But now you have McKinsey on your cv - the Probation period doesn’t need to give reasons…. The battery industry is in high demand, and is apply for Porsche, Tesla, and others , sustainable firms and others. If you need help I’m happy to help
About 20 of us were let go because we were only hired for one lawsuit, which settled. Even though I was laid off, not even fired, it was traumatic and I cried, too. So don’t feel shame for an honest, emotional reaction.
Young woman: Be glad that you no longer work for this company...I don't understand why you do this to yourself anyway. And my personal impression: you are far too nice and not arrogant enough for this kind of employer.
I have a friend who works at mckinsey. Unfortunately in the business world it's all about reading between the lines. Apparently even if they say "you don't need to be this or that right away..." , theyre still scrutinizing you and watching you. If a "casual" coffee chat interview is informal, it is not casual and it is formal and can decide to reject you. They are always watching and taking notes.
In professional companies as a professional, don't expect high levels of support, no matter what they say, it's in fact unusual for that to happen. They want to see a LOT of initiative, pushing very hard for projects, or some activity etc, I'm aware of how McKinsey operates. It's not a reflection on you, but on how they do business.
The "on the beach" thing is a test in my mind.. to see what you will do, kick back, or grind hard and use your time effectively, maybe even innovate a process in the business. What they won't like to see, is people taking that time for a breather or to relax.
And that's what she did....
Emerson's law reigns supreme to this day, despite the trendy suggestion to "quiet quit"... overdeliver and the Forces that be will compensate... sooner or later... even if one feels underappreciated, the Universe compensates those who serve
Consulting companies are marketing companies. Ideas are their products. Most Ideas have no permanent value. So, Selling is more important than doing work. I work for a management consulting firm and learned it. Just imagine how idiots the clients are who need ideas from a McKinsey junior consultant. The senior management at the clients can't even think for themselves
wow well said..hate to say it but you are mostly right
It’s not that senior management can’t think for themselves. Usually they already know the answers without having to go to any consultancy unless they have an inbred management structure full of group-think and fawning sycophants. The reason that they hire the Big 3 consultancies is so they have a fall guy for anything that goes wrong. Plausible deniability is an asset for highly paid C-level execs. After all if McKinsey or BCG recommends an action, it has to be smart, right? Because they are the smartest of the smart, or so the conventional wisdom goes. Also, good for liability protection in shareholder lawsuits and proxy fights if an independent third party endorses management decisions. In fact, acting as the potential fall guy is one reason why these firms can demand such high fees.
Ich wünsche Dir viel Erfolg und viel Kraft und positive Energie!
Anna, every experience is also a good experience! McKinsey is part of your CV and no one can take that from you. Turn this experience to your advantage. You got this!
Last year, I was working full time, budgeting groceries, unable to afford date nights, and missing time with my kids. Now I learned how to make money online. Now am a SAHM, homeschooling, and making profits every week.
Over so many decades, management consulting, culture, on the beach, one year anniversary firing, and terminology have never changed.
I was let go by a different strategy firm within the first year. The reality is that when a services firm isn't selling enough client projects, they continue to PAY YOU while you're not generating any revenue. It's unsustainable. At the same time, high-profile firms like McK rely on "counseled out" employees not going public, as in this video - hurts their brand even more than their work for Purdue Pharma, Gupta brothers, Swissair, etc.
I am myself a consultant, and have seen lot of my colleagues get fired in these downtimes. Personnally I had to go into an interview competing with a colleague I knew well and it sucked. It is brutal nowadays, and you need to fight, be highly visible right now. However I think it is better to say we cant keep you any longer. But they dont want the word come out that they are struggling. At the end of the day it is always a business decision, dont let it break you❤ you are more then a job 😊 every time I am banched I actively look for work and let my boss know I do not want to be benched longer then 2 months. I can find other jobs by myself, so if they cant, why would I work for them?!?
I'm sorry that happened to you but honestly I've worked with many consultants from the big firms over the years and unless you are willing to eat/sleep/and repeat a WORK & BUSINESS TRAVEL ONLY lifestyle, it's just not a good fit. I, like you, feel a strong sense of self-worth from academic achievements but NEVER associate self-worth with a JOB. It's a recipe for disappointment because there is NO LOYALTY in the workplace. If the numbers at finance are weak, guess what? All those folks 'on the beach' who are not directly bringing revenue in are the first to be sacrificed. Then it's everyone else except for a very small few who keep the lights on. Thanks for sharing your story. I enjoyed your video and think it will help many people who need to hear your story. All the best in your next adventure!
Thank you!
You learned the most valuable lesson about working, which is networking. You can be the smartest person on the team but fail to connect with the other you will not make it.
I mentor young engineers and that’s the 1st thing we get into as most of them are focused on more school. They are smart enough but know no one and their career stalls.
Really, I should say NO ONE KNOWS THEM!
At first, thank you that you are so honest to tell what happened. The courage to tell all that in public means a lot. I had a lot of experience with this business from both sides of the aisle. It always was a tough business even 30 years ago. Working as a consultant means, you are 24/7. I had times, wasn't at home for weeks. And learning was always in my so called "private time" it was expected. You can gain knowledges and experiences in this business you never get anywhere else. But I saw, this is not for a lifetime. After a few years you should find a job in a normal company. You have all the possibility to build up connections. If you are looking for work/life balance, this is absolutely the wrong way to look for it. But there is nothing wrong about you. If you fit not in with the system you must find another way. I think you are on the right track now. And with your education as an engineer it shouldn't be to difficult to find another job. Good luck and all the best from an old white man.
Sounds to me like there are lots of retired or former military in leadership positions at McKinsey because the review process you described is very much like how performance reviews are handled in the military. In most civilian companies, a performance review is written with the evaluated person primarily as the intended audience. In the military, the performance review is written with others as the intended audience, specifically individuals who will sit on a selection board for your next career milestone, whether that is a promotion in rank or a new position within your chosen occupation specialty. A review board is convened annually and officers who most likely do not know you personally will brief your record and hundreds of others to the board and the board will vote on whether to select or not . There is an art to writing those evaluations since it must convey to people who don’t know you whether you are ready for the next step. A poorly written evaluation can doom an otherwise worthy candidate just as easily as a well crafted evaluation can improve the chances of an otherwise borderline candidate. For instance a seemingly benign phase such as, “Making excellent progress toward exceeding expectations of someone so junior,” is a gunshot to the head since it literally says you are not exceeding expectations. The person briefing your body of work, which gets larger as you become more senior, has only a few seconds to summarize your readiness (as written by someone they might not know either) and then the board votes and moves on. Failure to select is tantamount to a “firing” since there is no where for the unselected to go. “Up or out” is not just a catch phrase but it is how the military narrows the pyramid to the top ranks.
Dave Ramsey says, "To be unclear is to be unkind." To only give feedback that you're not busy enough at the six month mark and not: 1) tell them, and 2) not help them is unkind, unprofessional, and lazy, actually.
Not everyone in the consulting world will treat you this badly, but those people exist and your video was great for helping us digest the experience and learn from what happened. Keep on keepin' on, Anna! You have a lot to offer the world!
You are a widget in a company like this. They don't care about your career or you. You sound very bright, so I think you would be an asset to any company. Good 🤞🏻.
You needed to get your ass “off the beach.” Your firing wasn’t your fault. Corporate culture is beyond toxic.
If they could've seen you work so hard to avoid any accountability for this they would have made you CEO!
IMO being an introvert is not a positive skill set in a consulting business.
Welcome to consulting; Billable hours and sales - most of that of yourself is king. They don't need any reason to fire you, so hopefully you don't take it too personally now. (I tied my self worth to my achievement too - to my detriment)
I think you got fired because you lacked a crucial skill called "kissing a**". Some people call it a very important add on skill to networking. Your mistake was you did your work diligently instead of praising your collegues.
Mind that when being on the beach, you have to commercialise yourself.
Mind when they say you are not forced yet to get a project! It's WRONG, it's a lie.
From your first day, you have to chase for project.
That's not only valid for big ones, that's true for any cy in that field.
The consulting business is in for a rude awakening once AI starts to really drive business optimization. Their entire model is in danger of being consumed and they know it
You are not alone, I was fired after a similar experience, just was not for you Anna. We will be ok. Keep up on the channel you WILL succeed!
I work for a B4 consultancy firm. They're all the same. It's 50% networking and getting the right people to like you, 30% utilization (not being on the beach), and 20% work quality.
Good storytelling on this. Thanks for sharing, getting laid off is always a rollercoaster of emotions. Sounds like you probably escaped a bad situation before it got worse.
Asking a lot of question during a meeting where you are being fired doesnt seem to be a good advice. You will never know if what they say is right or wrong. They have reasons. Those might or might not be connected to your actual performance. There is nothing to be gained here. Take your resignation letter home and see if there is anything worth fighting for and take a lawyer or just look for a new job.
Even if they tell you something truthworthy then what? How would you know if that can be useful for your next job?
In such situation being professional means to be still polite, and accept their decission, and simply don't talk much.
Not your fault; management consulting business this year was tough, reportedly because their potential clients were investing into AI (cheaper cost for the same depth of insight, apparently). But whatever the reason for slowdown is, McK principals failed to bring the business. They should hire BCG for help 🤷♂️
Remember kids: don't sign anything and get a lawyer ASAP
Here in the UK, the few ex McKinsey people I have spoken with have told me of the insane hours, they were working. They couldn't maintain relationships and broke up. Having seen behind the scenes in a few organisations, too often there are toxic people, and/or an huge imbalances.
Years ago when I used to do consulting, I was scared to spend any time on the bench/beach without knowing I already had a new client. Fortunately for me, it was just one day on the bench before I was shipped back out to clients. I heard of people spending weeks on the bench but I knew if times get bad, the bench would be cleared so I didn't want to stay on it.
If I was going into “consulting”, I would get BA in Accounting with CPA, JD/LLM with speciality in Tax Law, etc. Get some experience with government, etc. The pm work for myself. No way I would work for some bucket shop like McKinsey. Find some way to work for myself. Plumber? Even if making less!
I know plumbers who make more than partners at mckinsey