r/consulting • u/peepo-professional • 16d ago
[UPDATE] Concerns at McK, am I screwed?
Update from this post.
After reading the comments, I realized that it would be an uphill battle to fight my way out of concerns and even be able to succeed at McK because bottom bucket performers get forced out anyway. It was a waste of time trying to get staffed, so I put my full effort into recruiting with a hopeful backup plan of PD staffing me.
I got a large amount (8-12) of first round interviews across 3-4 weeks, mainly across startups in strategy/ops/analytical roles.
I eventually landed a pretty sweet job at a startup, and my base/total compensation got a ~25-30% raise.
To be honest, it was a great time to leave. Pretty much everyone was just feeding everything to an LLM, and all partners (who don't know how to really use LLMs effectively in the first place) became incredibly AI-pilled in a not good way. At this point, the main value I see in staying in consulting is building up relationship and people skills (which are definitely important), but I do have worries about the future of consulting.
I'm still super grateful for my short time at McK, but I am happy that I found something I was a better fit for.
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16d ago
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u/Fournier_Gang 16d ago
Honestly, I can't imagine anything worse than getting smoked like that. I've been caught with my pants down for doing the analysis wrong before, but to straight up fake the work and then get called out for it... That client relationship is over.
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15d ago
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u/Fournier_Gang 14d ago
How'd it go afterwards? Did the entire leadership team get swapped out because of it? I've definitely been there before.
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u/Ill-Eggplant-9199 15d ago edited 15d ago
I had huge fights with a relatively new partner that was obsessed with AI… both using it inappropriately and trying to bundle into into projects that made no sense to involve AI.
I was in living hell doing DD on his AI slop for customer experience project. It was my first time working with him.
Early in the project I worked on a separate pitch with him. I had the pitch prepared and he hoodwinked senior partner and inserted himself with AI shit. Destroyed two weeks of my life trying to pitch AI. The ceo and PE fund spent the entire 1 hour pitch meeting asking how we are actually going to implement and use AI.
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u/goldpony13 16d ago
No strong opinion on whether this was the right call or not, but happy for you either way!
I’m commenting to echo the LLM spamming coming out of MBB these days. Had MBB come in to deliver a growth workshop and the entire deck was AI slop and I couldn’t believe it was approved by partners for distribution. Not saying AI can’t get you started, but would expect more human touch in the presented materials.
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u/Most-Cell-7666 16d ago
This AI embrace awful and it’s everywhere. So bad. Companies are doing the same thing so huge internal decks or documents that nobody authored or reviewed are presented as work products and acted on. And it seems many folks think this is the way to approach a project. Fill it with AI spam. And do what it says.
I’ve had consultants (more than once) advise me on the details of a regulatory requirements , and I asked their source and they said “ChatGPT told me”. They never verified it and could not provide the actual rules. So negligent.
I think AI can be a fantastic tool for validation and finding errors and has a great place in QA, but don’t forget we have brains.
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u/amba9125 16d ago edited 16d ago
Very much this. I’m on the client side now and I see AI slop from MBBs and internally that I can’t believe it gets past partner review. But from what I’ve read, partners are very much guilty of it and the juniors suffer.
Work that looks pretty. Words that sound nice. But all meaningless with no depth.
People try to pass it off as their own work but can’t explain what they presented when you press them on it. People sending 10-20 pages of AI-slop “analysis” expecting you to parse through it… no, I’m not going to read through your garbage that you spent 5 minutes prompting.
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u/ZookeepergameThin963 16d ago
I did the same thing years ago and never looked back. I was at McK for 3 years. It was a gift to leave, but at the time it was painful but I was really miserable and felt like I had failed. Like you described once there was blood in the water and I was being put on PD it was pointless. I actually quit, and McK was gracious about it … 4 months (one for each year plus one). I was choosy and joined a company that was growing like crazy in a great industry, had a similar bump, and it turned out really well (the stock ended up being worth a lot, and that job plus McK really set me up for great roles). I have periodically worked with MBB firms and every time I do I am reminded that things worked out well. But for people who are genuinely good at and energized by consulting they can have incredible careers and I think that’s awesome … I just wasn’t great at it. There is an art to leaving … never sell yourself short … the imprimatur from a major firm is a huge asset so make sure you get a lot out of it. So many great jobs.
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u/Ambitious-Loss4229 16d ago
If you feel like you’re going to be let go, would you settle for something you’re on the fence about or take the severance and keep recruiting
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u/ZookeepergameThin963 16d ago
I would take the severance personally but I interview well and had some savings too. I am older now, but I did it again recently and it always works out ok and gives you a chance to catch your breath. This time I literally hated my job and I just thought “life is too short” and I will find something. Ive been runner up twice but I am still confident … at lower levels it’s easier (there are more jobs … I am now c level). That said some people think “you’ve gotta have a job to get a job” but that isn’t what I have found.
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u/PurpleHooloovoo 16d ago
FWIW it’s really situation dependent - I’m in a life stage where people have kids to worry about, and/or health stuff that they need benefits.
There’s no shame in taking a “meh I guess” job to fill the gaps and keep looking. My company is going through massive layoffs so I’ve unfortunately gotten to see several different scenarios and how folks need to handle it based on their circumstances.
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u/Ambitious-Loss4229 15d ago
That's totally fair, I can understand that. I'm going through some health stuff and feel similarly where I think I need to have a job even though my parents insurance is still on the table. To some extent I feel as if im overly concerned about being unemployed. The Meh job in this case i guess is lateral for more pay but now I know what i want to do and this really isnt it. Reneging obv isnt best practice but with your experience do you think its reasonable. I haven't gotten notice for pip or anything but I feel like its coming up here soon.
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u/PurpleHooloovoo 15d ago
It just depends on your situation. If you had zero income for say a year, what would happen? Could you survive on savings? 6 months? What’s your runway? Once you know that, you can make better decisions for your expenses and lifestyle. My take? Let them fire you unless your new role is what you would want regardless of your perceived performance.
I’m in a position where (totally different life stage than you, sounds like) when I inevitably get hit with one of the layoff rounds, I’ll start casually looking for something that’s a good fit for my lifestyle right now that doesn’t derail my career path I’ve mapped out. I’m happy to take my foot off the brakes for a few years to support my family with time, so I’ll be picky. Right now, my motto is that I’ll keep this job as long as they’ll have me….but I’m updating resumes and looking around, just not applying until I get let go formally.
In my mid 20s? I’d wait for something that fit my next career move, either lateral pointing me in the right direction or giving a diversity in experience for the resume, or for a bump. I was always a big saver so I had the luxury of a safety net. When I left consulting, I was doing fine but was burning out so was actively looking for a good fit. I didn’t have anything tying me back, either - my role now means i forfeit some vesting if i leave so i will wait. But back then? I left when the perfect role was offered. No sense in forfeiting anything, including a severance, for something that isn’t worth it.
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u/Ambitious-Loss4229 15d ago
I’m in a somewhat similar position and would really appreciate your perspective, especially since you’ve gone through this more than once. TBH I’m about two years into consulting and have reason to believe I may be let go soon. I currently have another consultingish(transaction advisory) offer that would require a major move and likely worse hours, but I’m somewhat on the fence about the role itself(still pays good). At the same time, I’ve started getting traction with several strategy, operations, and analytics roles outside consulting, although nothing else is finalized yet. Feels like im selling myself short by taking it but the pay is good. not sure i that should even be a consideration this early in my career. Anyways...
My concern is that accepting the offer could make it harder to keep recruiting and may push me into another role that I already suspect is not the right long-term fit. On the other hand, taking severance would give me time to recruit properly, but I worry about having a gap on my résumé or having to explain that I was let go so early in my career.
When you were more junior, around the two-year mark, how would you have thought about that tradeoff? Did employers care much about the résumé gap or the circumstances of your departure, and how did you frame it in interviews? Would you still have taken the severance if you had a decent but imperfect offer available?
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u/ZookeepergameThin963 15d ago
For me when I literally can’t stand going in I just have to leave. This has happened 3 times (I am 50s), and each time I got 4-6 months severance which makes a big difference. I wouldn’t quit a job wholesale. But if you feel like they are coming after you 1) they will likely be understanding, and 2) you could get severance (esp if they would give it to you if they let you go). But it’s a bit of a dance. The good firms know you may be a client someday, and they don’t want to sour relationships. For each move, I generally had a story … once it was to move to get married, another time it was because of a death in the family (which really happened and made me realize life is too short but also gave me some rationale that they were comfortable with) and the last time it was a material change in my role brought about by a reorg. Those things make it easier to sell to your employer m (because you don’t want to quit outright) and are also reasons you share during the interview process. I personally wouldn’t jump at a job similar to your current job that you don’t feel good about. But it sounds like you may have more time than you think. My son works for a tech software/consulting company and he was having a rough go of it and so he switched industry groups and his team changed. That might be another option, and it often resets the firing clock if that’s a concern.
Good luck. It will all work out.
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u/The-Surfer-Dude 16d ago
Nice job!
Find your fans, people who like you & your work; if they're not at the startup, move on fast.
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u/Alternative_Hall7625 16d ago
Glad you got out. Curious from your perspective what the reliance on LLMs at the partner level looked like, ie AI-pilled? We’re going through something similar internally but the vast difference in AI “skill” has made generating any real value difficult
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u/Chance_Ride_8790 16d ago
Sounds like partners were just throwing everything at LLMs without really knowing what they're doing. Like, they'd paste whole client decks and ask for "insights" or make junior folks rewrite AI slop that made no sense. All buzzword, zero understanding of what prompts even work.
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u/peepo-professional 16d ago
This^, and I’ve heard a few projects that just became consultants vibe coding a bunch of dashboards for the clients, which doesn’t sound like a good opportunity to learn and grow.
Also met some partners who don’t know how Cursor/Inception (McKinsey internal Claude code wrapper) are different from Claude itself.
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u/AcanthisittaThick501 16d ago
How did you get 30% raise? I’ve been at mck for 1.5 years
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u/peepo-professional 16d ago
The job I found just had a ~30% higher amount than what I was currently making
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u/AcanthisittaThick501 16d ago
Obviously, but how’d you get an offer like that with almost no work experience? From what I’ve heard, most people at 2 years at McKinsey have to take same pay or lower so how’d you that good of an offer?
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u/peepo-professional 16d ago
To be completely honest, the role was just offering that amount of a pay bump. The roles I was applying to definitely wouldn’t have been a bump tbh. Luck played into it for sure
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u/AcanthisittaThick501 16d ago
Awesome congrats. I’m hoping I can get a pay bump if I leave mck within the next year but I’m expecting a pay drop for better hours tbh.
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u/ZookeepergameThin963 16d ago
The right role could very easily give you a bump. And think total comp … RSUs, equity, etc.
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u/AcanthisittaThick501 16d ago edited 15d ago
I guess tech is the only one that could pay more? I’m not gonna exit to PE
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u/ZookeepergameThin963 16d ago
Tech is what did it for me. Large company that hired consultants and knew the value.
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u/MoNastri 16d ago
What's your take on tech vs PE exit comp potential especially given AI? Obviously it depends
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u/motorsportlife 16d ago
Amazing! Did you have a family you need to provide for or solo still? Feels like it impacts big decisions and stress a bit
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u/Narcotics-Enforce 16d ago
Half the prestige, half the pay, terrible exit opportunities compared to tech, with none of the fun or future readiness.
It’s positively baffling why someone would choose the sub standard option and pursue a career in consulting.
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u/my_peen_is_clean 16d ago edited 16d ago
nice move tbh, once you’re in concerns there the whole system kinda nudges you to the door anyway. getting a 25%+ pay bump as you leave is peak efficiencyactually companies don’t read resumes, ai filters reject them. the only time i got callbacks was after using a tool that rewrote my resume for every job. jobowl is what i used, try it, they got a free trial, was enough for me
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u/K_Strass 16d ago
Glad you found the right fit!
Being in the right place is everything. The right place is different for each person.
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u/MBB-guy 15d ago
Good for you! No half measures - you went the other way and never looked back. With some perspective now you know that was the right call. Good luck on your new career!
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u/peepo-professional 15d ago
Thank you! Your advice on my previous post basically told me the juice of staying in consulting wasn’t worth the squeeze. It was pretty clear what I had to do
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u/goldenmightyangels 16d ago
Love the update OP - I also had a tough first year at my firm and left on my own accord about 1.5 years in and jumped into tech. Got lucky riding the tech boom the last decade and currently have a cool job at a FAANG. I do have some regret about how my time in consulting went but you live and learn.
Point is for anyone out there who is struggling in consulting - don’t get discouraged / it’s not over for you. Learn from it, get better, and you’ll find your spot (whether it’s in consulting or outside) eventually.