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Hi all, I just got a job offer at PwC for a senior consultant position. The salary is 30% above my total comp right now, but I’m just worried about the amount of work I will have to put in compared to my amazing work life balance now. Does anyone have any experience moving from industry to consulting? I need some advice on what to do. I’m still early in my career (1.4yoe) so I feel like I shouldn’t care too much about wlb, but at the same time, I don’t want my mental health to suffer either.
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I prefer green though
I want this guy to write my resignation letter lol
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Are you looking for kindest in terms of wording or kindest in terms of circumstance - severance, lead time, etc? Happy to help where I can!
In terms of circumstance — the sequence of events, how to advocate for someone to be let go… ugh, kindly? Like a human? I have such empathy for him but I know this isn’t the right fit and I know he’s scared to leave.
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I’d explain the situation and make it his choice. Explain this is what we need moving forward and if you’re unable to accommodate that, we can’t keep you on. The future of the company is heading in this direction, are you coming with us? If you’ve already had that conversation and there has been no effort to make the adjustments, it’s time to part ways. You’ve tried.
If you give him notice, he may either appreciate that or choose to leave on his own. Be prepared for him to walk immediately if you go that route. Hopefully you know him well enough to try and anticipate his reaction. If he stays on until the end of the project, great! And at least you’ve prepared him for what’s coming and he has time to look for another position. If not, have a replacement ready. This is a delicate situation and there may never be an answer that shields you from humans acting like humans. Termination is never easy.
Thank you. This is incredibly helpful. l’ve taken (quiet) steps this week to shore up his account and notified my leadership.
For anyone who comes across this post later on in a similar situation:
1.) it sucks. I went to see two different movies this week and found myself staring into the middle distance during both of them (I’m looking at you, Oppenheimer), lost in thought over this. Livelihoods are serious. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. You have my sympathy.
2.) like the Director of Operations, I had some in-person life advice to be honest. Brutally honest. The sort that necessitates a break before they answer. “What I’ve heard from you is x, what I need from this role (not you!) is y, z, and a. Can you evolve into what this role needs, and also feel motivated to make that change?” Yes or no. If yes, it’s a tight improvement plan — almost a PIP. If no, it’s a couple of weeks of lag and then it’s a conversation about a formal end date. Either way, I’ve been coached to handle it both firmly and with dignity.
3.) laying someone off always feels bad. Having a long term vision doesn’t make it less bad, but it motivates it. I hate the idea of laying someone off with the equivalent of a shrug emoji. Knowing what sort of team I’m driving to in the long term helps with that.
4.) but it’s still someone’s livelihood. There is no way to make it light. It’s a hard and painful decision.
I’m in this boat now. Planning for a layoff in 3 weeks. It sucks to know this is coming, know it is right for the team and the business and still want to run screaming from the whole situation. She came back from mat leave 3 months ago and has had a hard time adjusting to all of the change while she was out. I was her peer, now I’m her boss. The whole team was restructured and reorganized into a new department. She was given a new role (which, we built for her so she could come back to a role that suited her strengths). She is FINALLY settling into the role but it’s been three months of thrashing against change and negativity since she’s been back. And she wasn’t performing well before she left- mainly because her attitude was so challenging and people struggled to work with her. And to top it off…she has not delivered on the work. Sigh. I hate it. There are people on the team who love working with her and they are going to be devastated.
I’m also extremely sad that it didn’t work out. I had such high hopes! 😞
If you feel like you’ve done everything you can possibly think of to help them be successful, give them opportunities to make changes, etc. then it’s difficult but uou have to do what you have to do for the team and business. You might have one final conversation and say just that “i’ve done everything i can think of, is there anything you can think of that you need or would be helpful? The uncomfortable reality is that this is where we’re at, I need to see demonstrable improvements in these 3 areas in X amount of time, otherwise I will be forced to make a really tough decision.” Be simple, concise and extremely clear with your expectations, and then follow through if they aren’t met. It’s tough, never gets easier. Best of luck to you!