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Oh man, I've always wanted to work for Associate. Here's my burner: totallyrealemail@gmail.com
Relax, bench time is normal! Don't freak out after just a few weeks.
D2 It was around lack of consulting skills, basically it was sugar coated version of ‘why do we hire people from non consulting backgrounds’
Read another person posted something similar a few days ago...
Is it normal to be in a consulting firm with no consulting experience? as much as I love it here, I am really questioning my decision to be here since people get too opinionated too soon!
So much for wanting to be relevant and learn quickly 😶
OP - what steps are you taking to get staffed? Are you networking in areas of interest? Offering to work on proposals or eminence? Waiting for your counselor or your resource manager to bring you your next project is an easy way to sit around for a long time. Also, putting in work on those efforts will help you build skills and experience. Starting out is tough (especially for experienced industry hires who don’t get the same support as campus hires). Now is the time to push hard and be proactive
I have several industry hire SC buddies and it’s a hard level to come into. If you were a M the core consulting skills would be less important but as a SC you are expected to create high quality deliverables. My friend who has been the most successful at navigating this worked really hard to establish her brand as a SME within her particular domain of experience. She sought out M/SM/PPD who did work in her relevant area and got integrated into their pursuits. She was eventually able to showcase her skills and then was staffed mainly in M roles and was expected to do less deliverable creation.
Yeah, you’ll likely need to find a project with leadership outside of the leadership on your first project though. Managers do talk to each other but you can make it up next time. Just don’t let it be a habit
You need to find a true mentor, someone who is willing to invest and coach you on a regular basis and in return you are fully committed to work hard and make him/her successful as well.
This profession is full of high performers but very few of them are good coaches. Stay hungry and keep exploring working with different people..
OP — it’ll happen for you. Don’t get discouraged!
60% BD, 35% Networking, 5% training. That’s how I split my time while on the bench.
Are you into Technology practice?
Agree with D4. I was a new hire, on the bench for 6 weeks before first project, didn’t go well / got a lot of feedback and then was on the bench again for 2.5 months. Finally got staffed doing nothing related to my service line, region or industry. Ended up being the best thing for me - I cut my teeth and made mistakes away from regional leadership. Found myself ‘back’ into my service line by doing PRD and impressing one partner on a proposal.
Not a good sign, but what have you been doing in your 3 weeks on the bench?
EY1: random trainings and little bit of firm contribution and networking
Are you and MBA hire, OP?
Need to work on BD in my opinion, dont freak out yet, but another couple weeks if you arent staffed id start looking outside
Not an MBA hire, Industry hire
Message me and I’ll refer you to my company
@Associate1. What company do you work for?
What was the feedback?
Thanks D3 I am doing all that you have stated... not relying on RM or Counsellor
Hope I will get some work in my area of interest soon