What to do next? Failed in probation period as an experienced hire

Hey,

Sorry to hear that - never easy to be in those situations.

In my experience, Tier 2-3 firms are actually tougher for experienced hires compared to Tier 1. The reason for this is that the supporting mechanisms (e.g., feedback, training, mentorship, …) are very limited and the expectations that you run by yourself fairly quickly are high. In fact, I've seen several post MBA hires (with no previous consulting work) struggle to make the transition.

I would also not advise to try to simply get a managerial position if you dont have a solid consulting foundation - as a manager you see yourself many times doing consulting work or at the bare minimum you need to know how to do it yourself if your team needs support.

What I would recommend in your case:

1. Make sure this is what you want. It will take now effort to get a new opportunity in another firm, and the previous issues want magically disappear just  because you changed settings. Be ready to give it your all.

2.  Do an honest assessment of what went wrong. No point in jumping to another ship if you will do the mistakes you did in the past. Understand what did well and what you didnt. Some are hard skills like powerpoint or excel that you can start practice, take courses; soft skills can also be trained (comms, interpersonal relationship, …). 

3. Understand that perhaps the greatest asset you can have when you start is your attitude (and it will take you a long way). As a manager at MBB, I dont have crazy expectations in the first few months in someone's career. If you have an amazing attitude, if I enjoy having you on my team, there are a lot of things I will overlook. One of the best advices I got from a MBB partner is that “this is not rocket science, the guys that spend the most amount of time in their craft eventually are the guys that move up”. So have a commitment with yourself that you will build that reputation for yourself.

my 2 cents!

Hi there,

First of all, I'm sorry to hear about the probation period - that's not an easy thing to swallow.

I will tell you one thing: There are companies (and bosses) that I have thrived under and there are companies (and bosses) that I have fought tooth and nail to stay afloat in.

Just like in relationships, rarely is it just a you problem. On the flipside, rarely is it just a them problem. 

You have some solutions:

1. Fix your weaknesses - From your writing, you do seem to include a fair amount of excuses…change that attitude and admit where you need to be better…no more excuses
2. Change the company - The company might not be a right fit for you. Find one that works for you and builds you up.
3. Change your industry - Perhaps consulting is not for you. Perhaps the specific strengths you have in this world don't match and the skills needed are mostly your weakness. Find an industry/role where you can leverage your strengths and your weaknesses aren't relevant

Those are your three options! How do you figure which one is for you? Well, a Q&A won't really be the place (sorry). Get a coach. Call your friends. Reach out to your mentors. Network. Use frameworking.

Here if you need any help with this decision!

Hey, sorry to hear this. I wont repeat what other coaches have already mentioned.

Have a look at this article for more guidance & tips on your question-https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/how-do-i-know-which-career-is-right-for-me

All the best and I hope you choose well.

Sorry to hear about your experience. 

I'd recommend considering a few steps:
1) Reflecting on what you want at this stage in your career - Learning the consulting skillset as an experienced hire can be very intense (as you experienced) and does require a willingness to accept some steps backwards in terms of the type of work (e.g. doing the analysis yourself). Having seen many experienced hires succeed and fail, I would say the number one success factor is the desire to make it work and the willingness to go through that challenging period. I'd encourage you to reflect on what you want and whether or not it is worth it for you (and both yes and no are both equally valid and respectable answers)

2) Address some of the skill gaps on your own - Your life will be much easier if you join another firm if you address some of the core skill gaps like excel. There are alot of resources out there that will allow you to learn this yourself, allowing you to be more of a net contributor and hit the ground running in your next role

3) Changing firm - Some firms are better than others. In my personal experience Oliver Wyman has improved alot and I have seen them provide alot of support and coaching to experienced hires. Beyond just the reputation of the firm I believe it is also important to talk with your potential sponsor during the hiring process as ultimately it will be down to the people supporting you to execute this and you should feel free to ask questions to ensure you get confidence that they will provide you with the right support

There's no definitive answer to your question, particularly without having worked with you. You should have a good understanding of how much of that feedback is true, and how much is just bad luck. 

Honestly, better than having an outsider giving you an opinion is having one of your former coworkers making that assessment. Go and ask one of your (younger but more experienced) peers… 

It must be said that the feedback you received is at the core of the consultant's skillset. You are supposed to be structured and to provide reliable analysis (please notice that being slow is ok. Being wrong / doing mistakes is not). If you are not structured you cannot be a senior consultant or manager. If you can't provide reliable analysis you can't be an analyst. And if you are not very good at both you cannot be a manager (and definitely not a partner).

The idea that one can be good at “managing” or “partnering” but bad at structuring or performing analysis is completely misaligned with what is the Manager role in consulting. The Manager is supposed to structure the problem solving, then structure the work according to that, coach the team on how to get there, and finally do a lot of quality control (which implies being able to spot wrong or unrigorous analysis). You need to master the things you are struggling with to become a manager. The idea that you can become one without those skills… is plain wrong in consulting.

In corporate, you need to be able to manage people who have technical expertise you don't have. In consulting, that doesn't apply.

On top of that you need a mentality shift, as you “struggle to be managed by people younger than you”. This seems to be the exact opposite of consulting. As a consultant you are expected to value merit and capability over authority / power / age. Partners will listen to analysts, and value analysis who (in a fact based way) say partners are wrong. Having trouble being managed by someone younger is a bad sign. Overall it may mean that you are more worried about your status than about learning…

And now that I mentioned learning… let me discuss training. Training in consulting is “training on the job”. If you struggle to be managed by people younger than you… then it means you struggle to accept training on the job from the people who are supposed to give it to you. But is this the only reason why you are a slow learner / low adaptability, or are there other explanations.

Having said this, let me go back to the start. Ignore my opinion here, because I am just replying to what you said about yourself. 
What you need is an honest opinion from someone who worked alongside you.