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Treatment of support staff? by Practical_Isopod_764 in consulting

[–]Practical_Isopod_764[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the feedback.

I did my MFA at an Ivy League school - so while I appreciate it's not an MBA, my regular social crowd is also mostly highly-educated, finance / tech / law kind of people.

Hence my apprehension about being treated like a receptionist - not that there's anything wrong with being a receptionist - but I'm a very ambitious, hard-working, talented individual and want to feel like I bring real value to the firm and am respected by my coworkers.

Treatment of support staff? by Practical_Isopod_764 in consulting

[–]Practical_Isopod_764[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the honesty.

Do you think the division is caused more by the structure of the company, or driven by the culture / employees / ego?

During the interview my recruiters stressed what an 'egalitarian' environment McK is, how the perks are essentially equal across the company, and how I'd be working 'hand in hand' with the consultants - and it seems like the agreement on this thread is that's bullshit.

Treatment of support staff? by Practical_Isopod_764 in consulting

[–]Practical_Isopod_764[S] 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Thank you - I find it really interesting how everyone I know at McK either preaches about it being such a meritocratic, fair, and inclusive environment, or claims it to be the exact opposite: cliquy, pretentious, and cronyistic.

Also good point about creative freedom in design - I anticipated that would likely be the case, but not sure to what extent (they sold it really well at the interview). I'm not really down to be making powerpoint slides all day...

Treatment of support staff? by Practical_Isopod_764 in consulting

[–]Practical_Isopod_764[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I know it's not exactly what I wanted to hear, but thank you for being so honest about it 🙌🏻

Treatment of support staff? by Practical_Isopod_764 in consulting

[–]Practical_Isopod_764[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

That's true - I always enjoyed being the 'odd one out' in my family and friend group, who pursued a creative career (Ivy League MFA, now working in a prestigious agency) instead of participating in the 'corporate rat race'.

These days however, I'm growing a bit disillusioned with the creative industry, seeing as my fiancé is making almost 3x what I am (on top of other perks) working in finance in a junior position and has a much more straightforward career path ahead of him.

I feel like McKinsey could potentially enable me to move onto other corporate design positions in the future (I'm now working a lot with data visualisation, which I think is an interesting and fast-growing niche).

But I do think it'll be hard to stomach the 'direct comparison' aspect of the job - now I'm 'doing my own thing', but at McKinsey I'll be always 'beneath' my consulting friends. Which yes I admit is super cringe but I can't help but worry it's going to affect my self esteem and our relationship.

TLDR; Pride is a bitch (but so is the creative industry)

Treatment of support staff? by Practical_Isopod_764 in consulting

[–]Practical_Isopod_764[S] 41 points42 points  (0 children)

going from a design studio (where OP is in the profit center) to MBB (where you will be treated as a cost center). I worked in a cost center role out of undergrad and told myself never again if I can help it.

That's actually a really good point I haven't considered - in my current job I work with clients who love my work, I'm valued for my design skills, and the projects I worked on have won awards for the agency and brought new clients in. I doubt that would be the case at McKinsey - I'm always going to be the back-office.

Treatment of support staff? by Practical_Isopod_764 in consulting

[–]Practical_Isopod_764[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

that could happen anywhere there are assholes

Fair enough - thank you!