u/ButterscotchEven5630

I graduated in May 2025 with an econ degree. Still no luck landing an MBB or near MBB consulting role. Hundreds of applications, countless rounds (recruiter screen, behavioral, first round case, second round case) and i've gotten nowhere on the second round specifically. Talk to recruiters, follow up, ghosted after. Reworked my casebook prep about 5 times now. Did a dry run with a roommate over the weekend on a profitability case to make sure the setup worked, and a lot of the framework bullets on my side were solid.

I know we're in a saturated market for new grad consulting hires right now but does the chatbot actually hold up live on a real MBB style case where the partner is pushing on the math?

Got lucky a tier two strategy firm gave me another shot at a second round next week. Third case round i sit through. Tired.

My manager talked to me and basically asked me to start writing down every time my coworker is "not working," or messes something up, or when her newborn baby interrupts her, since we're all working remotely. He kept saying things like she should have figured out childcare by now. But it's not like there's a camera in her living room so we can magically know what she's doing every minute.
I was honestly shocked that he asked me to be part of this in the first place. She was one of our strongest people before she went out on FMLA, and she's still doing very well since she came back. They already lowered her level when she returned, which was disgusting enough, and now this too?
I have never had any issues with her work. She's good, responds quickly, and always gets her work done. I don't like that my manager is trying to put me in the middle against another coworker, especially since it feels like she's being targeted. My job is not to monitor people in their homes or build some weird paper trail against them.
This is putting me in a bad position ethically and professionally. My manager is manipulative and has lied before, so I feel like if I go to him directly, he'll twist my words or get defensive. And if I go to HR, I'm afraid they'll tell him anyway and then I'll be the one with a target on my back.
The other thing I'm worried about is that if this coworker goes to HR later or takes any action, and it comes out that I was asked to document things about her. I don't want to look like I went along with it, because I'm not doing what he asked. But I don't know how to protect myself here.
Any advice would be appreciated, because I'm angry and also kind of panicking.

edit: its absolutely gross if you don't trust people you work with why you hire them from the beginning ,If I were her I would resign to find more green flag workplaces who respect my motherhood better ,there is now lots of remote jobs websites and even tools like interview man who could enhance your performance in online interviews and in its real time , feeling sad to all working mothers out there

InterviewMan on a real MBB style case round, anyone used it past the first round yet?

Why every workplace needs a union contract, regardless of the job:

My manager asked me to monitor my coworker who just came back with a newborn baby