I’m feeling really down. I had an interview for an associate position at a Top 4 Audit Firm. This stemmed from a recruiter (Recruiter A) reaching out to me on LinkedIn to say she thinks I’m a great fit for a position she is recruiting for. On the day of my interview, recruiter A was sick, which resulted in another recruiter (Recruiter B) taking over the interview process.

The interview happened 2 weeks later, which I was fine with. Gave me time to prep etc. It was called a Technical interview with recruiter B. I can’t lie, I thought I was prepared, but some of the questions asked had me scratching my brain for answers. She says there’s no right or wrong but I felt like I bombed the interview.

Feeling so disheartened rn. A part of me also wishes the initial recruiter who contacted me, would have held the interview because perhaps she would give me grace, seeing as she knows what she saw in my profile that made her reach out.

Praying I get through to the coffee chat. Send help 😭😩

Hi everyone! I'm currently working in a Big 4 firm as an Enterprise Technology Consultant. However, I've developed an interest in M&A, primarily in the Post Merger Integration phase. I've done MBA and I'm studying for interviews at the moment.

If anyone has moved from a tech consulting role to an M&A role, could you please give me some tips? Thank you!

Based in Europe (work authorization here), background in tech consulting and finance. Targeting remote roles with US companies and getting nowhere. I am looking to stay in Europe and work remotely for a US company.

For anyone who's done it:

1. Did you land the role first and then negotiate the EOR setup, or filter upfront for companies that already hire globally?
2. Any way to surface those roles instead of "remote (US only)"?
3. Is invoicing as a contractor the more realistic path?

Edit: I am a U.S. citizen.

For context, I have a STEM PhD (very appetibile for big Pharma) + 4y experience in biotech (from clinical to BD&L and portfolio strategy) + finance EMBA with very deep base on financial models.

My idea is to target MBB for 2y in order to broaden my experience toward different companies and then transition into higher role in BigPharma.

I have - I would say- good understanding of strategy in general (not bs books, but rather Porter’s strategy).

I have good case understanding as I always liked using the frameworks you guys use as a base to solve daily problems and give recommendations.

We hired IQVIA/ McKinsey and BAIN and i can flag the issue in their approach (I.e. no clue about rules/regulations + very basic assumptions in DCF calculations.. which might work for IB, but not for Pharma). Here is where I can create value = real experience across drug development value chain.

What stops me:

1. being perceived as a sales guy from industry leaders, with no P&L accountability (crucial for director + level).

2. Have 30yo bosses that have zero experience in industry and thus zero leverage (beside company’s name) with the clients.

3. Big companies are valuing less and less external consultancy, because they are figuring out that most of the (very general) job is done by 1-2 people that can be hired internally. This allows the firm to;

a) keep the expertise in house and available immediately
b) tailor the expertise to the firm’s pipeline and culture.

That being said:

- are MBB interested in my profile?

- is it worth for me to commit to consultancy for 2y or better go toward an industry position?

- is there anything I missed to consider?

Thanks

Hello! I reached out to a Partner and ended up getting a referral from them to a role at Deloitte. I am coming from tech where I was a director level and I’m interested in possibly coming over to Deloitte. Should I go Manager or shoot for Senior Manager. I have 10 years of experience and have worked in multiple industries. Not sure what the comp (base & total) could be/ what I should aim for. I have a call with a recruiter tomorrow and they’re setting up calls with other peers for interviews. Thank you for any insight.

I’ve been prepping for consulting all summer I have a final round with Bain coming up, I noticed that my mind is restless I have a racing heart, and multiple panic attacks I always see everyone saying it’s unsustainable idk if I’m suited for this but I also want to make good money I don’t know what to do honestly I need help

Hello! I have recently applied to a job as a Business Analyst with Deloitte. I feel that I am a competitive applicant but I am wondering if there is anything I could do to increase my chances of getting an interview. I have already reached out to my connections on linkedin. I appreciate any advice! Thank you!

Studying in the US, applying for FT 2027, international. Which other consulting firms should I apply to? I know Oliver Wyman, FTI, LEK aren’t hiring intls. PwC and KPMG also don’t hire intl. Please let me know which other firms I should be applying to?

Excited about joining in September was wondering if anyone had any tips on how best to network for work and find your way onto strategy focused engagements? Any tips would be great!

Hi everyone! I was wondering if anyone can shed a little light/advice/insight into Economic Consulting, and if I should pursue a PhD to get into top positions in the field, or if a MA will suffice?

I understand that a PhD is a huge loss in potential earnings during a 4-5 year period, but I also worry that if I don't get a PhD (did not do my Bachelor's or MA at a top 20) I wouldn't be able to get into the highest paid positions/there will be a serious ceiling I would reach? I just don't want to get to 45 and realize I should have done a PhD (as knowing me I would not go back and get one at that age), but with so many people getting MBA's and joining these jobs with just a Bachelor's/MA, I worry I'd be making a stupid financial decision, but if I don't get the PhD, I'd be making a stupid career decision?

Any insight/knowledge from people's experiences would be great!!

I have a business and engineering background as well as 5+ years of experience in strategy consulting. It’s a dying field imo. Do you think I can pivot into the IT/tech arm of the MBB consulting firms, especially BCG Platinion or McK Digital? Or is business not going well for them either?

Which consulting firms target UIUC as a school? Are there majors that are targets versus others or are they open to a broad set of majors from UIUC?

Need some real gyaan from seniors here.

Background - Built a media/entertainment company in college, was COO there, scaled to 56 members Team with actual growth and revenue numbers. Few startup internships in business ops, plus decent PORs like IEEE, Placecom, incubation cell.

Graduated in 2025, dropped my on-campus offer due to personal reasons and taking one more drop because I feel now is the right time for MBA next year. In this 2 year period I have been building my own MVP, will launch after CAT.

My long term interest is clearly in building / entrepreneurship, but for placements I'm only looking at Consulting and GenMan roles. I can code really well, have experience in talent management, marketing, COO / business ops, and I'm decent in maths, stats, data science.

So my main question is - In interviews how do I display myself as someone who is really interested in startups but is open for consulting / genman roles only? I don't want to sound confused or like I'm keeping options open randomly.

What should I expect in such interviews and what should I actually prep? Like before interview, after interview, before joining b-school, after joining, before SIP, before final placements?

If anyone from FMS / IIMs / XLRI with a similar startup + consulting mix has cracked it, please share how you framed your story.

TLDR - GEM CSE 91/96/77, fresher with startup COO exp (56 member team) + MVP building in gap. Wants to position as startup guy but targeting only Consulting/GenMan for placements. What to expect and how to prep for interviews?

With a fresher + 2 year gap profile, how realistic is strategy consulting from colleges like IIM I/S/M/U? Is MBB even on the table or is it mostly Big4 / Tier-2? Please roast if needed, but give me the real picture.

What should I focus on now? Like before interview, after interview, before joining b-school, after joining, before SIP and before final placements?

One more thing - I'm building 2 separate MVPs which are actually step 1 & 2 for a bigger ecosystem play I want to build in 5-6 years. Can't merge them now but they will make sense later.

Please roast if needed, but give me the real picture.

Profile - 91/96/77 [8.5 CGPA] - GEM, CSE, grad 2025. - Unreputed Shit Engg College

Realistically IIM A/B is out, target is FMS / IIM C / IIM L / XLRI but ideal/realistic as per my profile is IIM Indore / Shillong / Mumbai / Udaipur + SIBM.

Need some real gyaan from seniors here.

Background - Built a media/entertainment company in college, was COO there, scaled to 56 members Team with actual growth and revenue numbers. Few startup internships in business ops, plus decent PORs like IEEE, Placecom, incubation cell.

Graduated in 2025, dropped my on-campus offer due to personal reasons and taking one more drop because I feel now is the right time for MBA next year. In this 2 year period I have been building my own MVP, will launch after CAT.

My long term interest is clearly in building / entrepreneurship, but for placements I'm only looking at Consulting and GenMan roles. I can code really well, have experience in talent management, marketing, COO / business ops, and I'm decent in maths, stats, data science.

>So my main question is - In interviews how do I display myself as someone who is really interested in startups but is open for consulting / genman roles only? I don't want to sound confused or like I'm keeping options open randomly.

>What should I expect in such interviews and what should I actually prep? Like before interview, after interview, before joining b-school, after joining, before SIP, before final placements?

>If anyone from FMS / IIMs / XLRI with a similar startup + consulting mix has cracked it, please share how you framed your story.

>TLDR - GEM CSE 91/96/77, fresher with startup COO exp (56 member team) + MVP building in gap. Wants to position as startup guy but targeting only Consulting/GenMan for placements. What to expect and how to prep for interviews?

>With a fresher + 2 year gap profile, how realistic is strategy consulting from colleges like IIM I/S/M/U? Is MBB even on the table or is it mostly Big4 / Tier-2? Please roast if needed, but give me the real picture.

>What should I focus on now? Like before interview, after interview, before joining b-school, after joining, before SIP and before final placements?

One more thing - I'm building 2 separate MVPs which are actually step 1 & 2 for a bigger ecosystem play I want to build in 5-6 years. Can't merge them now but they will make sense later.

Please roast if needed, but give me the real picture.

Profile - 91/96/77 [8.5 CGPA] - GEM, CSE, grad 2025. - Unreputed Shit Engg College

Realistically IIM A/B is out, target is FMS / IIM C / IIM L / XLRI but ideal/realistic as per my profile is IIM Indore / Shillong / Mumbai / Udaipur + SIBM.

Best books you recommend for consultative selling on discovery calls for contractors?

selling services like coaching/consulting. not produsts.

Hi! I am a first year MBA student at Georgetown in their part-time program and I just applied to the Summer associate position and I’m also eyeing the consultant position that starts in January 2027 both at Bain.

I come from 5+ years of experience at a market research firm where consultants are some of our clients.

I have a relationship with a senior partner at Bain that I’ve worked with through my current company for the last three years. He attends many of my roundtable meetings and we’re connected on LinkedIn. We haven’t talked outside of work and have only met him in person once otherwise all virtual.

I’m wondering if it would be a good idea to send him a LinkedIn message saying that I’ve applied to the Summer associate position and/or that I’m interested in the full-time consultant position to see if he could put in a good word for me or even be my referral. Is this not a good look or idea?

Hi everyone,

I am wondering when you already received a rejection letter technically you are on the cool down period before you can re-apply next time.

Does this cool down period applied generally that you cannot re-apply for any role or the cool down period only applied to the position that you tried?

On my case I was already rejected for FT position at BCG ‘Technology & Digital Advantage Practice’ can I re-apply for ‘Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT)’?

Thank you in advance

I’m with Accenture S&C GN in the industrials team with 12 yoe, 34 fixed 9.5 variable.
Have following offer -
PwC india one consulting - customer consulting team - building material and auto as Manager. 44 lacs fixed 35% performance and 5 lacs JB

I have another offer from industry OEM-
AGM strategy & planning - 42.5 lacs fixed, 4.7 lacs variable and 4.3 lacs JB

I’m split whether to leave consulting and be back in industry (I came from industry and since I was fresh into consulting I was low balled in terms of designation).

Need suggestion on -

1. What to opt consulting or industry

2. What is the average yearly hike and performance pay % in PwC

3. Within manager what are the different levels, o was told that with the package offered it must be higher band of manager and promotion should be faster to next level.

4. In how many years I can expect promotion to SM

5. Any other perks for M grade

6. How is the travel requirement? Frequency?

7. Do managers have to manage multiple projects simultaneously?

Since I have to make a call very soon, any insights will help. Thanks

KPMG India/PHDCCI recently published a ~60-page report titled “Heritage Reimagined: Driving Immersive, Tech-Enabled and Experience-Led Tourism.”

It covers heritage tourism, Hyderabad, AI guides, digital twins, AR/VR, gamification and even quantum cryptography.

It looks polished. Big Four branding, LOTS OF FANCY GRAPHICS, lots of citations.

So I did something simple:

I opened the citations and checked them.

I’m not saying the entire report is fake. Several headline statistics do check out.

But I found enough problems with source interpretation, sample populations, technical claims, AI analysis and basic proofreading that I genuinely wonder what the final review process looked like.

Some examples

KPMG presents	What I found
65% of “Gen Z travellers” will pay a sustainability premium — Deloitte 2025	Matching Deloitte result appears to be 64%, from 2024, and about Gen Z consumers, not specifically travellers
“Millennials and Gen Z global food trends”	Several statistics inside the chart are actually reported by American Express for all global respondents
Cultural encounters/gastronomy described as trends among travellers	Underlying ATTA research surveys adventure travel tour operators, not travellers generally
India has 145 ticketed centrally protected monuments	Contemporary 2026 Government of India statements say 143
Telangana foreign tourism: ~60k → ~150k, presented as growth	Official series is roughly 68,401 → 160,912 → 155,313. So 2024 actually declined from 2023
Digital twins were “initially developed for monitoring nuclear plants”	The cited source does not establish that history; the modern Digital Twin concept is generally traced to Michael Grieves / PLM work around 2002

The most revealing issue: changing the population

KPMG says:

“65% of Gen Z travellers are willing to pay a premium for environmentally sustainable products and services.”

But the matching Deloitte finding appears to be:

64%
from 2024, not 2025,
and referring to Gen Z consumers, not specifically travellers.

So we effectively get:

2024 → 2025
64% → 65%
consumers → travellers

The 1% difference isn't important.

Changing the population being measured is.

A consumer-attitude statistic does not automatically become evidence about tourism behaviour.

The American Express charts have a similar problem

KPMG has a chart titled:

“Millennials and Gen Z global food trends.”

It includes percentages such as 69% preferring street-food vendors, 53% exploring bakeries and 50% using grocery stores.

But American Express distinguishes between:

“global respondents”

and

“Millennials and Gen Z surveyed.”

Several percentages KPMG places under the Millennial/Gen-Z heading appear to actually describe the full global sample.

Again:

The number may be real.

The denominator isn't the one the chart implies.

Telangana is a good example of selective framing

KPMG presents foreign tourism as:

~60,000 in 2022 → ~150,000 in 2024

under a section about “growth and momentum.”

But the official sequence is approximately:

2022: 68,401
2023: 160,912
2024: 155,313

So yes, there was huge growth versus 2022.

But there was also a decline in 2024 versus 2023.

Leave out the middle year and the narrative looks much cleaner.

The AI section also deserves scrutiny

KPMG is very enthusiastic about:

AI heritage guides, AI storytelling, LLMs, personalised itineraries, generative imagery and autonomous AI travel agents.

But this is cultural heritage.

Where is the equally detailed discussion about AI inventing:

• historical events,
• dates,
• genealogies,
• translations,
• religious interpretations,
• cultural practices,
• or synthetic reconstructions?

Where are the controls around:

authoritative sources, curator approval, citations, provenance, uncertainty indicators, community consent and human review?

The report spends far more time explaining how AI can make heritage “immersive” than explaining how institutions prevent AI from manufacturing history.

Interestingly, KPMG also discloses on the final page:

“Some images in this report have been created using artificial intelligence technology.”

Good that they disclosed it.

But the report doesn't identify which images, which tools/models were used or provide image-level provenance.

For a report built around the ideas of heritage and authenticity, that's worth noting.

Then there are the spelling, grammar and QA errors

These don't prove the analysis is wrong.

But in a professionally produced KPMG report — especially one that lists a Research Team, Compliance Team and KPMG Design — the volume of obvious errors is surprising.

Examples directly from the report include:

“Adventure Travel Tarde Association”
instead of Trade Association

“Actvity Popularity Rank”
instead of Activity

“heritage securtiy”
instead of security

“Through thoughtfully interventions”

“Combing asset and experiences”
apparently meant to be Combining assets and experiences

“ways that aligns”

“travellers increasing value experiences”

“multimedia light and sound show at Golconda fort show”

There is also a Hyderabad digital-twin sentence saying the model is:

“comprising data points”

with the actual number missing — even though elsewhere in the same report KPMG gives the figure as 10.7 billion data points.

And one chart is titled:

“Foreign Tourist Arrivals to India 2019–2025”

while the chart itself stops at 2024.

One typo means nothing.

But when you combine repeated proofreading failures with source-population errors and questionable citations, it raises a fair question:

How rigorous was the final review?

The bigger problem

The report repeatedly seems to follow this logic:

Technology exists
↓
It could be used in heritage tourism
↓
Therefore engagement improves
↓
Therefore spending / dwell time / competitiveness improves

But those arrows require evidence.

A $300bn global gamification market doesn't prove gamification works at Indian monuments.

An AI itinerary generator doesn't prove visitor satisfaction improves.

A digital twin existing doesn't prove more tourists visit.

A survey of 360 Chinese heritage tourists doesn't automatically predict visitor behaviour in Hyderabad.

Evidence that a technology exists is not the same as evidence that it produces the claimed tourism outcome.

To be fair to KPMG

Several important statistics I checked do hold up.

India's ~2.948bn domestic tourist visits, ~9.95m foreign tourist arrivals, several Telangana project values and some of the headline market estimates are broadly supported.

So the correct criticism is not:

“KPMG fabricated everything.”

It is more subtle:

>

And once a polished KPMG infographic gets repeated elsewhere, people stop checking Deloitte, American Express or the government source.

That is how an interpretation error can eventually become an accepted “industry fact.”

My takeaway:

Don't assume a statistic is reliable just because the logo on the PDF is prestigious. Open the footnotes.

If I've interpreted any of the original sources incorrectly, post the source and I'll happily correct the post.

KPMG should be held to the same standard.