Vault’s Verdict

If you have a technology background and want to break into consulting at a successful firm whose culture retains its start-up roots, DayBlink Consulting might be a fit. Insiders at this firm laud its approach to career development. Promotions are evaluated on a monthly basis, without rigid tenure requirements, and while the firm doesn’t boast much formal training, informal mentorship is abundant for those who seek it out.

The firm’s culture is friendly, with many insiders listing the friends they’ve made at work among the top reasons they’ve chosen to call DayBlink their long-term home. Even though the company is remote-first, staff regularly get together at local WeWork facilities, and the company even organizes multiple all-staff retreats to exciting locations, such as Puerto Rico and Park City, Utah. Hours tend to be reasonable, and PTO is generous.

Compensation at DayBlink is another point in the firm’s favor, according to insiders. Base salaries are competitive, and the firm’s bonus structure includes incentives for participating in the sales process and a profit-sharing component. Benefits, including health insurance, are fully covered. 

If you want to join this firm, make sure to prepare for case exercises before you apply. Its interview process requires candidates to complete a timed case based on real client work, including data analysis, building a presentation, and sharing the results with a panel of interviewers.

Employee Reviews

Firm Culture

• “This firm is a true meritocracy, enabling people to climb the ladder at their own pace (not up or out) and compensating them accordingly (if you support revenue generation, you get paid for it). Though COVID scattered us around the country, we still have a substantive culture that differs from other consulting shops. We like each other as people (not just colleagues), which is the single greatest reason our average tenure is approaching 10 years.”
• “The firm prioritize quality of life and a strong work-life balance. Team members are eager to level load and help each other. The culture is very team-oriented, making consultants really feel supported by the firm.”
• “We have great work-life balance that allows you to control your schedule as much as possible given a client schedule. We work around major life events, appointments, or competing client needs to give people what they need. In addition, we provide opportunity to work remotely at WeWork to give people a break from their home office. In the end we are consultants, so there is rigor in the day-to-day, but I think it’s managed really well here—it never feels like a burden.”
• “We do an awesome job and care a lot about health and wellness. In addition to all of the on-paper benefits and matching and coverage, we also really promote healthy living from a culture perspective: conducting health and fitness challenges, sharing healthy cooking recipes, checking in on people to make sure they are doing okay mentally and not burning out, and really trust one another to be open and honest.”

Quality of Life

• “The shift to a fully remote business model provides great flexibility, while weekly or biweekly WeWork gatherings help maintain a strong sense of culture and connection. The firm offers 20 days of PTO, which is generous, but it would be even better if there were a firmwide winter holiday shutdown to allow everyone to fully disconnect at the same time.”
• “We emphasize a work hard/play hard culture with bi-annual firm sponsored retreats to places like Puerto Rico and Park City. We also regularly host in-person get-togethers like baseball games, happy hours, and community service days. Work hours vary based on client and time of year; generally, our days are full but not regularly excessively long. Client travel in the post-pandemic era is picking back up but still much less frequent than pre-pandemic.”
• “My experience has been relatively stable in terms of weekly hours. Of course, there are weeks when I’m working a lot more than 40 hours, but it relatively evens out. It is luck of the draw, though. I have noticed that people at higher levels (managers) are typically working long hours, managing multiple clients.”
• “My firm does a fantastic job of fostering a great culture. Everyone is likeable, and they spend a lot of money on culture events. I work hard, but I’m not asked to work unreasonable hours. Time off is very flexible here and I get 20 days/year.”

Career Development

• “Promotions are evaluated on a monthly basis, which creates frequent opportunities for advancement. The firm also fully supports employees in pursuing certifications that align with our business offerings, providing flexibility for professional growth. However, the firm does not yet have a formal mentoring program, which could help employees navigate career development more effectively.”
• “Promotion based on merit and contributions rather than rigid tenure requirements. Clear feedback and direction is provided. The process is dependent on the employee to drive the process leading to greater personal ownership on advancement.”
• “Promotions are when the candidate is ready and the whole process is really well-run. I feel very supported by my superiors and feel they genuinely want me to develop. However, we are a bit too small to have a robust formal training program, and international opportunities exist, but are hit or miss depending on the existing work.”
• “Minimal training for new staff; push certificates for experienced staff.”

Compensation

• “Salary is competitive, and the bonus plan is strong and clearly communicated. Consultants also have the ability to be compensated for directly supporting sales efforts. Promotions are also more available as tenure is not a hard requirement.”
• “The compensation package is well-rounded, including a competitive base salary, commission bonus, firm contribution bonus, and utilization bonus, which together reward both individual and firm performance. However, salary bands have not been adjusted to reflect market changes since 2020, which has caused base salaries to fall behind industry benchmarks.”
• “I think we have a really strong compensation package, including base and bonus, as well as sales attribution and profit-sharing to entice people to engage in the sales process. There are tons of ways to be successful at DayBlink.”
• “Full gym reimbursement.  Numerous health and wellness initiatives, such as GymRats and Steptember.”

Business Outlook

• “The firm has a strong business development pipeline, which provides confidence in sustained growth and stability.”
• “We have established a really strong client base and continue to see opportunities in the market, and we’re working to establish a true sales position which should help to soften the steep peaks and valleys in our sales pipeline. These, in addition to hopeful prospects of currently dormant clients, makes us feel very confident in what is to come. As a small company, we are reliant on our key clients which always imposes risk.”
• “We are heavily involved and invested in three growth areas that seem to be very hot topics in the industry. It appears we are mostly constrained by our ability to find new colleagues!”
• “We seem to have some good contracts lined up. I also believe in the firm as a whole and know that we deliver strong work. However, consulting’s outlook as a whole has been a bit tough lately.”

Hiring Process

• “DayBlink Consulting has an extensive interview format that spans past experience in management consulting. There are two types of case studies—the first that’s a business case and presentation, the second that’s analytic—and then an assessment of fit and career aspirations.”
• “Our interview process is very streamlined. We complete a short phone screen to align on interest and expectations of compensation. We conduct a single, extended panel interview that requires candidates to build and deliver a presentation including case-like analysis. Sometimes, a shorter follow-on interview will be conducted. Typically, a decision is made after the panel interview and the candidate is notified within 72 hours. We are seeking candidates that are naturally curious, comfortable with ambiguity, and desire to do high quality, impactful work.”
• “I think we’re looking for someone who upholds what has been most successful in our past. To summarize, I this is someone who is open to blending their work and life. We do work that we care about and are willing to invest in for our clients. Internally, we spend our time with one another and on things that we hope are important to our new hires (volunteering, building our internal culture, participating in team activities, etc.)”
• “We are very selective in who we end up hiring due to the small nature of the firm; we have a low margin for error in hiring the wrong candidate. As such, we are looking for intelligent, self-motivated, well-spoken, personable candidates who can be dropped into a client situation on day 1. While we do have analyst-level staff, we primarily try to hire at the consultant level due to our small size.”

Interview Questions

• “Our interview process is covered in one main three-hour session where we provide the interviewee with an interactive case study-style presentation that requests them to analyze data, use past experience, and build and present a client-ready presentation. Once this effort is completed and presented, we conduct a standard behavioral interview. Finally, once the candidate is passed through this interview, we ensure we meet them in person, regardless of location, to ensure that they have a good personal presence and feel comfortable with our team despite remote work.”
• “The interview process contains several screening calls and a live case study run by a panel of staff from partners to consulting staff. The case highlights critical thinking, time management, and slide building.”
• “Our interviews start with a simulated client deliverable (candidates are provided with two hours to complete the prompt, which includes doing some data analysis, coming up with a recommendation, building a PowerPoint deck, and then delivering it as a presentation to an interview panel). After that, the interview questions are fairly standard to get a feel of experience and fit within the organization. Overall, our interview process is very rigorous but allows us to have a good understanding of the candidate through just one interview vs. many.”
• “What interests you about management consulting? What do you dislike about your current position? What are you most excited about in potentially changing jobs? What are you most nervous about? Help me understand your day-to-day. Please describe what a typical day in your current role looks like. What was your favorite project you’ve done? What were the objectives and details of the project and how did your role fit in?”