Vault’s Verdict
Kearney is one of the oldest names in consulting, and it’s on its way back to being one of the biggest names. Once again, insiders at this mid-size firm report that it’s doing well amid a difficult economy for the consulting industry at large, expanding its offerings and client base.
With its flat organizational structure, the firm is a great place to develop a career. Insiders say that new consultants often work directly alongside partners, that the firm offers a clear path to promotion, and plenty of opportunities to transfer between offices. While the hours can be long, it’s a laid-back, collaborative environment where consultants don’t just work together but build life-long bonds.
It also doesn’t hurt that Kearney pays quite well; insiders consistently praise its generous bonus program. The firm also has strong family planning and parental leave benefits, which means it doesn’t ask its staff to decide between building their careers and their families. Altogether, Kearney is a strong firm to consider if you want to work at a prestigious consulting shop with lots of opportunities to grow.
Firm Culture
“Kearney is a playground. You grow based on your passion and attitude. The sky is the limit.”
“We have a welcoming, fun, laid-back culture. It’s not pretentious, with close-knit teams and offices. People always make time to get to know one another and build relationships.”
“We have a wonderful culture. We are passionate about delivering the best for our clients through collaboration. Everyone's voice matters. We are very close-knit”
“The culture is unlike any other consulting firm. I have made real lifelong friends at Kearney.”
Quality of Life
“There is a push to continually focus on work-life balance. Hybrid work is also tolerated and accepted. If you need to be at home, they can work with you! ”
“Hours can be brutal at times. The job can be extremely stressful and consuming with deadlines and heavy churn. Taking time off is easy, but I often see coworkers working during their time off. I have been a victim of feeling the need to do work on my day off, too.”
“Travel can be flexible depending on the team. We’re always welcome to take time off (of course at the appropriate times). People at Kearney are very personable and will respect boundaries.”
“On most projects there is flexibility with travel and room for some personal life during the week. However, the expectation to take on a lot more work outside of your project work is extremely high.”
Career Development
“Kearney focuses on an apprenticeship model where most of the upskilling of new consultants occurs by managers and project leaders on the job. The formal training is OK, but not frequent enough to substitute for actually gaining skills through client work experience. Kearney has recently shifted to more of a high-performance mindset, with less tolerance for slow-to-develop consultants.”
“Kearney has great transparency with promotions, and it’s easy to transfer between offices. The firm also has a startup called PERLab, which allows you to aid in product strategy, innovation, and development while working hands-on with products.”
“The firm provides lots of hands-on experience and leadership opportunities with a clear path to promotion.”
“Kearney is highly collaborative, creating strong opportunities for you to learn from your peers and people senior to you. It’s very nonhierarchical.”
Compensation
“We get paid really well. I love getting a huge bonus, and the family planning accommodations are wonderful. It’s a great package that pays for you to freeze your eggs, get IVF, and do other family planning things. Parental leave is great and very generous, and even once your leave is done, the firm has a nice way for you to ease back into your job.”
“I’m pretty happy with my compensation overall. One improvement would be offering bigger bonuses for top performers. I see that only about 15 to 20 percent of people are in the top-rated bucket, yet that bonus isn't that much bigger than the average performance one, like it is at some other (bigger) firms.”
“Quick salary progression.”
Community Engagement/DEI
“I feel very welcome as a queer woman of color. The Women's Network, Black@Kearney Network, and PROUD Network are incredible at building relationships and supporting the members' professional development. The firm is very supportive of trans individuals and provides lots of support for social, medical, and legal transition process.”
“We’ve done lots of work in the DEI area. You can tell they are trying to make an effort to promote more women or include them on panels, but we still need more women partners.”
“The firm covers some of the costs of GymPass memberships, which helps when traveling. They provide weekly meditation and mindfulness calls, plus an app to walk you through it.”
Business Outlook
“We are doing well in lean economy, but our scale compared to our peers is too small.”
“We have a new set of very strong leaders across the firm. They are getting very creative in thinking about how we win in our right-to-win areas. There’s also a strong focus on building new capabilities, organically through training our people, and inorganically, through acquisitions and hiring experts with the right skillsets we desire.”
“Leadership is super transparent about how we’re doing. No firm is as transparent as we are.”
Hiring Process
“Our hiring process consists of two rounds. It usually has two case interviews and one behavioral interview. We care about the behavioral interview just as much as the cases.”
“The ideal candidate is a curious learner, is very comfortable with advanced analytics, and has a positive and charming personality.”
“We’re looking for people who are intellectually curious, personable, and coachable, with a strong analytical skillset.”
“We’re seeking people with a passion to make a difference.”
Interview Questions
“Cases are written by each interviewer and focus on real client work they have done. One example might be deciding where to put a manufacturing plant.”
“A mix of case questions and behavioral questions.”
“My interview questions were pretty typical.”
Uppers
“It’s a small enough where people know your goals and progression, but big enough where there's lots of opportunity at Fortune 500 companies”
“Compensation, international opportunities, and life flexibility.”
“The people and the culture.”
“The culture, the people, and the clients.”
Downers
“At a smaller scale, sometimes compensation becomes an issue.”
“We are not small but also not big.”
“I’m surprised that more students don’t know Kearney well.”
“Lack of visibility into our workloads.”
227 West Monroe Street
Chicago, IL 60606
Employer Type: Private
Managing Partner and Chairman: Bob Willen
2024 Employees (All Locations): 5,700
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