Vault’s Verdict

Kearney appears to be going from strength to strength at the moment, adding both clients and headcount as it successfully navigates the post-pandemic business landscape. Which makes it an exciting team for consultants at the firm—in addition to client work, there are plenty of ways to get involved in building the firm as well.

While quality of life can occasionally suffer during crunch periods, insiders describe a firm that is caring, collegial, and that offers compensation closer to the top of the market than most of the competitors around it. All of that, plus the opportunity to make rapid, well-thought-out career progress make this a firm to pay attention to as part of your search.

Firm Culture

“A firm that has a huge impact, without compromising the human side of the work.”

“Bottom-up problem solving. We work with you, not on you. We know the content, ensuring our team members are expert.”

“Kearney is small enough to promote a collegial environment but large enough to meet the needs of F500 clients.”

“Seeing employees as humans and actively asking for teammates’ opinions despite their work experience or level—not just consulting robots to build slides.”

“Unique size - large enough to compete with anyone, but small enough to minimize rigid hierarchy.”

Quality of Life

“Culture of the firm is the best (or close) in the consulting industry worldwide.”

“Excellent flexibility on work location (virtual, home office, co-located office, client site).”

“If you’re a high performer, it is hard to find the time to take off. You are always in demand.”

“Most people are very friendly and willing to connect which is super helpful for getting started at the firm. Engagement can be poor at office-wide events, but I've also recently started so perhaps that's due to the small sample size of events I've attended.”

“Significant independence. Taking time off is as simple as asking for it, my preference for work location is always considered, and I work on my own schedule as long as my work is completed.”

Compensation

“All in all, the benefits are excellent. The company has so many corporate travel partnerships which will go a long way towards building status over time. …”

“High cash compensation with equity appreciation.”

“Salary progression is non-market competitive especially on manager and principal levels. Additionally, direct promotes to Associates are paid ~67% of post-MBA Associates for one year while being held to higher standards.”

“Strong compensation at all levels. Just introduced a very unique equity model that benefits all ranks starting at manager.”

“The 401k match could be better. The compensation adjustments have been appropriate so far.”

Career Development

“Best- deliberate, careful attention paid to learning and growth. When colleagues and I raise our hands to express interest in a particular learning or development opportunity, leadership takes notice. On the contrary, I wish there was more ‘wiggle room’/customization in certain required learning experiences.”

“Best: the genuine support and investment walking-the-walk in DEI; Worst: our clients want more specialists and once you are specialized and recognized, changing is harder.”

“Informal development has been excellent, but it took me a while to find the best resources/mentors. Once in place it's been great, but it took longer than expected to get going.”

“Our firm is big enough to engage with very interesting clients in impactful projects, but small enough to be in a very friendly/intimate/inclusive environment.”

“The culture within the firm is excellent. As someone coming from a non-traditional background, I believe the firm has put an extensive infrastructure in place to help me succeed in the short and long term. I can’t say I’ve been at the firm long enough to find areas to be critical of.”

Community Engagement

“Diversity is clearly a priority to Kearney, which I sincerely appreciate. There are many on my teams and in my office who are different from me, and I appreciate that. All consultants have access to promotional opportunities and interesting/high-quality work.”

“I've only recently started at the firm so can't speak to this in-depth, but I will say I've heard D&I discussed several times in company-wide meetings, which indicates it's a priority for the firm.”

“Large and continuous sustained efforts across the board.”

“Somewhat misbalanced from diversity perspective but lots of initiatives to fix any issues.”

Business Outlook

“Kearney produces high-quality work and the employee morale is pretty high (especially amongst the younger employees, like BAs, SBAs, and Associates).”

“New acquisitions & compensation initiatives to attract / build talent and capabilities.”

“Smartest people working on the most impactful client issues with a focus on innovative solutions.”

“Strong demand for our expertise, especially in supply chain and with that, logistics expertise.”

“The company is well-positioned for future growth based on its strength in operations & transformations—aspects of consulting which should grow substantially over the years to come.”

Hiring Process

“[The ideal candidate is a] critical-minded problem solver, creative, good listener, works well in teams, curious, high energy, thorough, thoughtful.”

“It was very well done. I got a response right away on the progress or feedback from my interview which was very helpful and a great sign.”

“Mix of case and behavioral, 2 rounds. Ideal candidate is extremely skilled in a broad set of areas. Top notch talent.”

“The firm was incredibly high touch during my interview process which went a long way, especially because other firms I was interviewing with had terrible communication (even those at which I received offers).”

“The recruiter was very involved, approachable and accommodating. I appreciated how communicative my recruiter and interviewers were.”

Interview Questions

“Case interview questions and behavioral questions.”

“Case interview was very simple/straightforward compared to MBB.”

“I received two behavioral interviews and three case interviews, which were somewhat difficult (not the most difficult case interviews I've experienced). The cases were in industries I had no prior experience in, which I believe was intentional. I appreciated that the firm was solely focused on my thought processes and abilities to communicate those thoughts/ideas. All interviewers were very kind and insightful.”

“Kearney interviewers will create a case question from their client work, so like a snowflake, each one will be different. As such, you need strong listening skills and to probe for information using your approach framework to obtain the data needed to complete the case.”

“Tell me about a time recently that you learned something?”