(Central Square) EC student Kathleen Michaud started a networked job search last Thursday at 8:12pm, and it had nothing to do with the fact that she was dinged by McKinsey at 8:03pm, Michaud alleged.
“Seriously, it’s pure coincidence that McKinsey chose not to extend me an offer just minutes before I got on the alumni advisors database to search for HBS grads working at boutique strategic consulting firms,” said Michaud. “I swear I planned to start the search that night. I think I even have a calendar item in Outlook to prove it.”
According to Michaud, she went through the grueling McKinsey interview process out of nothing more than simple curiosity. “I just wanted to see if I could make it through the process. Even if I did get an offer, I definitely would have turned it down.”
Former McKinsey consultants at HBS were surprised by Michaud’s statements. “If I remember correctly,” thought EC student Amanda Madsen, “Kathleen spoke to every EC and RC student who worked at McKinsey before HBS or during the summer, which is seriously about 500 people. If that doesn’t show intense interest in a firm, I don’t know what does.”
EC student Greg Erickson echoed Madsen’s statements. “I spent a good two hours speaking with Kathleen about the firm and even ran her through a couple of profitability and market entry cases the night before the interview,” Erickson remembered. “She sure seemed enthusiastic to me.
At one point she asked me if I thought it would help her prospects if she divorced her husband before the interview because someone told her McKinsey doesn’t like married people. I thought she was joking so I told her to divorce him only if her marriage is bad. She told me the marriage is great, but sometimes you have to make sacrifices to get what you really want. It was kind of creepy.”
While there are a number of theories about Michaud’s “coincidence,” it is not the only such event that occurred last week.
According to sources, Frank Naples accepted his offer to return to Bear Stearns less than three hours after he “bombed” his Goldman interview.
Ken Laughlin is reported to have accepted his full-time offer from his summer job at EMC immediately after he realized he’d get the rest of Hell Week off.
