Hey everyone,
I have asked this question before a few years ago, but wanted to ask again. Has anyone used Firmsconsulting services? Can someone vouch for the quality of the training program that they provide? I am wondering because they charge a very high $ for training for off-cycle recruiting, and I am wondering, what is a 1st hand experience?
They charge $10k? They better guarantee me 3 offers and a promotion if it costs that much.
Most people pay significantly more for college, yet expect nothing of the sort.
Recommending Victor Cheng over FC is like recommending McDonalds over a 3-star michelin restaurant.
BS. I'm a principal (senior manager, couple years out from partner) at MBB and heavily involved in recruiting. Victor Cheng's stuff is gold for most of our hires. It's also a lot cheaper than FC. I don't know a single person we've hired from FC but almost everyone uses Victor Cheng's stuff.
McDonald's tends to be cheaper than Michelin restaurants, and I'm certain McDonald's has more customers as well. Obviously, neither of those points make McDonald's a higher quality option.
Also, how do you know what prep material your hires use? Sounds rather strange to me - how is it in their interest to share that with you? What I also find strange is that, for an MBB principal, you build arguments with rather weak logic.
Why wouldn't they share it with me? I ask all our new hires what the process was like and collect feedback - we are a feedback heavy culture and it's in my best interest to collect feedback that optimizes the recruiting process. That includes finding out prep materials to ensure high potential candidates are getting access to those types of materials.
Why would they share it with you? How is that in their interest?
The fact that more people use it and succeed does not prove it is better, it proves that more people use it and succeed. Success rates, not popularity, prove effectiveness. McDonalds has higher volume sales than any Michelin restaurant. Does that mean McDonald's provides higher quality than a Michelin restaurant? Your answer would be 'yes', which is why I consider your reasoning skills weak.
Also, Im guessing you must be the one throwing all the monkey shits. Quite petty.
This is hilarious... I take it you don't work at a consulting firm. As I mentioned, we're a feedback heavy culture and it's ingrained within everyone to speak up about things to improve processes. If I get better feedback about preparation processes, I can then pass these processes on to high potential candidates and get better talent for the firm as a result. We work as a team, so anyone who joins the firm is invested in ensuring we get better talent. Contrary to popular belief on this forum, it's actually quite difficult finding talented people, and talented people usually do not have problems getting job offers from multiple firms.
Given the high number of people who have received offers using VC's material; and the (albeit anecdotal) observation that I've seen nobody receive offers from firmconsulting's material, I'd say your McDonald's-Michelin restaurant analogy that you like to use is quite flawed.
And no, I wasn't throwing monkey shits before, but I might start now.
The whole problem with this is that the added value is VERY questionable, and he seems like a prick. If you only take in a very select group of extremely motivated people (why the hell would anyone in their right mind pay 10k otherwise?) the chances are that they would've landed an offer anyway. Easy to be a good coach if you're playing with an all-star team to begin with.
I signed up for TCO for a month as well. I agree with the posts above. While the material on FC is good and very valuable, paying exorbitant amounts of money for their training program seems like an overkill.
@Carmbar is right on the money. If you pick the top 10% of applicants and train them for 6 months, chances are they'll get one of the MBB jobs. This means the placement numbers they repeatedly prophesy should be taken with a grain of salt.
I also find Michael very arrogant. The claim that all the training staff are former partners is preposterous. I doubt that Michael himself has ever been a partner at McKinsey. I also agree that some of his answers to the cases are too vague. From a structuring standpoint his approach is decent, but you're on your own after that.
That said the material done with Kevin Coyne is a gold mine. I would sign up for a month just to go over that material.
Michael was a Principal at BCG, I believe. And a partner at Rolland Berger. The excruciating level of detail and insight that is provided in his book "Succeeding as a Management Consultant" cannot be made up. Whether he was a partner or not, he has a solid perspective. Having said that, I agree that he can come across as arrogant (If you want a 'feel good' training program, this is not for you).
Re: Victor Cheng: He spent a little over 1 year at McK many years ago. He did get several offers at the time, but you can't claim that he understands management consulting. A good chunk of his newsletter content consists of out of whack' philosophy pieces.
Value for money and arrogance aside, I find that Michael and firmsconsulting provide more substance.
I have not heard many MBB hires talk like Michael, but I have heard quite a few partners talk like him.
I have a feeling you spent money on Firmsconsulting and are trying to justify it to yourself.
Let me help: it was a waste of money.
Buyer beware. Paid over $10k for Michael's service
TLDR version - If you pay anything to firmsconsulting, pay for video series. Do TCO 1 Felix perfect answer and TCO 2 aside from last two episodes. Take it with a grain of salt because a lot of what he says is incorrect or outdated. Michael is too arrogant to care or correct this - Michael's $10k program will not add to your training. It will detract - Michael will withdraw support in the middle of the program and "suggest" that you pay for an additional video series - Have spoken with five clients. None have MBB offers, and none had training anything like his video series. Michael pretends to be your mentor but he won't even answer emails. He uses the 15 hours of time to go on random rants, talk about irrelevant philosophy, and suggests convoluted networking strategies that backfire badly. He promises follow-up but does not deliver and attributes it to office moves, a two month break in December and January, a video series he's shooting - All five clients I spoke with commented that Michael's behavior and suggestions were counterproductive with many getting feedback from MBB firms that things that Michael suggested worked against them in the interviews - Michael's focus on ethics and his statement that he does not care about money are a ruse to hide the fact that he only cares about money and there is nothing ethical about his behavior. What you see in the videos is not what you get - Even Michael's video series has poor results, and in the $10k training he will usually cut his sessions short so you are actually getting less than 15 hours -- Felix Season 1 aka Peng Zhong works for Bayer now -- Alice Qinhua Zhou Season 2 "was managed out of McK for being too transactional" according to Michael -- Michael Klein Season 2 never was hired - Never buy a product from somebody who uses a fake name. Michael Boricki is a fake name
>- Never buy a product from somebody who uses a fake name. Michael Boricki is a fake name
Should we listen to a post from someone that uses a fake name, brg653?
Josef nice of you to have only two posts, defending Boricki. Very credible source. Are you part of his marketing team?
In any case, brg653 is not chagring you $10,000 for the post.
Update: I bought the service from Micheal for $10K, and I have the same experience as brg653, a BIG waste of money. I deeply regret hiring him, because that money is a lot. I got sold on his sales pitch, probably because is delivered in a British accent.
I haven't talked to any of his clients, so my experience is stand-alone. He doesn't respond to emails on time.
The first stage is fixing your resume, and I can tell you the version he developed is pretty bad. It took 3 hours out of the 12 hours you have total of his time to help fix my resume, and the feedback he gave me was very vague each time. Each time he would arrogantly drill on my resume bullet points, but without any concrete suggestions. All he would say is that those points "are not good enough" and "don't get the point across". It was painful, but not in a constructive way. In the end, I confronted on his useless feedback, and he finally gave me concrete feedback. That session took 20 minutes to change my resume. He could have done that all along w/o wasting any time. Yet, the outcome he produced was not of significant better quality.
The second stage is the training / networking, in which he wasted a few hours just talking about things that have no relevance to the topic. For example, he espouses bullshit theories that have no backing, and often reverts on his stance from call to call.
My problem is that he provides no structure. He is just sitting back and answering questions. For $10K, I expect concrete materials and not just conversations. I will say, his points are some times valid. His sales pitch is vague, and so his delivery is not against any promise he made. But there is nothing new, or unique to justify that coaching price. He hasn't added any value to my recruiting process whatsoever.
I haven't used his other materials, and it may be useful. I would refrain from buying his coaching service. I also agree that this whole "ethics over money" thing just seems like a shallow act.
(Found this thread when searching for Michael Boricki online)
I suscribe to their premium program (TCO + Executive program), and have been a client for almost 2 years now. I haven't received any one-to-one coaching from anyone at firmsconsulting. Like PanzerDancer, I use the content on a daily basis.
The negative reviews posted here surprised me, mostly by how negative they are.
I regularly find pearls of wisdom in the podcasts, which sometimes benefit my clients. More often, I'm reminded of experiences from work, and the program helps me think these experiences through. I also use the material to test how I explain concepts and train teams. Although just starting, the Matassoni and Coyne programs are pure "strategy wisdom".
The content might be light on the technical side, it's often targetting junior applicants (obviously), other than that I've found those programs to be great resources. And while I'm not shocked by Michael's tone or his supposed arrogance, it probably would be grating over the phone or in a long skype call.
tldr: the content helped me shape the strategy of half my clients in the past 2 years. They have seen significant improvements, and my "star" is clearly rising. For $150/month, that's all right.
Interesting to see new posters coming out of the woodwork for Firmsconsulting. Firmsconsulting is as close to a scam organization as it gets. Michael promises the world and delivers not just nothing in the $12k consulting program but actually bad advice that will limit your prospects with an MBB firm.
Michael is a conman with no face or personal online presence. He will have an introductory call with you where he will make you feel bad about your abilities and use that to his advantage to sucker you into his package. He will mollycoddle you for the first few days while you decide to spend your money and then withdraw almost all support soon after
Perhaps Michael has lost his way with time, and once delivered the value that he promises. That is not the case now. Videos and I've watched hundreds approaching a thousand of them are sometimes useful, but get repetitive and useless very quickly (i.e. self help book tropes, Michael preaching for sometimes 10-15 minutes continuously about what annoys him about the world). $12k consulting program is pure drivel and was worse than useless. I had to get retrained on case methods to get the MBB job I have now.
Everybody I know who followed Michael's methods has failed even most of the people he features in his videos. Do not be a sucker for Firmsconsulting. You will regret it. Very unethical organization despite preaching high ethics. There are many alternatives out there and even if they fail at least you will not have lost as much money
I am also curious to know more about this elusive Michael Boricki character. The free stuff FC posts online is good and has been helpful in shifting my thinking about career management, but I find his approach to case interviews annoying and arrogant. For one, he makes uncompromising statements in unnecessary consulting double-speak (e.g. never use "frameworks", only use "decision trees") intended to woo anxious MBB hopefuls by making the interview process seem near-impossible to crack. Unless, of course, you pay for one of his expensive services. He often talks about how his firm has cases that no client has ever solved, which is preposterous but a smart way to market his services - introducing the idea that candidates are doing some or everything wrong. This is how a lot of management consultants sell their services, which at least confirms something about his otherwise unknown past.
Why doesn't "Michael Boricki" put a real name or face to his company? What does he have to lose? Other extremely successful consultants, Matassoni and Coyne, are willing to associate with the company, but not the man actually running the operation. It surely cannot be because it would hurt Boricki's reputation to run such a business, otherwise the aforementioned would be affected, too. Does the Boricki's moniker allow him to lie or exaggerate past accomplishments? Frankly, if the impetus behind the business is to produce fantastic, ethical consultants, one would hope for the truth or at least some transparency about the founder.
I can't but agree more with the whole "why hide your name" comment. I have gone through some of his stuff online, it seems decent and could give you some insights. However, I don't like his lack of transparency nor do I like the prices he charges without producing tangible results.
I did 1:1 training with Michael, paying $5k for the service. To get maximum value, I also paid for, and studied, his videos at the same time.
Highlights:
Overall, I would say the experience was highly valuable (spending $5k made me dedicate to it), but this was driven by the effort I put in (over 150 hrs) using free materials - 1:1 time with Michael didn't exceed 7hrs, max.
For people considering buying 1:1 coaching with Michael, I would suggest using other services that connect junior MBB resources with candidates at per hour rates (usually ~$100), and doing more cases e2e. You can augment this with Michael's high quality materials - the free stuff is mostly fine, but a month of S1/2 will really help.
Cheers!
I just resubscribed to get access to their Managing a Crisis video, and chanced across this.
I paid $5k (if memory serves correctly) back in 2015 for Michael's in-person training. I was 2-3 months away from a BCG on-site, and I engaged his services. I ultimately did not get into BCG, but I stand by the quality of his training.
Background Previously, I used Victor Cheng's material. That was enough for me to clear round #1, but my performance in round #2 (with the partner) was always inconsistent. I interviewed with McK and BCG and got to final round with Victor Cheng material. Then out of the blue, after rejected BCG emailed me and gave me another final-round interview in less than 6 months from the email date. I took up the opportunity. The problem with Victor Cheng, even his LOMS material, is that it was not clear how to consistently pass the final round.
FirmsConsulting This was when I came across firms consulting training material, and they were like WAY BETTER than Victor Cheng's nonsense. I could now see a path of how to interview well. Because I was hard pressedf for time and had a BCG final round in a few months, I decided to ask Michael for help. He accepted me, and we started
Training with Michael
I'm not sure why everyone is bitching about him being arrogant, rude or mean. I found him very personable, no-nonsense type of person. If you're offended by his personality you must be some loser snowflake.
I personally felt that I improved my performance with both FirmsConsulting material and Michael's training. I admit, it's hard to figure out which helped more, but remember I was under a time constraint. Also should mentioned I had a day job during this time (no longer a student).
I still remember Michael scheduled a call with me on the morning of the on-site interview and that improved my morale. Ultimately, I failed the BCG final round, in some sad sense because I "overprepared" and the two case interviews were TOO EASY. How is that for irony? That's because normally at the final partner-round, it's common not to be able to totally solve the case, because they can be really complicated. Instead, my two case interviews were basically textbook cases of stuff you would get at round #1, but I was hesitant and looking for "the catch". In hindsight there was none, and if I had just pushed through with confidence and momentum, it's likely I would have gotten the offer (my opinion). Also, if I had more difficult cases, it's likely I would also have gotten the offer (my opinion).
Since then, I've not reapplied for MBB and moved onto another career path. Despite my failure for getting into BCG, I still think the $5k was worth spent.
So knowing that the majority of people with MBB offers did not pay for anything or maybe spent $200 for a coaching session elsewhere, you dropped 5k then did not get the job but still think it was money well spent? Not to mention the fact that you had already gotten to the final rounds twice without it...Interesting
I've followed Firms Consulting for years and one day I finally decided to sign-up for the 1 on 1 training with Micheal for $10k at the time.
Highlights:
8% of applicants that apply for training with Michael are accepted - is what's advertised (not sure if it's still advertised), I can only say I spent very little effort preparing the application because of work circumstances, overall appicaltion was poor by my own non-overachiever standards and I got accepted quickly. When accepted you receive a letter with feedback on the appilcation essays, the feedback received referred to specific events/data not part of my essay or application.
80% of clients get offers - this seems very high based on my experience and feedback from others that went through the program
No refunds at all - Michael has a strict policy under no circumstance are there any refunds no matter what. The rational on the website is that someone got an offer once without finishing all their hours and wanted a utilize the remaining time for other services and they thought that wasn't fair to them. This is highly unlikely to be the real reason, the reason has to do with how poorly treat clients after they take the money, no one would ever stay if they could get a refund. What you see on the websites in TCO in terms of they interactions they have with clients is just a performance to lure clients, the reality couldn't be more different.
It was actually $10k + a credit card processing fee which is to over $700, the extra charge is not revealed until last minute in a discrete way
Yes, Michael is arrogant, rude, difficult and inpatient if you didn't experience this you are among the minority and most likely female as he's an introvert that's shy with females so the full personality may not come out. He has the exact opposite personality that a good coach should have. It is also very strange how there is no online presence for Michael at all, you will not find anything about him anywhere. This is not a coincidence and speaks to his personality. You will also not find very many places online that have reviews of Firms Consulting, there are almost none, again this is not by chance, remember no refunds under any circumstances.
The TCO case training videos online are nothing like the real 1-to-1 training sessions - in the case training videos online Micheal is very nice and accommodating, this is just a start performance, in the real 1-1 training he has a different personality, he is very short, inpatient and can't ever be wrong with alot of inconsistent and vague feedback.
Resume feedback - he will not help you edit anything, its mostly structural and vague feedback. He does this with everyone in coaching because he doesn't have time or patience to provide specific tailored feedback, you are considered a micro transaction in his world. In TCO videos online you will hear him give more specific feedback and actually make resume edits himself to perfect things , this is just for the online videos
Networking advice - you will be mostly directed to listen to content from the website on networking and to reach out to partners on linkedIn. This is not strongest area of expertise for Michael as the advice is limited and approach is very dated. He will also give you conflicting advice and when confronted he'll get upset and blame you for something, it doesn't matter anything.
Case interview training - you will be directed listen to the case training online which you need to pay extra for before starting case training sessions. After that Michael will give you some case drills to prepare you but you must already have some the fundamentals down from the videos. Surprisingly the training you get just listening to the videos is as good if not better to the one-on-one.
Incase you have questions or need Micheal for anything in between the sessions he is very difficult to reach, it was sometimes taking almost 3 weeks to get a reply. He will aslo direct you to contact him over email to give him updates but then say that email isn't included as part of the coaching when he doesn't respond !!??!
Overall I believe this program started out as the best case prep program ever a long time back and if you see the client ea testimonials online from when it was started at its clear that has helped many get but over the years its become very diluted and less focused on client success or experience and more on the volume of clients and simply generating as money as possible. There is a lot of talk about values in FC for a good reason, its to cover up all the horrible things that they actually do with clients once they're in their program.
Please reach out if you need more info will be happy to share.