Why Don't Operational Restructuring Firms (Alix, A&M, FTI, etc.) Hire Undergrads?

Hi fellow primates,

I was wondering if anyone on here, especially those that have worked or currently work at an operational restructuring shop, could provide some insight as to why these consulting firms do not hire full-time employees directly out of undergraduate college.

I understand this space can be a bit more complex due to the different industries involved (i.e., bankruptcy law, finance, and accounting), but I don't understand why these shops still wouldn't consider an upcoming college graduate that has an adequate understanding for this space.

Additionally, I would like to point out that, although extremely competitive, the financial restructuring side run by banks do hire undergraduates out of college.

Does it have anything to do with it being a consulting (client-facing advisory) role? Working on an hourly wage? Appreciate any ideas.

6 Comments
 

Appreciate that insight @zhang128. Everyone I've spoken to at A&M and Alix, as well as the Big 4 restructuring groups, have pretty much told me they don't hire undergrads. I actually haven't spoken to FTI yet, but I figured it was the same.

Yung Bull
 

FTI does recruit directly from UG for its restructuring group but that's neither here nor there

Regarding A&M or others, their inclination towards experienced hires makes sense. Gaining the highly nuanced/specialized skill set that is required to do the turnaround work they do takes a great deal of targeted training. It is a lot easier to teach these skills to someone who already has the core consulting skillset from 2+ years of traditional MC experience. Teaching someone both at the same time would be difficult, and it may take quite some time to see any return on that investment. THus, experienced hires make much more sense for their model

Source: friends at the firms

 

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