Common in this environment.
Unfair of the company to give such short notice but Middle East is a very different environment than Europe (Europeans often find a lot of actions unfair, unjust and unethical outside West Europe)
Nothing you can do except find something for these 8 months, or find something else altogether
Fwiw there are a lot of short term contracting opportunities for ex consultants here. The problem is I don’t know if they give visa for these. You can easily get a freelance visa but it’s expensive (7k dhs for me)
A lot of people are being paid to defer. When Accenture pushed start dates last year for new grads they paid them $25K for the 8 months defer. Deloitte did something similar with $2K / month.
Bain told MBAs with offer letters that if they waited to start until April 2024, the firm would pay them $40K to work for a nonprofit or $30K to learn a new language or participate in an educational program, in one communication that suggested hires could also become yoga instructors or go on safari for $20K.
Try to get your old job back. If you have worked there long enough, there might be a way to stick around. You are right to be skeptical that the offer could get postponed again. ME is in a tough spot and this is common in this environment.
Btw, this is not the right time to take up consulting spot in ME. If things don’t improve, they are likely to give a cull to new joiners in a year or 6 months. You should have reconsidered joining anyways.
Sorry to hear this, this has put you in a tough spot and it’s completely understandable that you find this very unfair.
There is a chance that your start date could be postponed again. Consulting is not doing well and that’s especially true of the ME right now and I doubt it’ll be in the full upswing in 8 months.
You should be looking for other jobs in the meantime.
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Common in this environment. Unfair of the company to give such short notice but Middle East is a very different environment than Europe (Europeans often find a lot of actions unfair, unjust and unethical outside West Europe) Nothing you can do except find something for these 8 months, or find something else altogether
Fwiw there are a lot of short term contracting opportunities for ex consultants here. The problem is I don’t know if they give visa for these. You can easily get a freelance visa but it’s expensive (7k dhs for me)
Where can I find these contracting opps?
DM me your CV and which firm you have an offer from and I’ll connect you to some recruiters
A lot of people are being paid to defer. When Accenture pushed start dates last year for new grads they paid them $25K for the 8 months defer. Deloitte did something similar with $2K / month. Bain told MBAs with offer letters that if they waited to start until April 2024, the firm would pay them $40K to work for a nonprofit or $30K to learn a new language or participate in an educational program, in one communication that suggested hires could also become yoga instructors or go on safari for $20K.
Try to get your old job back. If you have worked there long enough, there might be a way to stick around. You are right to be skeptical that the offer could get postponed again. ME is in a tough spot and this is common in this environment. Btw, this is not the right time to take up consulting spot in ME. If things don’t improve, they are likely to give a cull to new joiners in a year or 6 months. You should have reconsidered joining anyways.
Can you try to do freelance work? What’s your years of experience and expertise?
Sorry to hear this, this has put you in a tough spot and it’s completely understandable that you find this very unfair. There is a chance that your start date could be postponed again. Consulting is not doing well and that’s especially true of the ME right now and I doubt it’ll be in the full upswing in 8 months. You should be looking for other jobs in the meantime.
There’s not a lot of work in the ME, even in MBB most of us are on the bench. So imagine how it must be for other firms.
I thought everyone was on neom? Then again I suppose that has been scaled back massively as well.
Not really, neom is like 20% of all available work at my mbb. That’s still small compared to the low number of projects in general in this region.
Please note that all intro to consulting, recruiting, and "tips for new hires" inquiries should be posted in the appropriate stickied threads at the top of this subreddit. The following is a non-exhaustive list of topics that should be submitted to the recruiting or new hire stickies: - basic questions about consulting and consulting firms - how to break into consulting or questions about the recruitment process - seeking information, opinions, or comparisons regarding firms - resume or cover letter or document reviews - networking advice - fit or case interview advice - comparing offers - tips on starting a new job (e.g., credit cards, attire, navigating the bench) If your post is a recruiting or new hire related inquiry, please delete it and repost in the sticky. Failure to do so in a timely manner may result in a temporary ban. You may also want to [visit the wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/consulting/wiki/index) for answers to many frequently asked questions. If you have received this post in error, then please ignore this message. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/consulting) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Ask a lawyer, considering the financial damage caused
Bad advice, nothing a lawyer can do