- Richard Ou posted flyers around the University of Pennsylvania about opportunities at his startup.
- He's attracting fellow 2023 graduates whose start dates were delayed at major consulting firms.
"Did McKinsey, BCG, and Bain delay your start date? We're an investor backed early-stage start-up founded by Penn students, looking to scale our team."
Within an hour of posting flyers with this message around the University of Pennsylvania campus, Richard Ou had his first interested candidate.
Ou, a 24-year-old who recently completed his master's of science in engineering at UPenn, is the founder of Talentifyr, an online platform connecting gig and freelance workers with nearby clients.
Since posting the flyers on May 9, he's had more than a dozen recent grads contact him. Ou has already signed his first full-time employee.
Both newly minted MBAs and those who just earned their bachelor's degrees are coming to Ou, he said, in pursuit of a full-time position to replace their delayed roles at consulting firms like Bain & Company, McKinsey & Company, and Boston Consulting Group. Some future employees' dates were pushed out as far as April 2024.
These delays mean recent grads won't be pulling in big salaries from the major consulting firms — at least not right away. Pay often starts at $192,000 for MBA hires at McKinsey and Bain, and $190,000 at Boston Consulting Group, according to Management Consulted, a resource site for careers in consulting.
The news that some companies would delay start dates has roiled the UPenn campus, Ou said. He saw the pullback by consultancies as an opportunity to fill 10 full-time, remote roles for his startup. He plans to fund salaries through a $3 million investment round he is raising, he said.
The delays from big-name consultancies don't just carry implications for graduates' wallets, Ou said. These setbacks are opening some graduates' eyes to other opportunities, both as a holdover and, in some cases, as a possible alternative to consulting jobs.
"People are realizing that a corporate career isn't the only thing," Ou said.
Ou is combining this break in employment for his would-be employees with the opportunity to do work that "makes an impact" in order to attract Gen Z talent to his company, he said.
Forced to rethink their futures
Many business students follow a traditional path from the Ivy League to top investment-banking or consulting firms.
But "people do it for the sake of doing it," Ou said. "You feel pressured to apply and pursue that path, but not necessarily because you enjoy it."
Now, for many who expected to jump into a consulting job, there's a chance to consider taking another path. Some are reckoning with — possibly for the first time in their lives — what they actually want to do after years spent in school.
"These people are thinking, 'OK, a moment of pause. I got this offer. Do I actually really want this offer? Is this the path that I want to go down?'" he said.
Ou said multiple students told him they are in this boat. One, who has an offer to start at McKinsey in February, told Ou he is considering going to law school instead.
The number of students who have contacted Ou reflects their worries, he said, about a potential recession and a hiring slowdown in the consulting industry.
"These folks have a wide array of talents," he said. Ou believes they're ready to put those skills to use.
Gen Zers are looking for purpose
Rethinking workplace goals is not just occurring among those with new business degrees. Questioning career norms is pretty typical for many Gen Zers. Much of the cohort is pushing for things like flexibility, work-life balance, and even atypical career paths that were less prevalent a few years ago.
It appears that many Gen Zers have new priorities when it comes to job offers. One of the most important is a sense of purpose at work.
"People want to feel fulfilled and part of that is feeling like they are making an impact and adding value to some ideal project," Ou said.
Talentifyr, Ou said, will give its employees the opportunity to help gig workers on the platform build careers that align with their passions, like photography or DJing. By assisting gig workers, Ou expects Talentifyr's workers will see a direct and positive impact from their work. That's what he's pitching to candidates, anyway.
"It's very relevant for our generation; the value alignment is critically there," he said of the opportunities he's offering. Making an impact is a driving force for both himself and many of his candidates, he said.
Future consultants have in-demand skills
Ou is recruiting consultants because they have what he needs, he said. They're essentially already vetted, he explained: "It's a pool of people that has been able to pass through the recruitment processes of established institutions."
Consultants tend to have varying skills, which will meet Ou's need for sales employees and technical workers — responsibilities he's been tackling on his own.
As far as encouraging them to join his startup over a prestigious consulting role, he said the combination of compensation, equity in the company, and workplace values are attracting candidates.
"At the end of the day, they can always back out and return to the full-time office at the consulting clubs," he said.