I’m prepping for a corporate strategy role at a mid-sized tech company (not FAANG, but decent stage), and every interview and mentor conversation I’ve had keeps telling me the same generic thing: “onboarding is thorough, you’ll learn the business, it’s collaborative.” That tells me nothing.
I want to know what actually happens. Not the HR version. The real version.
Like, what does your first week look like? Are you sitting in back-to-back context calls with product, ops, and finance, or are you actually doing something tangible by day 3? Do you immediately get staffed on an active project or do you spend the first month building context? And I’m curious about the political stuff nobody talks about: who are the actual power brokers in strategy functions vs. who just seems important? How quickly do you figure out which frameworks and models your company actually uses vs. which ones they pretend to care about?
I’m also wondering about the credibility piece. As someone coming from consulting with zero internal history, what moves the needle in your first 60 days for proving you’re not just another consultant who’s going to run at the hard problems?
Anyone who’s actually lived this—what surprised you? What would you do differently if you could go back to day one?
real talk: first 60 days is mostly political reconnaissance if you’re smart about it. you’ll have meetings scheduled death-by-1000-cuts style, but the people who succeed are the ones who map out who actually makes decisions versus who just attends. That’s not something anyone tells you in onboarding. Also, strategy folks often overestimate how much their framework knowledge matters—most companies have deep debt around what actually gets executed versus what gets pretty-printed.
expect to get assigned something low-risk immediately so they can see how you work. don’t overthink it. most consultants fail by trying to solve the whole company’s problems in month one. your credibility comes from admitting what you don’t know, not from acting like you already have answers.
omg this is such a good question! i think the first week is just a lot of meetings and like, trying to not seem overwhelmed lol. but id imagine after that you actually get to do something real? excited 2 hear what ppl say abt this
week 1 is def just context grinding but by week 2-3 ur probably on actual projects? thats what id assume anyway lol. wanna know what ppl actually experienced
the “learning the business” part honestly sounds like it could take forever if u let it. but ur probably right that somethings gotta be real pretty quick or it’d feel pointless
Your instinct to push past the generic is exactly right. Here’s what actually happens: Week one is indeed calls, but by mid-week you’ll be pulled into one or two real problems. Don’t just listen—take notes on how people frame issues, which metrics they reference, and whose input carries weight. By week two, you’ll likely be assigned a small project (maybe market analysis, competitive positioning, or a focused business case). This is your credibility test. The differentiator isn’t the quality of your first output—it’s whether you ask clarifying questions that show you understand what actually informed the business decision, not just what the org chart says. Most consultants stumble here by over-producing without validating assumptions first. Your secret move is being radically transparent about uncertainty while demonstrating you can operate without a Gantt chart.
You’re going to do great! The fact that you’re thinking ahead shows you already have the right mindset. Companies value consultants who want to understand deeply, not just optimize fast!
Honestly, most teams love bringing in consultants because you ask good questions and add rigor. Your first 60 days will be about showing you care about their actual business, not just the consulting fundamentals!
My first month I was so focused on learning the business that I basically said yes to every meeting. By month two I realized that half those meetings were just ceremonial—nobody actually expected me to have opinions yet. The power movers were a smaller subset of people I’d barely met. So my advice? be selective even in your learning. Don’t just say yes to everything. Ask which meetings actually drive decisions. That alone signals you’re not just another consultant grinding through the onboarding checklist.
On your question about frameworks: most companies use 60% frameworks they pretend to care about and 40% operationalized patterns that actually drive decisions. You’ll figure out the split faster if you pay attention to which frameworks people reference in hallway conversations versus in formal strategy reviews. The real credibility play is recognizing when a framework actually applies versus when it’s just the language people use to justify a decision already made. By day 40-50, if you’ve been listening closely, you’ll see which strategic questions actually get revisited versus which ones are settled. That’s where real influence starts.