Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is one of the largest and best known management consulting firms in the world. It has 85 offices in 48 countries, employs more than 12,000 employees and is consistently ranked as one of the best companies to work for. Just this year, Fortune Magazine ranked BCG third overall. And for MBAs, BCG almost always shows up on the dream job list.
Founded in 1963, BCG is a global firm worth an estimated $5 billion in revenue each year. Its headquarters is in—you guessed it—Boston, Massachusetts, but MBAs can expect to work in offices across the globe. As for clients, BCG advises private, public and not-for-profit organizations including more than two-thirds of the Fortune 500 list. BCG is known as one of the “Big Three” consulting firms, along with McKinsey and Bain.
Today, BCG consultants help businesses solve problems. They work on everything from developing five-year plans to figuring out growth, profitability trends, strategy, supply chain adaptability and more. And with 12,000-plus employees around the world, BCG consultants can expect to be in prestigious company.
“At the core of our business and our organization is close collaboration—among our employees at all levels and with our clients,” Rich Lesser, president and CEO of BCG, says on the company website. “Working together, our people continually challenge themselves and their colleagues to develop and implement innovative new approaches.”
Why MBAs Love the Boston Consulting Group
Consulting and MBAs go hand in hand. According to the 2015 Prospective Student Survey conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), consulting topped the list of intended industries for both millennial and Gen X respondents (41 percent and 27 percent respectively). As for BCG specifically, a CNN Money survey of more than 5,000 MBA students found that almost 13 percent wanted to work there.
And you need an MBA to enter BCG as a consultant. “For consulting jobs, there are two tracks,” Tina Gao, a BCG principal in the DC office, told Cosmopolitan Magazine.
“If you come in with a bachelor’s degree, you are an associate,” she says. “You assist on projects across the company and spend a couple of years learning the job. You eventually get promoted to a consultant and then a project leader. New hires coming from business school with MBAs start out as consultants.”
And MBAs at BCG earn a healthy salary. A newly-minted MBA can expect to receive a base salary of $147,000 plus a $25,000 signing bonus and up to $42,000 in performance bonuses for a total compensation package of $219,000, according to Management Consulted.
But it’s not just about the salary; it’s about the experience. “Millennials really want to have an impact, and at BCG they do,” Jennifer Comparoni, head of BCG recruiting in the Americas, told CNN Money. Consultants get to tackle “once-in-a career type problems with our clients.”
Life at the Boston Consulting Group
Working at BCG is a unique experience. Consultants work on a variety of cases, Gao told Cosmo.
“We worked with a shoe company that hired us to help them figure out their five-year plan. How do they grow by 50 percent in that time? What trends will be most profitable in the U.S. marketplace? Are they selling their products at the right retailers? We developed a strategy for them, including three to four things they needed to do to grow the business. It worked. Now they are back as a client again. We’re helping them figure out how to adapt their supply chain—manufacturing and delivery—to their growth.”
As for day-to-day life, most BCG employees don’t have much to complain about. On Glassdoor, the company receives a 4.4/5 rating, with 89 percent of employees willing to recommend BCG to a friend and an impressive 98 percent CEO approval rating. As one employee said, BCG has a collaborative culture with “people who truly care about your personal development.” And though the hours are long, the work is interesting and intellectually stimulating.
Jon Malanka, a Harvard MBA who received a full-time offer to work at BCG, explains it best.
“I was elated to be staffed on a consumer goods project and welcomed onto the team. As I got my bearings, I watched our team engage with the highest levels in the organization as well as the more junior folks that were critical to actually carrying out the initiatives. By the end of the project, I was impressed by exactly how integrated we became with the client teams. This was the BCG process in action.
Not only did this mean we would be more successful as a firm, but selfishly, I would learn that much more as well. My learning would be quite limited if the process was to deploy existing methodology from an ivory tower. With the BCG process, the client would get a customized, actionable recommendation while I would optimize my learning at the same time. Work alone did not drive my decision though.
BCG’s willingness to play as hard as we worked provided the last piece of the puzzle.”
Landing a Job at the Boston Consulting Group
Considering the fact that BCG hires about 1,000 people a year globally, landing a job is possible but highly competitive. “We expect you to understand what our company does and also what the consulting industry is,” Gao told Cosmo. “It’s sort of nebulous, and there are a million consultants in the world. It’s a good idea to find someone who works here and talk to them about what we do. Do your research, know what the job is, and understand why you’re interested in this type of job. You also have to familiarize yourself with our interview format because it’s very different.”
As for the interview process, it’s relatively difficult. Interviews last 45 minutes. The first 10 to 15 minutes includes standard behavioral questions such as, “Tell me about a time when …” Next up, you’ll get a case interview with a problem to solve over the next half hour. Unless you’ve done a case interview before, it will take practice.
Another thing to know about landing a job at BCG is that every office operates independently. “There is no headquarters. Every office operates as its own little business unit. When you apply to BCG, you can apply online and give us an office preference,” explains Gao. “If you’re currently in school, the interview will take place at your school if we visit your campus. Then we’ll invite you in for an interview in the office you’re interested in if there’s an opportunity.”
And the best way to land a job is to start on campus. BCG has a presence at many top universities across the United States including Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Wharton and the Kellogg School of Management. At these and other top schools, BCG comes to campus and holds a presentation to introduce the company, returning to conduct interviews.
MBA students also have the option to participate in the 10-to-12-week summer internship program. Applications to the internship program are due each January, and offers are extended by February or March. Interns experience real casework and receive a pro-rated salary. Plus, the BCG internship program was recently ranked by Forbes as one of the “12 Best Internships for 2016.”
This post has been republished entirely from its original source, metromba.com.
