Advice for pursuing MBB role after business school

Question

I am currently attending an M7 business school. During summer internship recruiting, I received final round interviews at Bain and BCG, but did not receive an offer. Then, during full-time recruiting, I had a final round interview with Bain, but no offer once again (I was told I was the last one out). During full-time recruiting at BCG, I was told I was well-liked and a good candidate, but priority was given to candidates who are not re-recruiting; thus, no interview. I am pretty crushed because I have been dead set on MBB during business school. I have an offer to work in strategy at a Fortune 30 company (my summer internship) and will likely take that. However, my heart is still set on consulting. Thus, I would love advice/input on pursuing future opportunities at Bain and BCG. I would like to take another shot ASAP--how soon is that? One year from now? Am I crazy for wanting to pursue these firms post-MBA? Any insights into what this process might look like and how to navigate it? (I suspect this is important--I have friends at the firms who I am sure are willing to give me a referral)

Answer 1

Hi,

why don't you try McKinsey?

One year flies, you could strengthen your profile working for the Fortune 30 company or for a tier-2 (OW, ATK, and Strategy& are growing very fast these years) and, meanwhile, work on case preparation and on negative feedback received in the interviews.

Best,

Antonello

Answer 2

As far as I understood now in BCG Dubai are hiring many people with very high salary even though you did not get an offer from other BCG offices, of course if you are interested to move there.

Just an advice, before taking my MBA my only goal was enter one of the MBB. Unfortunately after some years in consulting I realized that consulting, in most of the cases, is a short experience (average 2-3 years) and then you have again to find a job. An expereince in a top 50 fortune company right after the MBA can be even more fruitful because you avoid finding an other job after 2 years and an MBA can help you to skip middle managment roles by entering a company in higher level (in most of the cases MBA program to train future C-level) without spending 2-3 years in consulting to get the same job.

Answer 3

Hi Anonymous,

what is your goal in terms of career path? Unless you want to become an MBB partner, there may be ways to reach your goal even without an experience at MBB.

If you still want to land an MBB offer I would consider the following options:

Apply to tier 2 companies – an offer there will probably help more than the Fortune 30 company to land an invitation in the future. Could also be a good backup plan if you want to stay in consulting if your MBB applications won’t work again
Join the Fortune 30 company and reapply later with the referrals. The ban is usually 2 years, you may ask your contacts if they could consider a new application earlier

Obviously you can also apply for McKinsey if not done already.

Best,

Francesco

Answer 4

Hi,

First of all - don't set it as an overarching goal - it may appear to be not worth it. The average tenure at MBB is 2 years for a reason

Secondly - you can reapply in a year, ideally with a referral. Spend this year on prep.

Finally - check the list of countries where you can legally work. There are some countries that have local recruiting and the global reject does not apply there.

You can also try second-tier consulting (e.g. Strategy& has comparable post MBA salaries)

Best

Advice for pursuing MBB role *after* business school

Advice for pursuing MBB role after business school