Experienced hire (consultant level): is salary negotiable at a wide range?

Question

Hi all, I'd like to seek your advice on experienced hire. I have graduated from MBA 2 years ago. And because of that, I can only apply through the "experienced hire" track. A couple of questions:

1) Given that I have an MBA degree, if I get an offer from MBB, is it definite that I will be hired at the consultant (at BCG/Bain) or associate (at McKinsey) level?

2) Given that I have related consulting experience at a tier 2 firm, is it possible to negotiate specific rankings, such as "2nd year consultant" or "2nd year associate"?

3) Do MBB firms give ranking according to whether the candidate is from a target school? I've heard in some rare case, people get lower rankings (associate at BCG / BA at Mckinsey) just because they graduated from a non target school. (Note: top school according to major rankings but just not MBB's traditional target school in the region)

4) Regarding experienced hire, is the salary negotiable? Just heard from a head hunter that the salary range of Mckinsey for the experienced role is "100k - 170k" in my region (seems like an "associate role" given the JD). Quite surprised given that the salary is "negotiable" at such a wide range, especially compared with the standard salary if hired through the MBA recruitment channel.

Appreciate your comments.

Answer 1

Hi there,

Yes
Yes but possibly they will grant just 1 year of seniority (and not guaranteed)
I never heard of this – seems quite strange. If they consider the school non “suitable” for MBB, they should not invite you at all to interviews rather than propose a lower ranking
Base salary is normally non-negotiable. You may be able to negotiate the signing bonus and seniority though

Best,

Francesco

Answer 2

Hi there,

1. Yes, I can't see a world where you'd be anything else. You are in the "sweet spot" for this role.

2. Yes. I would try for this. That said, it's not particularly common.

3. No

4. You can try, but generally the base salary is non-negotiable (everyone is at the same level...annual bonuses are what set people apart). If you're negotiating anything, sign-on/relocation bonus is your best bet.

Answer 3

Hello! In all honesty, experienced hires are proving to be quite hard to integrate into MBB. They are much harder to... (ganze Antwort lesen)

Hello! In all honesty, experienced hires are proving to be quite hard to integrate into MBB. They are much harder to mold, there is much to learn about our ways of working and e... (ganze Antwort lesen)