Experienced Hire recruitment

Hi there

Technically any amount! Literally if you're not going via school recruiting, you are an experience hire.

To “count” towards years of experience, it can be anything. In terms of determining what role you'll start at, it's a combination of # of years and # of years of relevant experience (note, that doesn't necessarily mean just consulting, if you've been a manager somewhere, run teams/projects, done internal strategy, or other relevant work)

Hi there - sharing below from a BCG-standpoint.

How many years?

Experienced hire is basically anyone, who does not start his professional working career with the firm / has at least 2 years of relevant work experience. 

Does the work experience have to be in consulting?

Absolutely not. The firm looks at prior work experience holistically. It is quite common nowadays that someone comes in as lateral / experienced hire without any prior consulting experience. BCG is quite agnostic in that respect, as long as the overall profile is suitable.

The question here is always how BCG calibrates  work experience with the most suitable / equivalent role in the firm. This is really being assessed on a case-by-case basis. If you'd like to understand where you'd likely fall, fell free to PM me - happy to chat.

If you have relevant experience (>1 year) at a top strategy consulting firm, you will likely be an experienced hire. If it is industry experience, then it would be above 3 years.

The answer depends on your purpose for asking this question:

• If you are considering about application timing - then the moment you are out of school and applying directly - you are an ‘experienced’ hire.
• If you are considering about skipping the entry-level roles then I would say the general thumb rule is “X” years of consulting experience, OR “1.5*X” years of industry experience. So a 2 year consulting or 3 year industry experience should be the minimum required to get you past the first entry-level role.

I joined McKinsey as an experienced hire with around 3,5 years of experience in tech companies. As I had a functional focus in operations, I was contacted for a consulting role in their Operations practice both by McKinsey and BCG. 

Depending on your experience level, the entry role in consulting can vary. If you have only a minimum of 2 years of experience you probably might be still considered joining on a business analyst level. 

Industry and consulting experience is both interesting for McKinsey and BCG based on my experience. I worked with many colleagues who had either consulting, industry, and/or functional experience.

Hello,

As usual, there is no straight answer and the term has different meetings in different contexts.  

What's the question behind the question?

If you're looking to know when you should apply along with incoming classes (i.e. regular cycle), I've heard <2 years.  Meaning, if you have >2 years, you can apply off-cycle.   If you're looking for a specific experienced hire role, they should specify what they are looking for.

In terms of industry vs. consulting, I don't think this matters. 

Hope this helps,

Allen

Hey there,

For McKinsey, experienced hire starts with 3+ years of full-time work experience. Below 3 years, you would still start at the local entry-level role.

Cheers,

Florian