MBB application - What would be the best decision in my situation?

Question

Hello,

I’m an European citizen and for personal reasons I’m considering applying for a MBB office in Australia.

Would it be possible to apply directly to an Australian office (knowing that they will need to sponsor me)?

If it's not possible, what is the probability to be transferred from an European office to an Australian office (knowing that I graduated from a top Australian university and lived 4 years in total there)?

Thank you in advance for your time and advices.

Answer 1

Hi,

It will be extremely hard to get there directly. When you are applying you can allocate the % points between different offices. So I recommend allocating EU / Australia proportionally.

In McKinsey Relocation to Australia nowadays is one of the easiest relocation options since the market is booming. But you need to spend a couple of years in EU to get the relevant expertise (In Australia its Mining, Retail).

Best!

Answer 2

Hi,

I would forsee the below two options for you.

i) Apply to your local office.There is always a chance to be staffed in an Australian case. When i worked for a case in Australia, my team had around 14 people and we all came from different countries!. A couple of them then extended their stay by getting locally staffed ( long term visas were sponsered by the company). One of the consultant from Paris then found a non consulting job in Sydney is now happily settled there.

ii) You applying from European region to ANZ is very much possible but i would advise that your chances of getting a call would be higher if you could useyour universities networks ( ex MBB), career events, alumni networks etc. As you mentioned that you graduated from a top university, there should be good career services too.

Hope this is a good starter!

Best,
Madhav

Answer 3

Dear A,

Different companies offer three types of transfers:

Temporary project assignment abroad (for the duration of the project)
Short-term office exchange programms (usually between 3 and 12 months depending on the company)
Permanent office transfer

All of them are different in terms of difficulty to get. While project assignments abroad are quite common and easy to get, permanent office transfers are very challenging and require hard work from your end and a bit of luck.

In any way you would need the support of your mentor, the staffing manager in your region as well as partner in the targeted office, who will push your transfer.

I had two transfers in my career:

From the Financial Services practice to Automotive within the same region
From Munich to Dubai office

I need to say that transfers are a pretty tricky thing and require a lot of sensitive political skills.

If you are applying to Australia directly, you chances might be low, considering your need for sponsorship and due to the COVID crisis.

If you need any help, just drop me a PM.

Happy to share my experience.

Best,

André