Is it possible to live in a different city than the office?

Hi there,

The best way to navigate this is to just talk openly with HR about it. They have similar discussions daily and there is 0 risk involved in having this conversation.

Since you will fly in and out of projects most of the time anyway (even in the NYC office), this should not be a big issue.

I knew many colleagues who were living a flight away from their home office, some even across borders.

The one downside is that you might never attend office Fridays…

Cheers,

Florian

Hi there,

Q: Is it possible to be employed at the NY office and live in a different state, 3 hours away, as long as I'm always showing up when I'm needed + at client sites? 

I guess it could be theoretically possible if you are fine with staying in New York during the week whenever you need to be there (ie, local projects / on Fridays). However, from a practical point of view, I don't think this would be ideal for your family (plus you would have to pay for the accommodation in New York).

I believe there is a reason if you applied to New York and not to a closer office. Depending on the reason, you might consider whether to continue the process for New York or check if it is possible to move the application to a different office.

Good luck!

Francesco

HR does not decide where you live. You do.

The real question here is not on the “possibility”. Sure, it is possible. The real question is on the feasibility, and how to make it work.

If you are living 3 hours away from the office then:

• You may want to be staffed to clients away from your office, so you have to fly to your destination. In this case ideally you live close to an airport. 
• You may ask to be staffed to clients close to home. This is a bit less likely, as living 3 hours away from NY you always have a Mckinsey office that is closer than NY (New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Stamford)
• You are staffed at NY projects and you live in NY during the week

As you can see, unless you are staffed near home, you will always need to sleep away from home Monday-Thursday/Friday. Living 3 hours away from the office is physically not possible - this is a very demanding job.

On a personal note, I used to live 5hours away from my office (and 3hours away in another occasion). I would fly / drive to the office every single week (and stay there during the week). They were super nice with me - when I had meetings that would require travel, they would fly me from home (not from the office) - and on the few occasions I was unstaffed they would let me stay at home and would give me ~24h advance notice if they needed me to show up at the office. 

Hi there,

First of all, congratulations on the progress in the application processes thus far!

I would be happy to share my thoughts on your question:

• First of all, I know of several cases where consultants lived in a city other than their office. So yes, that is quite possible.
• Moreover, I would highly advise you to discuss this arrangement openly with your HR representative. Be transparent about your situation and express your commitment to being present as needed and maintaining high performance at work.

You can find more on this topic here: How to succeed in the final interview round.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on your specific situation, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

It's best to talk to HR. Living three hours away is going to be a problem if you are staffed on any project that is based out of your home office as you will not be able to bill for any hotel stays then. In that case you will be responsible for finding your own accommodation which can be prohibitively expensive in NY. 

Please don't do this. 

I did it, and it was absolutely horrendous. Do reach out, and I will explain more directly. 

But, honestly, don't do it to yourself. It's going to be really tough if you are located somewhere else than where the office is. 

Speak with HR and problem-solve to see what the options are. They tend to be quite flexible and usually come across similar situations. 

Then, you at least get clarity over what you can realistically do. 

Best,
Cristian