Which offer to take for MBA internship

Hi there, 

Congrats on the two offers! You are very fortunate. 

Aside from the criteria you mention, I'd heavily recommend you also think about location, and how that is aligned with your long-term goals. It's a big difference between ME and London. 

Now, let me take your questions one by one. 

1. Type of projects: My preference would be more finance / core strategy projects and less operations / execution projects

You can expect OC&C to do more of the former and Strategy& to do more of a latter. This is based more on my perception and knowledge about the firm rather than official data. Still, it's hard to tell anyway because the project type mix also differs from geography to geography and it's also something that you as a consultant in that firm have an influence on. 

2. Conversion chances from Internship to full time

Strategy& is larger and thus more able to absorb more people. Still, don't take the decision based on this. Your likelihood of converting it into a full-time offer has more to do with your performance during the internship and that in turn is influenced by how much you enjoy the company culture and type of projects. 

3. Work culture

Overall, not very different. The differs regions will have a big impact though on the mix of people you're going to find in that particular office.

4. Growth potential

Similar. Perhaps with Strategy& you have more flexibility since it's a larger company. 

Best of luck!
Cristian

Hi there,

I think this is an interesting question that may be relevant for many people. I would be happy to share my thoughts on it:

• I would highly advise you to opt for the company that better aligns with your professional (and maybe even personal) mid- to long-term goals. You should have already gained an insight into their work culture during the recruiting process, and all other factors are similar except for regional differences.
• In order to make an informed decision about it, I would advise you to do the following:
  • Weigh the different criteria that are meaningful to you, independently of the current options (e.g. prestige, culture, international exposure, compensation, location). After that, score the two options depending on your criteria and their weighting, resulting in two scores (this way you have covered the left-brain perspective).
  • Critically assess your initial reaction to the outcome of the scores. For instance, if you feel the urge to tweak the numbers, this is a solid indicator that you do not want this decision to become reality (this way you have covered the right-brain perspective).
  • By doing so, you will be able to integrate both your feelings and facts (and thus both parts of the brain) into the decision-making, guaranteeing a higher chance you will still be happy with it years later.

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

Best,

Hagen

Hi there,

Congratulations on the offers! In terms of your question:

Q: It would be great, if someone can share how these 2 firms fare in below aspects.

I don’t have direct experience with those specific offices, but there was a recent question on the comparison between OC&C and Strategy& at the link below:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/strategy-vs-occ-strategy-italian-office-emea-13259

If you want to do extra due diligence, contact Alumni of your university (not current consultants) that worked in those offices (bonus if they worked for both companies). You will learn more in a 30min call with them than with any online research you may do.

Best,

Francesco

Hi there,

Remember, you're relying on someone here having intimate knowledge of the inner workings of a “random” boutique in Europe and then also of a Big4 all the way around the world in the Middle East.

This is exactly what networking is for! Please please go and actually speak to the people at these firms! Pick up the phone, meet for coffee, and actually find out for yourself.

Ultimately, two big things you need to decide are: 1) Do I care where I live (and which so, do I prefer London or Middle East) and 2) Do I want to work for a big, large firm or a smaller boutique (pros and cons for each).

From their you can then think a bit more about question 1 and 3. I would probably ignore #2 as that's on you and your performance/fit and ignore #4 as this is highly dependent on a number of variables.

Hi there,

In my opinion this is a no-brainer to go for Strategy& in the Middle East for two reasons:

1. Strategy& offers you much more interesting projects, more C-level, larger clients, better exit ops, etc. OC&C is a boutique firm.
2. Middle East is one of the few regions growing at the moment, an exciting area to be currently and likely for the next 20 years.

Overall, the opportunities that will come out of the Strategy& offer in the ME are significantly better.

On top of that, I would say the following to answer your questions:

1. Strategy& will give you more freedom here and projects to choose from
2. Should be the same for both
3. Could be more friendly at OC&C. I had interviews there 10 years ago for an internship and the office culture was really nice (what I witnessed). I would reach out to current consultants to discuss this.
4. Strategy& wins here

Cheers,
Florian