I see the other coaches just copy-pasted a standard answer and I think they have no hiring experience, so I'll try to be honest:

• Your experience does not give you the possibility to be considered an experienced hire
• Non-strategy consulting experience is in most cases irrelevant to MBB
• The only lever you can try to activate is asking for a 5-10 K€ signing bonus; the salary will be the starting one
• You are likely to start from the bottom of the pyramid (I have seen people hired as visiting associates with your experience)

Hi there, 

In MBB, as in most other large consulting firms, there are specific salary bands for each role. That means that for the vast majority of roles, the actual compensation is not negotiable and will only increase with a promotion or tenure.

Taking that into account, if you start as Associate, a person who is coming from an MBA with no work experience starting as an Associate will have the same compensation as you. 

You can try and negotiate depending on the role you'll be in, but I suggest you do it after the interview once you have the offer, rather than before. 

Best of luck!
Cristian

I can echo the fact that consulting firms typically have the same base pay for all consultants on the same level/in the same role. This also goes for non-MBB. Therefore, you don't really have much opportunity when it comes to negotiating base pay. Either you negotiate a higher entry level in order to receive the higher base pay associated with that level or you negotiate a signing bonus (if you feel like you must negotiate at all).

However, I would recommend to look at it from the perspective of total compensation (base salary + expected bonus + additional benefits) to compare it with your current job and decide whether you can live with the package offered to you.

In any case, leave all of these discussions for when you hold a written offer in your hands.

Good luck

Hi there - 

I will start by saying try to negotiate.The simple thing is if you don't ask, you wont get. However, in reality, it depends at what level you will be brought in (most likely new consultant, post masters hire) and the bands for the different levels of consultant are quite standardised across the board. So in reality, they might not negotiate the salary much. If I were you, I would try to negotiate more on the sign on bonus as that is where the firms have more room to negotiate. 

It would be extremely rare for you to not start with the same base salary as everyone else. In MBB salaries are decided by class (that is the year they started), so all classes have the same base salary and yours will also match that as a rule.

Where you do have room to negotiate is the joining bonus and it depends on various factors, the most common being that the base pay is lower than your current pay. 

In my personal opinion with just 1 year of work experience you should not worry about salary negotiation. You will be extremely well compensated over time at BCG and very likely make more money than your current role anyway.

Best,

Udayan

WIth your experience, you will be an entry hire (and you should want to be considered one, to avoid early up-or-out decisions where you have a problem because you're not performing as well as your peers). 

Your salary is not negotiable, they are not individually negotiating this. Your sign up bonus may be negotiable.

It also doesn't really matter much. Any benefit you could get would be short lived, as career progression is fast, and salary increases are significant as you go up the ranks. So be careful as this doesn't really move the needle…

Hi there,

You are almost certainly likely to start with the same base salary. You should negotiate only after you get the offer.