Hi Jasmine,
answer based on my experience in BCG Europe (Spain+Italy+Greece in particular), cannot comment on other firms, locations.
General rule is changing from BCG generalist consultant to other roles (technical, expert, …) is far easier than the opposite in my experience.
1) Changing from technical specialized roles (Data Scientist, IT/Digital consultant) to general consultant is quite hard even internally (e.g. from BCG Gamma, BCG Platinion to BCG associate/consultant/PL), unless you are very strong performer and get exposed to a BCG Managing Director and Partner that likes you and “bring you in” - success rate < 1/5 if BCG Gamma / BCG Plat → BCG.
- BCG → BCG Gamma is definitely doable if you have knowledge / get exposed to Pyhton and programming - Succes rate 2-3x compared to the opposite
2) Changing from “expert track” (expert PL, associated director, …) to general consultant is hard unless you perform very well in some cases with BCG Managing Director and Partners and once again get offered the chance to “change track”
2) Changing between industry (e.g. Energy, Industrials, Consumer) and functional practices (e.g. Digital to Corporate Strategy) is definitely doable and the possibility to do so decreases as you increase your seniority and is reduced if you are expert track
- Associate - Generalist → Mid-to-easy to get staffed on different practices during the first 1-2 months. You should carefully and proactively pilot your staffing by talking with Partners in advance to increase the chances to be staffed in the practice you like for the long term. Best strategy → overperform in the first case whatever the practice is and then start talking with Principal/Partners: because of a bit of confirmation bias you will be a star for some time and your success rate in moving will drastically increase
- Consultant → Mid-to-easy see above. If you have partners that like you because you are good, you can be “trapped” in a practice, but there are still global rules that force rotation between practice
- PL → You have to more or less affiliate to a practice, so really hard. I have seen Industrials PL going to TURN (functional) but not much movement. Once again your success rate is only a function of your performance (quintiles) and how much a partners scream/wants you
- Principal → very hard. I have seen one/two cases mostly because of a “dead end” in the practice they were in or because of “career transition” mode (going out of BCG)
PM if you want more details .
Hope this help. Good luck for your interview process!
P.