EY-Parthenon senior consultant (soon to be manager) vs. Senior Associate at BCG

Question

Hi everyone,

I am lucky enough to have landed an offer to join BCG as senior associate consultant. I am currently a confirmed senior consultant at EY-P (with 3 years and a half experience). If I stay at EY-P, I should become manager by January 2022 or June 2022. Whereas, at BCG, I have at least 3 years before Case Team Leader promotion (so september 2024). Does it seem like a reasonable move given the following elements ?

1) My salary should remain the same (or slightly lower at BCG given the role gap)

2) My entry level at BCG is not negotiable at all

3) I expect to stay at consulting for 3 years at least (if not more, as I really love the job)

Many thanks

Answer 1

Hi there,

Congratulations on your offer. I think it may still be worth to move to BCG despite the lower entry level if:

It allows you to open doors for exits interesting for you not available now (eg PE)
You believe the MBB brand may be useful for your future plans (eg for me was definitely useful when I had to raise money for my startup as validation)
You are looking for an MBA and will have the options to get it covered by BCG in case of good performance
You found a better connection in terms of people/culture at BCG
Projects at BCG are more interesting to you

Best,

Francesco

Answer 2

Hi there,

Congratulations!

Personally, I think the brand leap is well worth it, especially if you expect to stay. The brand on your resume, the network you're going to build, and the training you're going to get are well worth the (temporary) drop in title.

Just my two cents, but I am ex-BCG so I may be biased :)

Answer 3

Hello!

Congratulations on your offer! :)

We have to wait for ex-BCG collagues to speak here, since they are the ones who will konw best.

However, in McK for instance, even if you are not officially manager until you are promoted to EM, you are J-EM for a few months before (junior EM). Furthermore, coming from consulting previously, I would see quite feasible that your track is faster.

Regarding the money, and even more if the difference is not so high, I wouldn´t regard it as an important KPI in this decision tbh.

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Answer 4

Hi,

I hope you took the BCG offer :)

For anyone who is facing a similar situation - take the MBB offer. I speak from experience having switched from a T2 to MBB.

In the long run, the benefits far outweigh the cons of staying at a T2 firm.

Happy to chat on my decision/experience making the switch to anyone who is interested.

Answer 5

This depends on the specific country, but in general Parthenon is similar to BCG in terms of career progression and ranks (albeit with different names).

So you only have a difference in brand power and sometimes types of projects (e.g. in general, EY-P is quite strong at CDD work, PE, Education, Consumer Goods…)

So what you are describing is actually taking a step back when moving into a competitor.

It makes sense if you really want the more powerful brand and want to do other types of projects. As you have some experience you may be able to move faster that initially expected at BCG.

On the other hand, it seems that you enjoy where you are and that you are successful. So you will cut your own salary and risk discovering you don't like the new culture, or something going wrong and not making it to manager at BCG.

If I was so close to being a manager, I would rather become a manager, and only move afterwards. Becoming a manager is hard, and being successful in that jump opens a lot of doors.