Getting into an English speaking office MBB

Question

I am student in a target university in central Europe doing a Masters in management. I have entreprenerial experience from a bussiness i co founded with my father and its still going good but i have mediocre grades in my UG because of this . (SE EU area)

I would like to get into strategy consulting but unfortunately the offices in the country require german which i started learning some months ago (nowhere near business proficient). So my OCR is probabaly useless(?)

I would like to target another location which has an only English requirement. I don't really care if it will be in Europe or not and I am actually thinking that some years outside Europe might be a good experience.
In which offices i might get away with it? Any tips on how to approach this?

Answer 1

Hi Nick,

the closest locations you may target which do not require other languages besides English are:

UK
Nordics
Middle East
US
South Africa

Out of them, the one where you could find easier to be invited for interviews is probably Middle East, as they recruit heavily from abroad. However, please be aware that for all this geographies above it will be extremely difficult to land an invitation without a referral, as (i) they are targeted by many people who focus on English speaking countries only and (ii) you are not physically present in the region, nor probably have work experience in those areas. As a consequence, I would structure the process as follows:

STEP 1: Polish your CV and Cover

STEP 2: Find a good referral in the geographies interesting for you

STEP 3: Apply via referral only

As for how referrals work, you can find some more information at the second post I wrote at the following link:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/open-house-at-bcg-311

If you are interested to know more about the process, feel free to send me a private message and we can check if I can help you more according to the geographies you are interested in and your target companies.

Best,

Francesco

Answer 2

I would say your best chance would be to apply to Middle East offices of the firms especially Dubai.

Another English speaking country that you can aplly to is Canada (Toronto, Calgary or Vancouver)

Answer 3

Dear Nick,

In Europe you can try UK, Nordic, Brussels.

Around the world - Middle East,US, South East Asia.

While aplying it's always better to have some relations or past experience in thus country - citizenship, study, intermship, working experience.

If you need any further help, feel free to reach out.

Best
André