Is it difficult to transfer from Italy to other locations within BCG?

Hi Anonymous,

compared to McKinsey, BCG is operating more in "regional cells". This means, they are less globally integrated as a firm, which has a couple of implications of global mobility of consultants.

Generally speaking, there are several types of transfers - and it becomes trickier, the more "permanent" you want your move to be.

Temporary office transfers:
Lasting 12-18 months, you're essentially an expat, and you're expected to transfer back to your home office afterwards. One tricky twist (at least as of a few years back) is that the whole exchange program is supposed to net out, ie some other consultant needs to be found to take your place. As you can imagine, this is easy if you're based in a very popular location (like London or NYC), trickier for some other offices.

High-growth offices:
Some offices, especially the ones that have been setup recently and are growing fast with a lack of local talent pool have programs to facilitate temporary or permanent office transfers. It should be pretty easy for you to get to know which ones are currently "open" right now. Of course, by definition you're talking emerging countries and/or relatively exotic geographies - not NYC or London.

If you want to move permanently:
If you want to move somewhere else on a permanent basis, that's a bit trickier with BCG. Given that they operate less in a global "one firm" way, it is not in your home office's best interest to let you go, because they were the one to invest on finding you, firing you, and training you. So, they basically won't have an inclination to help much - instead they might try to have you wait. So, if this vital for you, being crystal clear about what you want will be critical to make it happen. You will literally have to go on peoples' nerves (CDA, HR, your current managers). Even more important: reach out to your target office to sell yourself! Concretely, to make the transfer happen, you have to make the target office pull you!

All of that being said, ther is one overarching truth to it: if you are a high performer, everything will be MUCH easier. If you struggle, you might not be a ble to pull it off.

(edited)

Hi A,

I need to say that transfers are a pretty tricky thing and require a lot of sensitive political skills.

I had two transfers in my career:

1. From the Financial Services practice to Automotive within the same region
2. From Munich to Dubai office

Different companies offer three types of transfers:

1. Temporary project assignment abroad (for the duration of the project)
2. Short-term office exchange programms (usually between 3 and 12 months depending on the company)
3. Permanent office transfer

All of them are different in terms of difficulty to get. While project assignments abroad are quite common and easy to get, permanent office transfers are very challenging and require hard work from your end and a bit of luck.

In any way you would need the support of your mentor, the staffing manager in your region as well as partner in the targeted office, who will push your transfer.

If you need any help, just drop me a PM.

Happy to share my experience.

Best,

André

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(edited)

I would say that is quite difficult, especially if you do not have strong personal reasons. As mentioned, if office you are targeting is growing strongly that makes it somewhat easier but you will need to work harded to network. At the end to transfer you need a pull from your target office and assume home office will try to retain you as much as they can.

Hope it helps,

Andrea