Hi everyone,
I hear that most of the consulting projects in the Middle East are in the Saudi Arabia. That means even if you are working out of the Doha or Dubai office you will end up traveling to the KSA frequently. is that still the case? if so, if someone is planning to relocate to the Middle East to work for MBB or Tier 2, is it better to apply to the Riyadh office directly since you will end up traveling to the KSA anyway? thank you!
Hello,
Great question, here are my thoughts:
1) First of all, every company has a different staffing model. If you work in a company with a global staffing model like McKinsey, then you can be staffed anywhere in the world. I know someone in McKinsey Riyadh who works on projects in Dubai, Egypt etc.
2) Now, for the question at hand - let's talk about companies with a regional staffing model like BCG:
a) Doha: For resources based out of Doha, MOST of them are plotted on projects on Doha itself. Doha follows sort of a self-sufficient staffing model with minimal imports/exports of talent
b) Dubai: More than 70% of projects are outside Dubai, a bulk of them being in Riyadh, and some of them being in Abu Dhabi, Oman, Kuwait, etc. Thus consultants typically travel pretty heavily. This has ofcourse changed since covid - happy to talk more via chat.
c) Riyadh: As a Riyadh resource, you will mostly be working on Riyadh projects. However, there are also some projects in other KSA cities (e.g. Jeddah) and you could be plotted there too. Additionally, for example if the rest of your project team is working from Dubai in a particular week even though you all are plotted on a Riyadh client, you maybe asked by your Project Lead to fly to Dubai and work with your team from there!
3) To answer your last question about what is “better”: This really depends on what you value more. Travelling from Riyadh will certainly be minimal, whereas from Dubai it will be high. However, there are other factors to consider when choosing where to work - office culture, standard of living, country culture, etc.
I'm joining BCG Middle East soon thus happy to discuss further via chat if you have any further questions!
Hope this helps!
Rushabh
Hi there,
This is indeed an interesting question which is probably relevant for a lot of users, thus I am happy to provide my perspective on it:
In case you want a more detailed discussion on what to do in your specific situation, please feel free to contact me directly.
Best,
Hagen
Hi there,
It's true that the bulk of consulting projects in ME is KSA based. Should you live in KSA because of this? Well, do you want to live in KSA?
There's a reason why there's also offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, etc. I myself worked out of Doha for some time and had a great time. However, you really need to get in touch with people from the area to get a better picture.
Just note that most MBB hires want to be based in Dubai, which is why there was a strong and direct push in 2022 for candidates to interview in KSA as opposed to any other region. However, people I worked with still found a way around this.
Hope this helps a bit. Best of luck!
Hello!
I think this is a totally personal question. Would you be willing to live there to save on the (potential) travel? I wouldn't, but I have good friends who have actually made that specific move.
Cheers,
Clara
From my understanding of BCG, there is a staffing model around GCC, which means you could be travelling around even if you are based in KSA and most work is there. Pick a place that you like to live :)
Hi there,
You're right to say that, in general, most consulting work is in Saudi Arabia or UAE. However, this is truly company and timing specific…
You need to be networking with these firms to better understand their projects, locations, etc.
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