Hi everyone,
I have got offers from Mckinsey, Bain, and BCG. I have researched about every firm and would like to go with Mckinsey as they have a greater alumni network and good exit opportunities.
However, I would love to know if anyone has experience in the India office, especially in terms of work-life balance, types of projects, and international opportunities.
Hey there,
Congrats - amazing success!
From working with many colleagues from that office and having some contacts from b-school, I can tell you that the benefits as mentioned by others are better at McKinsey, yet, the downsides are shared across all firms.
Hence, McK is the top choice for you.
For me the biggest benefit is (and that is different from the other two and mentioned here incorrectly), international mobility should - at least in post-covid times - be easier since McKinsey operates a global staffing model with a global PnL and you have significantly more leeway and also personal responsibility when selecting your projects (driven by the slogan 'build your own McKinsey'). While in India this might be interpreted more narrowly it is still a big factor and differentiator.
For instance, I worked on a project in Europe with an Indian EM (project manager), who then even transferred to a European office permanently.
Cheers,
Florian
Congratulations! I have experience serving one Indian client during my time at McKinsey and know 50+ current/previous India office consultants through various interactions such as global training, practice meetings, transferees to overseas offices, etc.
Although I know it's improved compared to a few years ago, work life balance is unfortunatley not great where I saw many local colleagues working on Saturday's, which is unheard of in other locations. In terms of international opportunities, consultant staffing tends to be focused locally where I personally experienced huge resistence when trying to staff India office consultants overseas. If international opportunities are important for you then, I would opt for a more permanent option by using global firm mobilty (post-COVID) to do a short-term transfer to another office where McKinsey as a Firm is very proactive with getting their consultants to get global exposure.
Wow! incredible! You should feel incredibly proud of yourself.
McKinsey is indeed the best bet in terms of prestige, exit opportunities, and networking.
I'd advise you not to play the work-life balance and types of projects game. Ultimately, you won't have work-life balance no matter which one you choose. Also ultimately, you'll be assigned to 1 project at a time, have little say in what it is, and projects change over the years...ultimately, you'll roll the dice whereever you go.
I joined the McKinsey office in India as a BA and then moved to New York after. Feel free to DM me. McKinsey is by far the leading consulting firm in india and the oldest but make no mistake about work life balance it sucks.
My gosh! Congrats...
I concur what other coaches have said, based on my network and people I know, McK India is awesome. But there really isnt any work-life balance, so I hope you are ready for that :).
All the best!
Hi there!
This is really great news, congratulations!
I think what you would like to do is right, and the international opportunities are pretty well, can't say the same about the life-work balance, though.
Good luck!
GB
Congratulations! In terms of work-life-balance, MBB within a country are more similar to each other than different offices within one firm. International opportunities are similar across the firms. That leaves types of projects as a key differentiator. This depends on the partners in India. Check out the websites of all firms to understand which segments/industries the partners are focusing on. Tihs hsould give you a first idea of what typical projects could be.
Hello!
All 3, what a success! Congrats, and share some tips here :)
I would take the same decision for the same reasons, and honestly I think they are the right KPIs.
Hope it helps!
Cheers,
Clara
Hi, congrats on the hat-trick! I confirm in India McK has the best prestige, brand reputation, and alumni network
Best,
Anto
