Hi there, 

First of all, congrats on the two offers! They stand to show you're a very strong candidate. 

Let me take your questions one by one. 

1. Are the exit opportunities from Bain significantly worse than Mck in South East Asia ? 

Definitely not. The exit opportunities from all MBBs are rather similar and I would be very surprised if an employer would strictly prefer ex-McK vs ex-Bain. Don't worry so much about this. If you had a better vibe in terms of cultural fit with Bain then probably that's where you belong. 

2. Does rejecting one close the door on applying for it for the next 2-3 years ?

No. Firms don't bear grudges like humans do. They understand it's business. It's rather unclear to me though why you'd even want to apply again in two years time if you have already a full-time offer from both. 

3. Is it possible to negotiate a better sign on with Bain given the Mck offer ? 

I honestly doubt that. Unless you're applying for a specialised position (which I understand is not the case for you), then there are clear salary bands for each role and you don't have much flexibility in changing those. What you could negotiate is the signing and relocation bonus (if applicable). 

Best,
Cristian

Congrats on the offers! Having worked in consulting in SEA for 8 years (at both a Tier 2 and MBB firm):

1. Are the exit opportunities from Bain significantly worse than Mck in South East Asia ? 

• For the most part, no difference. For corporates that are looking to hire from consulting firms, those that differentiate typically differentiate between MBB vs. others (and in fact some corp strategy teams don't even consider non-MBB candidates)
• There -may- be certain exit paths that may favour one firm over another (e.g. if you want to go into a certain industry but it may not be the strongest industry of your firm, or if some alumni happen to congregate in a specific exit path), but that is something that is hard to predict and for general corporate roles you wouldn't have to worry

2. Does rejecting one close the door on applying for it for the next 2-3 years? 

• As mentioned in my response to your comment, it does not close the door but there are typically only a few specific circumstances in which someone might want to switch between MBB (also tenure and rank dependent)
• Once you've joined MBB, there are many things that accumulate and help you the longer you stay in the firm

3. Is it possible to negotiate a better sign on with Bain given the Mck offer ?  

• Typically yes, but ask anyway. The worst that could happen is that HR says no

(edited)

Hi there,

Congratulations on the offers! In terms of your questions:

1) Are the exit opportunities from Bain significantly worse than Mck in South East Asia? 

You can easily check that on LinkedIn for your favourite industry/country. You can do so as follows:

1. Look for alumni of the two companies on LinkedIn
2. Check how many moved to your target industry in your target region
3. Normalize for the size of the companies in the region

In this way you should get a data-driven answer specifically for your target geography and industry.

2) Does rejecting one close the door on applying for it for the next 2-3 years?

No. Although I can’t see why you may want to switch assuming you have done the due diligence in 1)

3) Is it possible to negotiate a better sign on with Bain given the Mck offer? 

Normally you cannot negotiate base salary but you can negotiate the following:

• The signing bonus
• The relocation bonus
• The seniority you join

So if you have differences in any of them with the McKinsey offer, I would definitely mention it to HR at Bain and see if they can match it.

Best,

Francesco

Hi there,

Congrats on both offers - that's fantastic!

1. Are the exit opportunities from Bain significantly worse than Mck in South East Asia ? 

Not “significantly” but they are worse. McK is the clear #1 and Bain is the clear #3. McK just “pops” on the resume and on LinkedIn and does provide a stronger network. However, you are already in “Tier One”, so just remember you need to figure out at what point on this category (career) you are happy. Bain is an excellent opportunity that opens many doors. McK just opens more.

2. Does rejecting one close the door on applying for it for the next 2-3 years ?

Nope! But it is rare to switch.

3. Is it possible to negotiate a better sign on with Bain given the Mck offer ? 

100% You absolutely should and this is why I built a course around negotiating (and offer negotiating support for free with all of my candidates).

Flag the McK offer and look to negotiate. There are a few techniques you should employ, but one if them is to aim for an increased signing bonus (I personally doubled mine)

1. No material difference in exit opportunities (despite MCK being 2-3x larger here in SEA)

2. No but it seems like a strange move to shift within MBB after 2-3 years (often it eats into your career progress)

3. 100% - Sign-on bonus is negotiable

Congrats!

Benjamin has a great answer. What I wanted to say is that since both firms have great reputations and in general are very well known, go with the one you feel you will have a good fit. It is so important to feel like you belong there, helps a lot with work output.

Hi there,

To answer your questions

- Exit opportunities are potentially as good. 

- Rejecting an offer does not mean you cannot reapply. You can decline politely but do not sign then backtrack as this might leave a negative mark

- Some TA teams leave some room for negotiations (e.g,. better signing bonus, more senior roles) so it does not hurt to try.

They key thing you should be thinking about is where you want to live. Hong Kong and Spain are two very different places - the main thing is where you want to build a life! 

With that to one side:

1. I don't know explicitly about the exit opportunities in SEA - I'd recommend searching for people on linkedin and see what they've gone on to do. Some elements you might want to think about though are: 1) how many people does each firm have? A larger number of people means that there will be a bigger alumni network and so more opportunities for networked opportunities; 2) which industries do each of the firms work in - do you want to go into these industries?

2. It doesn't close the door but I don't think that you'll want to shift firm after 2-3 years

3. You can try to negotiate but generally the firm has one standard offer for everyone

Good luck!