Partner wants me to join her industry team. What if I don't want to?

Hey there!

The best thing will be, to be honest with her. Explain to her in a very polite way your opinion, that you are not interested in the specific sphere and that it will not be efficient if you join her team. It's totally fine and it will not hinder your application process in any way.

If you have any other doubts - feel free to reach out!

GB

My honest approach - commit to her if that secures you a referral. To be super honest, no one expects you to fully commit to an industry practice after you join. MBB is specifically geared towards more generalist role, i.e. hopping from one practice to another. Getting out of your comfort zone is part of the game - the entire model would not work if people only stuck to their predetermined notions of what they find good or not. In my personal case, I am super glad that Bain did not always listen to or followed my preferences - learned so much and met awesome people.

What is the harm saying yes to her? Best case, join the respective MBB firm, do a case or two with her, then move on to the next practice. Standard practice within MBB. Also, dont forget that partners are in constant selling mode, their job is to make you feel comfy and develop a good relationship with you. There is a good chance that person will not even remeber in a couple of months from now, nor doesnt even care.

Be pragmatic and do whatever you have to to get the offer - all the rest is something you will discuss with your PD Advisor or Mentor anyhow 24/7.

Hi there,

Would joining the partner team imply that you could not work in other sectors? If so, I can’t see reasons to join that particular team if not interesting for you.

You can politely thank her for her time and asks if she thinks it would also be possible to join as a generalist at this stage, as, although industry XYZ is interesting for you, you would like to see other sectors as well at this stage of your career.

If you deliver in this way I believe there should not be issues.

Best,

Francesco

Hey there,

If you are not willing to step on peoples' toes in consulting or create your own boundaries and look after yourself, no one else will and you will have a hard time there.

If you don't want to work in that practice from the beginning be honest about it and tell her. She will understand and no harm will be done. In fact, if partners like your work and performance, they will constantly try to get you to work with them, so YOU got to be selective with who you would like to work.

Change your mindset. :-)

Cheers,

Florian

Hi, it depends on your profile. If you have a targeted cv for generalist paths I recommend saying it, otherwise I would leverage the opportunity

Best,
Antonello