Probability of working abroad at Bain / BCG in Germany

Question

Hey guys.

First of all a short description to my background because it's necessary to understand my specific situation before being able to give an accurate answer: Currently I am working as a lawyer in a big law firm in Germany. Salary is quite good (100k+), my daily work is totally interesting and exciting (M&A/PE). It has also international references (drafting of bilingual contracts, correspondence on English etc.). Unfortunately direct (oral) contact to our clients is quite rare. I am still at my first year, until now I didn't have any of it.

Recently I applied for Assciate (Consultant) positions at MBB and got invited by BCG and Bain. One of the main reasons for my application is my expectation to travel - not only within german borders, but also abroad. Another one is the challenge to present solutions to clients on English to improve my language skills to a professional degree.

After starting preparing for the interviews I got more and more contact to other consultancies and in consequence of different conversations it seems to me that working abroad would be very unlikely in my case. But to be honest the experience of working abroad (improving language skills, contacts with different cultures) is a main reason why I applied for the consultant job. Only these experiences would compensate the lower salary compared to my current job at the chancellery. Regarding other criterias both jobs (consultant as well as a lawyer) seem appealing to me and are quite similiar on an abstract level.

Taken this into account: How big is the probability of getting deployed in projects abroad if I would start at Bain or BCG? And I am not talking about opportunities like global leave options etc. I would also have these options in the law firm I am working in.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions. :)

Answer 1

Travel within German speaking countries is reasonably common (i.e. with Austria and Switzerland).

What I know from Bain is that almost every case is a travel case (i.e. very few consultants work out of their home office mon-thur), but that most of these are within Germany / German speaking countries.

Beyond this - Bain has more local staffing so international staffing is less likely (although I have worked with a manager from Germany while on a London-based project). This is mainly based on demand and office capacity - i.e. if London has no available managers, they will look within Europe.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Hi,

The problem in your case is that the German market is so big that there are a lot of projects locally. I would say it's the matter of luck whether you'll be staffed abroad or not. A good way to get the projects abroad is becoming an expert in a particular industry function or being a top performer.

Best!