Recommendations or Experience with small boutique consultancies in Germany

Question

Hi! I am currently looking for small boutique consultancies in Germany that I could apply to. I have found some already but would love to get some more input. As I have zero experience in that field I am not looking to apply at the big players such as BCG, Bain or McKinsey but to apply for an internship at a smaller company. Maybe some of you have some tips.

Thanks a lot!

Answer 1

Hi Eike Christian!

BrandEins provides a great overview, sorted by sector:

https://www.brandeins.de/magazine/brand-eins-thema/consulting-2018/interaktives-ranking-und-bestenliste

Answer 2

Hello!

People usually apply to boutiques or smaller companies due to particular value propositions (e.g., niches, very specialized industries, etc.)

Hence, I would start with asking those questions to yourself, to find the right one adapted to your targets :)

Hope it helps!

Best,

Clara

Answer 3

Hi, for boutiques interview process strictly depends on the interviewers. Very often they are former MB and provide candidates with classical cases. Otherwise, it can be less structured, but I recommend preparing with a similar approach

best,
Anto

Answer 4

Hi, Eike!
I think that that`s will be a great idea to start your career in a smaller company.

Such companies will appreciate if you prepare in advance and make a small strategy or plan for their development and improvement because usually, they are looking for fresh ideas and really want to see a big impact from the candidates. Also, I can recommend you to think properly about how to reply to their question about why you want to work with them because usually, they work with very specialized industries.

Do you need any further help?

GB

Answer 5

Hi Eike,

Let me teach you how to fish :)

So, I can't tell you exactly which small boutique consultancies to apply for. I can, however, provide you with the ways in which you can determine this for yourself!

Network - I highly recommend you do some searches on LinkedIn for consultancies in Germany. From here, reach out to people at those very consultancies that look interesting or have a similar background to you (i.e. same university, from the same region in Germany, studied the same thing in university, etc.etc.). Ask them for some time so that you can better understand the company and what its like. From here, you should get plenty of phone calls and advice from all these people not just about the company they work for but where else you can look :)
Search - Google is your friend here! Simply lookup "Best boutique consultancies in Germany". Scour google, reddit, glassdoor, etc. do get lists/rankings. What do you then do? Well, you can apply step #1 to these companies as well :)

In essence...talk to people! Ask for informational calls/coffee chats. Be very honest + clear in what you're looking for, and ask the pointed (and open-ended) questions that will help you better understand what each company is like!

Hope this helps!