Tips on global staffing in BCG (I'm starting at a BCG Latin American office soon)

Hello, 

1. Do BCG Latin American offices belong to a group that groups different country offices together and enables cross-staffing commonly?

BCG groups Latin American offices together. Often, Latin American offices will be cross-office staffed with Spain for language reasons. On a larger, global level, BCG has the WESA region which stands for Western Europe, South America, and Africa. This is used more for administration and training groupings than cross-office staffing. 

2. Any tips on securing international deployments beyond Latin America? Incidentally, I'm a U.S. citizen

To secure international staffing opportunities, you will increase your chances by: 

• Being a strong performer
• Being as open as possible, both for region and type of case 
• Build strong relationships with leadership in your office and other offices 
• Being nice to staffing
• Being patient - opportunities for cross-office staffing will typically come up after you have spend some time working in your home office 

You mentioned an interest in doing DD projects in the US and sub-Saharan Africa. DD projects are typically staffed from the ring-fenced PIPE team, especially in large centers like the US and London. DDs are also typically short cases, e.g. a few weeks. There aren't as likely many DD projects in sub-Saharan Africa, and if these were to be staffed, it would likely be from the large offices in the region like Johannesburg. 

Andrea

Hi there,

Congrats on getting started!

Regardless of the firm and the region, the most important thing is to gradually grow an organic network of contacts within the firm. Practically, that means:

• Performing well on current projects so you are noticed by the senior leaders (project leader and upwards - especially Partners)
• Identify what are the sort of projects that you'd want to do and where and reach out to your contacts to recommend you who to get in touch with (almost like an internal referral which is likely to increase your chances of being staffed by someone who knows you little)
• Reach out to Partners and Junior Partners in your target locations, showcase your expertise for their relevant areas and ask if they are looking for somebody to staff - this last option has a lower success rate so I wouldn't get discouraged if they first few calls of this sort don't work out

Best,

Cristian

Hello!

Congrats, enhorabuena!! :)

It totally depends on what your target it (e.g., if you want to build a strong network in your local office so you don´t travel too much, vs. if you want to deep dive from the beginning with the teams that mostly do DDs as you mention, etc.)

I would start with defining that, and then working with your mentor (they will assign you one upon start). 

Hope it helps!

Cheers, 

Clara

Hi there,

1. Do BCG Latin American offices belong to a group that groups different country offices together and enables cross-staffing commonly?

Kind of. Different regions/continents are naturally going to group together (Australia tends to share across offices, and you are much more likely to go to Singapore than you are to Paris).
2. Any tips on securing international deployments beyond Latin America? Incidentally, I'm a U.S. citizen

You need to work hard, build a strong reputation, network well and have your name known. Become affiliated with the right groups and keep and eye out (and vocalize interest) for those types of deployments. Also, be patient! You need to wait a couple of years to prove yourself in order to be flung far and wide!

There are some great tips here on how to do this. In my personal experience, being staffed on a short term project in a different country is very challenging because there is a different billing rate for associates based on location and in general people like working with associates from their own office for many reasons. So it is a lot of networking and overall effort just to get one project.

A better way to do this would be a short term transfer (~ 1 year) to a location you want to experience more of. That will give you a lot more flexibility and leverage for staffing.

Best,

Udayan

Hello!

To answer your questions:

1. Yes, offices are grouped by regions and certain regions naturally have more cross-over than others.

2. Networking is everything! U.S. citizenship with certainly help with getting staffed in the U.S. if that is your goal. I would advise reaching out and networking with people in the offices / practices you are interested in getting staffed in, develop some mentorship connections, so that you can have a strong community of colleagues who can advocate for you there.

Hi,

Andrea has already provided a great answer. I'll more details on how you can also get some international exposure

• BCG has some great mobility programs (called Ambassador programs)In
• These are competitive programs but offer an opportunity to spend a year at a different office
• In addition, there is also opportunity to do temporary transfers
• What really helps alot is being a strong performer and having a good relationship with a senior MDP (partner) with clout

Hope this helps!