Which of the MBB do global staffing vs local office staffing?

Hi there,

This is indeed an interesting question which is probably relevant for quite a lot of users, so I am happy to provide my perspective on it:

• In my own experience and the ones of my personal network, the question is less about the company but rather about the office/ country/ region and industry you are working in. Since almost all consulting companies (not exclusively MBB) are set up via national companies with separate P&Ls, there is always the tendency to keep consultants on projects in the country they were hired. Moreover, when working on PE projects (i.e. DDs) for instance, there is seldomly the need to hire foreign consultants for a specific project.
• There is still the perception that McKinsey has a more international staffing model as opposed to BCG and Bain, however, I have not yet found this to be true in general.

In case you want a more detailed discussion on what working with your future employer will look like regarding your travel requirements/ possibilities, please feel free to contact me directly.

I hope this helps,

Hagen

Bain has a regional staffing model (regional means continental-wide, for e.g. Europe-wide) , but even if you are sent abroad, there's a good chance you will be surrounded by people from your own office as in many cases they staff an entire team (principal/manager, consultant, associates). 

Of course, this doesn't happen 100% of the time. I had a project where the Spanish team (3 people) was staffed on an European-wide project led by Netherlands, but we received an Associate Consultant from the Netherlands.  Fun fact: no one from the spanish team was actually spanish.

Regarding BCG, I believe they have regional staffing as well. Mckinsey should be more global. But other coaches should be able to confirm and provide more detail on the nuances.

Hi there,

Let's be clear right off the bat: truly global staffing isn't really that common (meaning consulants are shared equally around the world and across projects).

In general, all 3 tie you to a home office where they want you to build your office affiliations, then they will ship you off to projects in your region. Bain errs closer to office-model, and McK errs closer to globa.

At BCG we were mostly regional (Australia+NZ), but were plenty of global projects that you could raise your hand for, particularly DDs.

Hey there,

It works roughly like that:

• McK has a global PnL with global staffing which works very well if you want to pursue that path
• BCG is more continental
• Bain is the most regional

Cheers,

Florian

Hi!

Very interesting question!

Global vs local staffing also depends on the type of project and your specific home office.

That said, McKinsey tends to be the one with a more accentuated global staffing compared to Bain and BCG.

Hope this helps.

Best,

Anto

I can speak to McKinsey - theoretically yes there is global staffing but it is not as easy as saying I want to work in country X and then getting staffed there. There are many factors at play including things like your expertise, demand for external consultants, language barriers, need for local expertise etc.

At the end of the day to get staffed on an international project the best way is to network with partners in the region you want to work in and to reach out to them few weeks before you become available to see if there are any suitable opportunities.

Best,

Udayan