Which office to apply for in terms of competition?

Hi Alba! 

Congrats!

I'm actually rather surprised that they invited you for an interview despite not speaking German. That almost never happens. Did you apply for a non-generalist role? 

Regarding your question, if you're international, Berlin is the place to be - take it from my experience. 

The Berlin offices of MBB have lots of people of non-Germans so you might find it easier to integrate if you're not from here. 

Feel free to reach out if you have any Berlin specific questions. 

All the best!
Cristian

Hello,

At this stage, if you have been invited to interview, my advice would be to proceed with the recruiting process in the office you have applied to - you already have a foot in the door! 

If you wanted to apply for a different office (that you did not state as a preference on your application already), yes, you would have to reapply. Test scores may be valid for some period of time, so you may or may not have to re-do the test. All the offices you mention are fairly competitive and in-demand. Regarding language proficiency, native speakers are generally preferred. However, if the application states that they don't require fluency in German, then that shouldn't present an issue for your application.

Hi Alba,

If you have already been invited to interview, then you should really not be spending time/energy on this question…rather focus efforts on case prep!

You can't change the office now…focus on case prep!

https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/pitfalls-case-interview-preparation

In fact, fluent German is NOT a hard precondition anymore for the MBBs in Germany. Over recent years they have shifted, and I have mentored several people this year already receive offers from all three MBBs in Germany, even though they did not speak German. :) The landscape is changing, and many clients also have lots of employees who do NOT speak German. So guess wha? Consulting Firms are adapting.

Berlin is indeed a good choice for non-German speakers - also lifestyle-wise. Many restaurants, bars etc have English as their default language (because - guess what - many waiters etc. also are not fluent in German ;))

Hope this helps.

Cheers, Sidi

Hi Alba,

Q: As a non-German speaker (I do fluently speak Italian, French, English Mandarin ), do you think Berlin would be a good choice in terms of supply/demand competition?

If they invited you for interviews already, this means that they are fine with the current languages you speak.

In terms of the ratio of demand and supply, it is difficult to know unless you have a connection in a specific office and they can comment on the hiring situation for that particular office.

For the office choice, I would also consider whether you like the location itself and the usual industries covered by that office. In case you want to move to a different office after you joined, you should be able to do so after a few years with an internal transfer.

Good luck!

Francesco

Hi Alba,

First of all, congratulations on the invitation from Bain Germany!

I would be happy to share my thoughts on your question:

• First of all, and contrary to the sometimes false statements of other coaches, Bain in Germany seems to be the only one of the MBB firms in Germany that does not strictly require German language proficiency.
• Moreover, when it comes to competition, it seems that there are no major differences between the offices mentioned, as in all of the respective countries, there is a wide network of high-quality universities, and as such, potential candidates for consulting. Instead, I would highly advise you to take into consideration which domestic industries you would like to work in, and in which city you would want to spend your spare time, find friends, and so on.
• Lastly, regarding having to redo the Bain Sova pre-interview assessment, I would advise you to contact Bain's recruiting team directly and clarify this matter. Even more importantly, you should think about the potential impression you will leave with Bain Germany if you abort the application process because you didn't thoroughly consider which country and office you would want to work in. If you do not like working in a German Bain office, the firm will certainly assist you with a permanent transfer to another country and office.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare for your upcoming Bain interviews, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen