Not all BCG engagements begin via a call from the CEO or Chairman of the board. Many do, but life is not that simple. Some, unusually, begin with a call from a middle-manager who does not speak English well. What differentiates BCG, and McKinsey, from Tier-2 firms, however, is how we handle these calls, understand the deeper problems, and cascade the issues upwards until, when the time counts, we are in front of the board. Most Tier-2 firms receiving the same call would settle to try to sell the...
Dec 24, 2011•40 min
I have had many people emailing me the Goldman Sachs letter to tell me that, “Michael, this is exactly what you teach us.” It is not. I fundamentally disagree with what Greg Smith did. It goes against the consulting culture, values and ethos, at its very fiber. Here is why, and I would welcome your comments on this.
Dec 18, 2011•29 min
Based on offers made to our candidates in the Fall 2011 full-time recruiting, we present the ranges of packages offered. The sample size, 48, is large enough to offer a good approximation of all offers extended. Listeners are cautioned not to extend these numbers outside the USA, where salaries differ significantly. As expected, Accenture and Deloitte dramatically out-offered Bain, BCG and McKinsey.
Dec 12, 2011•15 min
An earlier podcast discussed a fairly labor-intensive case where we needed to literally roll-up our sleeves to find and extract data. This is the opposite engagement. It is the glamorous engagement all aspiring consultants dream about and imagine consulting is about. In this engagement, we worked for the largest company in the world, in its sector, to understand how to increase its share price. We were based out of The City in London and had to change conventional wisdom about value creation. I ...
Dec 06, 2011•44 min
Many, many see fit as just 15 minutes of the full case. That is a dangerous myth. You are always being assessed for fit, even when the formal fit portion has ended. Provided you understand this, you will be fine in cases. Moreover, do not memorize answers. The main part of the fit is not the initial answer you provide, but the cross-examination which will follow, especially with McKinsey, and you can never be prepared for that.
Nov 30, 2011•14 min
This podcast addresses some of the common misconceptions candidates have, and the mistakes they routinely make for this McKinsey path. Many of this mistakes commonly arise due to the nature of the work done in BTO. We advice applicants to focus less on "what" is done and much more on "how" it is done. This is also one practice we have been most successful in placing older candidates.
Nov 24, 2011•7 min
A continuation of a podcast series we regularly update which looks at new traits and examines some in greater detail. In this posting, we spend more time looking at experienced candidates. Experienced candidates face unique and material challenges such as being out of an university recruiting cycle (out-of-cycle), having to prove their analytic skills, having to prove their ramp-up rate etc. We discuss how successful clients in our program have met these challenges and thrived.
Nov 18, 2011•19 min
This podcast provides some behind the scenes numbers about MBA program in the Great White North, as well as some tough questions candidates should ask themselves before applying. The headline is that the traditional power-house schools like Ivey and McGill have essentially fallen dramatically behind and largely rely on their alumni success versus any real weight in the current placement numbers.
Nov 12, 2011•18 min
This podcast looks at the profile of an older MBA candidate who has extensive oil and gas expertise. We offer some counter-intuitive advice to this candidate for their career and planning. While we use an oil and gas profile, this advice is relevant to any experienced hire and we caution candidates to think very carefully about the quality of their backgrounds when applying this advice to their own needs. The quality is what matters - not the time spent in a sector.
Nov 06, 2011•11 min
This podcast presents some proven strategies candidates can apply this summer. We will discuss actual internship examples from our own experiences in consulting firms, and the characteristics of the successful candidates. In particular, I will discuss of the very earliest interns I had the opportunity to hire as a principal and discuss their widely diverging careers, largely built of their internship performance.
Oct 31, 2011•24 min
Too many aspiring consultants stick too closely to the feedback provided by consulting firms after an interview. The problem with this strategy is that it assumes the feedback is truthful, useful and even designed to help you. This podcast explains how you need to go about critically evaluating the feedback you use, what to use and what to discard. This is an important podcast lest you end up chasing fictitious development areas.
Oct 25, 2011•16 min
In this podcast we extract the most important mistakes, best-practices and lessons learned from our clients who interviewed and are still interviewing through the January 2012 US MBA internships.
Oct 19, 2011•28 min
Far too many candidates think public sector work is boring. In fact, just the opposite is true. Public sector work typically falls into 4 categories: national government, regional government, state-owned-enterprises and state initiatives. This podcast focuses on national government and state-owned-enterprises, and we want to show you that these engagements are among the most eminent, significant, challenging and career enhancing. We will discuss specific engagements (scrubbed for detail) and why...
Oct 13, 2011•23 min
We have responded to the bolded out part of the question below: “As a person from a big emerging market interested in the long term career in my region, I am thinking about which strategy makes more sense for a person like me: 1) start at BBM in his own country 2) start at BBM in the US, transferring after some time back to his country (to BBM or directly to industry). I can think of the following pros of the first option: a) better chances for success at BBM due to the absence of cultural barri...
Oct 07, 2011•10 min
We have responded to the bolded out part of the question below: “As a person from a big emerging market interested in the long term career in my region, I am thinking about which strategy makes more sense for a person like me: 1) start at BBM in his own country 2) start at BBM in the US, transferring after some time back to his country (to BBM or directly to industry). I can think of the following pros of the first option: a) better chances for success at BBM due to the absence of cultural barri...
Oct 01, 2011•16 min
We get a variety of queries from all levels of consultants: analysts up to principal. This question came from a female engagement manager in the USA. She was distraught after having worked very hard to build her career, and not sure how to handle this ultimatum from her husband. She was afraid that any changes to her work schedule would affect her partner track. We offer some helpful considerations for managing this delicate situation. Should you have a colleague in a similar situations it is es...
Sep 25, 2011•12 min
Unfortunately, in management consulting this is something everyone should plan for. Performance or economic conditions can lead to the up-or-out policy being applied. We have had several requests to help mainly associate (MBA-level) admits. The key thing is not to panic. Not to lose any leverage. Not to make rash decisions and rush off resumes. Not to do anything until this has settled in and a strategy has been developed. The decision should not affect your self worth in any way. In all fairnes...
Sep 19, 2011•18 min
This is such a great dilemma. The answer is going to surprise many people. Therefore, pay attention to the logic we apply to answer this question, as well as the real examples we will offer. The options are a) going back to Deloitte as a manager, or potentially a lateral move as senior consultant in another country, b) going to industry or c) moving to BCG. The path you want to take is important, and leads to some surprising conclusions. Far too many applicants simply assume BCG or McKinsey are ...
Sep 13, 2011•12 min
Many of our candidates are still interviewing, but we can, with a fair degree of accuracy, determine how they will do. We project a 60%-65% placement rate, which considering that internships slots are far fewer than full-time slots, is expected. In this podcast we segment our candidates and present some important lessons for those who want to pursue the full-time cycle in September 2012, as well as candidates in other countries and US undergrads.
Sep 07, 2011•12 min
Most readers have a vague understanding of the lifestyle of a management consultant. It is cultivated by the images consulting firms work very hard to keep up. In this podcast we explain the issues found on a typical engagement, and most importantly, why the lifestyle is tough.
Sep 01, 2011•38 min
The problem with advice for female management consultants is that most of that advice is centered on telling females consultants they need to change to fit into consulting firms. That is bad advice, because you can never be happy if you change into something you are not. In the short-term, you may need to compromise, but you should always, always be trying to get the organization to adjust and accept you for who you are. That is essential.
Aug 26, 2011•20 min
Oddly enough, very few candidates critically evaluate their learning styles before embarking on case training. To be fair, those who are weak at learning, present the most challenging cases for us. This podcast looks at the different stages of learning: 0 – learning how to receive, capture and apply feedback, 1 – learning the hard skills, 2 – learning the communication skills, 3 – learning to apply both, and 4 – application of both in successively more complex environments.
Aug 20, 2011•10 min
The power and privilege of management consulting:I was in my lower 20′s when I was given my first engagement to interact directly with the COO of a major European multinational. There is no greater privilege in the world than gaining permission to sit across the table of an executive officer of a firm, and have a discussion about his operating model and its cost implications.
Aug 14, 2011•17 min
Unfortunately, this is a common question and dilemma for many candidates. They try desperately to gain experience at Deloitte or LEK, hoping this will offer an advantage when applying to the big three. In fact, this strategy is encouraged by many misguided MBA counselors and well-meaning friends who do not know any better – but should.
Aug 08, 2011•18 min
Our book, focuses on the day-in-the-life view on management consulting. There are two other books I would strongly urge you to read. “McKinsey’s Marvin Bower” by Elizabeth Haas Edersheim is the single most important book to read. In fact, many McKinsey consultants should read this book as well.“The Mind of the Strategist” by Kenichi Ohmae is the other. Both these books are with me all the time. In this podcast we discuss why you should read these books, and avoid the McKinsey Mind, Way series.
Aug 02, 2011•11 min
Most people have a romanticized view of management consulting work. Usually wrong. I wanted to talk about my typically day/week as an associate (MBA level) consultant, and particularly how that changed as I moved up the ranks to the partnership. It will help you understand why mental math is so useful, as well as the extreme stresses of the job. Keep in mind that I was a very, very driven partner. It was very normal for me to work most of Saturday and Sunday and I typically traveled on a Saturda...
Jul 27, 2011•26 min
Just about every potential candidate we screen talks about the impact management consulting has on major corporations and governments around the world. Indeed, that remains an alluring reason to join BBM. In this podcast, I wanted to discuss the true impact of management consulting, by reflecting on one of my own projects, and discussing the real power and responsibility of management consulting. This will help you understand why cases are so tough. When thinking about the role and impact of man...
Jul 21, 2011•26 min
Podcast: Day 0 with a tough candidate Early this year, we spent a week in Middle East helping a candidate prepare for his case interviews. The son of a former client, this series of podcasts outlines the difficulties of placing someone starting from a zero base of preparation. I mean zero. We have changed some details but all the insights and examples are real. We were brought in to spend an entire week taking this candidate through a crash course in case preparation. In this first podcast we cl...
Jul 15, 2011•23 min
Many candidates are confused between the different types of cases: interviewer led, interviewee led, brainstorming, market entry, market sizing etc. In this podcast we will discuss the different types of cases you will face and where you will likely encounter them.
Jul 09, 2011•12 min
McKinsey, BCG, Bain and Roland Berger use similar but not the same case styles. Within even one firm, styles may differ. Each firm uses a very different interview style. We discuss the different styles to expect and how to handle the questions you will encounter. We also rank the difficulty of the cases from each firm. Expect some counter-intuitive ordering.
Jul 03, 2011•15 min
