Frequently Asked Questions on Full Time Positions

The recruiting process for full-time positions includes two rounds of interviews. The first round involves an online case as well as two face-to-face interviews with experienced BCG consultants. If you are successful in the first round, a second round of three interviews will be scheduled for another day. The interviews usually have three main parts: the first part focuses on the candidate’s résumé and motivation, the second one serves to discuss a case which can give you a real flavor of what our actual work is like, and, lastly, there is time for Q&A.

The Interview Prep section on our Web site describes the process for consulting staff. In particular, you'll learn what to expect, how to prepare, and even get a chance to experience what it is like to work on a project in our Interactive Case.

 

While not a prerequisite, we welcome candidates with professional experience. About 15 percent of our new employees have two to five years of experience. Depending on how much and what type of experience the candidate has, it is possible to start a career at BCG at a position higher than entry level.

With more than 70 offices in over 40 countries, BCG offers many interesting opportunities to work internationally. Our Ambassador program allows Consultants to spend time abroad at another BCG office. A similar program exists for Associates. Many of our client teams are international and require travel abroad and working in international contexts. Even working for Swiss clients often involves travelling.

BCG sponsors MBA studies for candidates with proven track record for Bachelor and non-business Master graduates.

BCG sponsors (typically business) graduates who would like to complete their academic path with a PhD degree.

Yes, of course! We offer our consultants a planned leave of absence up to three months.

At BCG we believe that there is no better training than to work for clients within a team under the leadership and coaching of your project leader. You will, therefore, begin working on client projects immediately after our European introductory training. It will help you get to know BCG from the inside, see how the company works and become acquainted with the main approaches and tools. We also provide an in-depth training program that runs in parallel to your project work. Your career advisor and yourself will decide together what training needs you have and BCG will make every effort to address those to help you grow.

As a recent university graduate you will initially work as a generalist in a variety of industries and on different topics. When you talk to our people, you will notice that each one of them has grown at BCG in a slightly different way. Our goal at BCG is to enable you to develop your business acumen and leadership skills and we strongly believe that it is important to be exposed to a variety of topics and industries early on. Over time, we will support you in specializing in an industry or topic area.

Few people begin consulting knowing they will retire in consulting. In fact, many people come in with a desire to try it, and if it “clicks,” they stay on. Fortunately for BCG, it does click for many. Others decide they want to put the skills they have acquired at BCG to use somewhere else. Some take up a job with a client, others start their own company. Meet our Alumni to learn where they go, what they do, and what they gained from the BCG experience.

There is no average project. Each is as different and as individual as our clients. A project may last two months or an entire year. This does not necessarily mean, however, that every single consultant is part of the team for the entire time. When we staff people, we take into account our clients' needs, but we also try to ensure we create the right conditions for our people to develop.

We encourage our consultants to chart their own course at BCG. This ability to influence staffing decisions has, and will continue to be, an important part of BCG. This does not mean that everyone always ends up on their first-choice assignment. Individual staffing decisions depend on your availability, the specific skills required by the assignment, client needs as well as your preferences. Your career advisor will help you understand your career development needs and our staffing experts will help you steer your course to the right opportunity to address them.

Once you have started at the company, our goal is to have you work in many projects in different industries in various roles before you select the area in which you wish to work. It is important that you gather experience in as many areas as possible. It makes sense to specialize on one industry or functional area after two or three years.

Personal growth is taken very seriously at BCG. We consider continuous feedback a crucial enabler of learning and professional development. There is a concerted effort to offer continuous informal feedback as well as more formal feedback at the end of each project. Feedback is given along a number of dimensions: analytics, conceptual ability, interpersonal skills, motivation, initiative, organization, communication skills, and overall integrity.

The requirements for promotion to the next level are very specific and discussed during our feedback process. BCG seeks to provide the platform for success and supports you along the way. Frequent feedback allows every consultant to assess how they are doing, what areas they excel in and what others they may still have to develop further. Employees are in line for promotion approx. every two years.