Full-time Positions
How are the interviews for a full-time position structured?
The recruiting process for full-time positions includes two rounds of interviews. The first round involves 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.
Can I also apply if I have previous professional experience?
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.
How can I obtain international experience at BCG?
With more than 60 offices in more than 35 countries, BCG offers many interesting opportunities to work internationally. Our Ambassador programme allows Consultants to spend time abroad at another BCG office. A similar programme 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.
Does BCG sponsor MBA studies?
BCG sponsors MBA studies for candidates with proven track record for Bachelor and non-business Master graduates.
Does BCG sponsor PhD studies?
BCG sponsors (typically business) graduates who would like to complete their academic path with a PhD degree.
Does BCG also support employees if they want to take a leave of absence?
Yes, of course! We offer our consultants a planned leave of absence up to three months.
Does BCG have a trainee programme?
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 programme 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.
Can I also apply if I am studying something other than economics or business administration?
Of course! Half of all employees do not have a degree in economics or business administration before starting their job at BCG. We believe it is important that our employees represent many different schools of thought. Applicants without business background take part in a special business training programme before starting at BCG.
Can I apply to work for a specific practice group/business area?
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.
How long do client projects usually last?
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.
Do I have a say regarding which projects I work on?
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.
How and when can I specialise?
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 specialise on one industry or functional area after two or three years.
When and how will I be evaluated?
Personal growth is taken very seriously at BCG. 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, organisation, communication skills, and overall integrity.
How are promotions handled?
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.