Bain Hotel #1

Bain Hotel #2

Not only is there an LCD TV in the bathroom, but there’s another one hidden behind a painting that slides into the wall in the main room!   Very cool.  I was actually a bit confused when I walked in and didn’t see one.  After being at Harvard, I thought I’d become desensitized to luxury, but it looks like I’m still a rural country kid at heart: 

Bain Hotel #3

That said, overall, I’ve been less impressed with the weekend here than I was at BCG.  The differences?  Well, not a ton, but it does seem like they’ve been less effective in customizing who I meet and interact with.  I finally met someone at dinner that I related with perfectly – I wish he had been a companion throughout the entire weekend (it might have led me to a different decision).  The truth is: in any big firm, there are going to be people with all sorts of backgrounds and all types of personalities – the key to recruiting is to find the ones that match your candidate and make sure s/he mixes with them.  BCG did this well, Bain did not. 

I think I’ve reached a decision now.  Two points:

1.  BCG seems to have less local and more national / international project opportunities.  One of my primary goals here is to work internationally within one year.
2. BCG seems to have more people from HBS.  This says something about the choices my colleagues make, and I tend to think (on the whole), they make pretty good decisions. 

As I think through the comparison, I’ve realized that if you were to hold both #1 and #2 constant across the firms, it’s highly likely I would have picked Bain instead.  Their core philosophy (action > theory) and many of the smaller details about the firm weigh strongly in their favor.   Such is the nature of difficult decisions!

The decision comes down to BCG and Bain.  I’m not sure if I would’ve turned McKinsey down (the international strength and flexibility appeals to me), but there are many attractive aspects to these two choices.  For those (like my parents) who aren’t all that familiar with the firms, the generic reputations go something like this:

McKinsey: The largest firm (9k consultants).

The most well-known of the firms with a strong reputation (although, one damaged slightly by the Enron scandal).  Known for the “McKinsey Way” (a process that is effective, but sometimes criticized as rigid and template-driven).  Strongest international presence, targeting and capturing most of the work for foreign governments and NGOs.  Viewed as a “burn-out” with little work-life balance.  Unlike the other two firms, encourages consultants to specialize as soon as they enter.

BCG: The nerdy firm (4.5k consultants).

Known for cutting-edge insights, academic books and articles, and “thought leadership”.  Also seen as “too theoretical” and more about the technically insightful, but less actionable, recommendations.  Medium international presence and medium work/life balance.

Bain: The cool firm (4.5k consultants).

Reputation for strong impact and only focusing on what counts.  Staffing structure involves a 1 : 1 Undergrad : MBA ratio, which leads to a younger firm with more social drinking / partying (versus the typical 0.5 : 1).  The strongest of the top 3 firms in serving Private Equity clients (the most demanding client type?) with a market share 4x the next firm.  Lower international presence with the best work/life balance.

The whole consulting recruiting process is such a time-sink.  Even post-offer, I think I’ve had (at least) two calls a day from people at each of the firms…!  They don’t give up easily, and they want to make sure that you’ve met every single person in the company who has a similar background / set of interests.  As much as I appreciate the attention, I can’t wait until this is all finally over! 

I am glad I have a job locked down, though… From some statistics I’ve heard, the majority of RCs can’t say the same.  I think it’s primarily because people are being picky – they’re holding out for those coveted private equity or venture capital jobs.  If only those still existed…

HBS actually makes it quite easy to apply with strict rules for recruiters and a very polished “job bank” containing all of the descriptions for on-campus recruiting.  Keeping in mind that there are 900 first-year students, the general stats are: 370 Jobs Total, 170 Finance (46%), 200 Non-Finance (54%).  In the non-finance category, the breakdown looks something like this:

Non-Finance Jobs

First, a quick disclaimer:  even though there are only 370 total job listings, a number of them do hire multiple people.  Some of the bigger firms even end up taking 10+ people from HBS (in good years at least).  That said, two surprising things to note here:

1. Even within a downturn, finance internships still make up almost 50% of the opportunities! For all that they say about HBS being “general management”, it looks like finance still dominates.
2. There are actually 10 jobs categorized as “manufacturing”.  Who would’ve guessed this category still existed in the US?

As someone who doesn’t particularly like crowded, cold places, I was also particularly interested in the location distribution among the job opportunities:

Locations of Jobs

Not surprisingly, almost half of the single-location jobs are located in Boston & NYC.  It was good to see a fairly strong showing from the West Coast… On the other hand, I was disappointed to find that among the 60-some International jobs, only a few of those were appropriate for US citizens.

After much deliberation, I ended up applying to 20-or-so jobs.  Giving priority to the large consulting firms, then choosing a few general management / strategic planning roles at firms within attractive industries in attractive locations (ie, not the Northeast).  Part of me felt like this was a ridiculous number of jobs to apply for, but it’s extremely difficult to tell what my marketability will be like in this tough economic environment.  We’ll see how it goes!  Depending on the outcome of the next few months, I might end up kicking myself for not conducting a more thorough “networked” jobs search!