Some Thoughts on Managing Multiple Offers (Consulting / MBB)

I've seen a few posts from people with multiple offers who are wondering which ones to take, so I thought I'd share a few of my general thoughts. I dealt with the same issue last winter, and have discussed the pros and cons with many of my friends at b-school. These are just my general thoughts and are not meant to be authoritative. That said, other opinions are most certainly welcome.

1. People/Fit:

This really needs to be the top criteria for decision-making. At most of these firms you are going to be spending VERY long hours in places VERY far from home. If you are iffy on the people you have met at the firm so far, how do you think you are going to be getting along with them when you are slogging through powerpoint slides with them at 1AM in Des Moines?

Long story short, have people you like working with and you can get through the shi***st assignment, dislike the people you work with and you'll be miserable and won't stay in consulting long. if you've got concerns about fit or want to do some due diligence, go to sell weekend or talk to consultants on the phone and try to meet as many people as possible to make sure the company culture is the same as it is portrayed during recruiting. The consultants doing the recruiting are often the friendliest, least socially awkward people in the office. This should generally trump any other consideration when choosing between firms.

2. Travel:

Probably the number two criteria for me. If you hate traveling, you should not work for a firm (or in an office) where travel is heavy. Think long and hard about whether you are ok flying out every Monday at 7:30 AM to go to Des Moines and staying there until Thursday at 5 PM. Remember you are doing this week, after week, after week. Realize the implications of traveling every week (you are not joining a Wednesday evening softball league for instance) for possibly months on end. If you are hesitant about travel you need to either go to a low travel firm like LEK, or have a direct chat with recruiting about travel expectations.

Some offices of some MBB firms will be very low travel (no I don't know which ones), or have low to no travel options. This is very city dependent though from my understanding. Also consider intensity of travel. NYC to Chicago is different than NYC to Dubai, and believe me that some firms and projects will have you going NYC to Dubai more than others.

3. Exit Ops:

A pretty big criteria here, but not as important as the previous two in my book. While it is general knowledge that MBB have better exit ops overall, the concept of exit ops is fairly nebulous and hard to define. Further, its not really something you can ask about during the recruiting process. I'd say linkedin is your best friend here if exit ops is your defining criteria. Spend the $20 or $30 for a premium membership and poke around. One thing in this criteria I would think about is training. Again, a bit nebulous, but really good training and career development usually means really well trained consultants who are in demand by industry.

4. Firm size:

This is a big one in my book. Do you want to be a smaller firm that only does certain industries but is very tight knit or a gigantic firm with more options and a lot more bureaucracy. If you want access to every industry and functional opportunity under the sun go to a firm like Deloitte or Accenture. If you really hate bureaucracy in all its forms then go to a place like Simon-Kucher or LEK (sorry but I'm drawing a blank on Elite Boutiques beyond LEK tonight). This of course goes back to culture.
Consider office size too. Big offices means more partners while small offices mean a more tight knit culture, even at the same firm.

5. Staffing:

Realize the advantages and disadvantages of firms that use a local staffing model (Bain), regional staffing model (BCG) and national model (McK, Deloitte). Local means easier to get onto what you want since you are closer to the partner, but the downside is that if the case you want is being sold out of another office you are SOL. National models mean you are typically given broader access to projects but must deal with more office politics and your networking skills play a bigger role in getting good cases.

6. Prestige/B-school placement:

This criteria is really overrated in my book. First, all major firms from MBB to Deloitte, ATK, ACN strategy, etc place really well into M7 b-schools. Sure, ACN may not get you Stanford, but it will get you Wharton or Booth, and McK isn't a shoe in at Stanford either way.

Also in terms of prestige, 99% of your parent's friends (and girls you meet at the bar) will have no clue what McK or BCG are and think that if you work at Deloitte you are an accountant. Elite management consulting just isn't that well known to the world. Before monkey-shits fly, yes I would agree that you should almost always take MBB over other firms, but then again I think they generally win on criteria 1-5 and there will be exceptions to this case.

7. City location:

If you are 22 and fresh out of college you shouldn't sweat this at all. Cities like Atlanta, Houston, etc are perfectly nice to live in and you will have big advantages on the cost of living. It will be relatively easy to make friends fresh out of college, and if you are at a firm you like you'll find yourself making friends with the other newbies. City location at 22 should only be a tiebreaker if criteria 1-6 are equal or if you have an ill relative. You will make plenty of money and have alt-travel if you are traveling to meet up with buddies or an SO. Obviously location gets more important at the post MBA level when you may have a spouse who may not be able to move easily, but at 22 it shouldn't be a big consideration.

These are just my general thoughts. Feel free to add or disagree!

 
Best Response

SB'ed. Great post.

Side note on fit/culture: As a second-year business student headed into consulting, the number one question I get asked is what the culture of my office is like. Problem is, it's an unanswerable question. My "great work-life balance" is someone else's "sweatshop," and my "kind, caring coworkers" are someone else's "boring, socially inept coworkers," and my "frat animals" are someone else's "great guys." Culture is so heavily dependent on your personal perspective that I don't think it's something I can answer for someone else.

What I usually tell people is to make an assessment of what they think of me, and file that away as a single data point. Continue to accumulate data points by talking to more people, and you'll get a sample of what people at a particular office are like. Then you can decide if you see yourself fitting in with those people.

I can remember one particular meet and greet where I went in really excited about a firm, and I left 30 minutes later going "Jesus, those people were weird." Don't be afraid to pull the ripcord.

"Son, life is hard. But it's harder if you're stupid." - my dad
 

Awesome write-up. The one thing I'll add to is about exit ops. Since as you mentioned you can't discuss it during recruiting, my suggestion is you reach out to school alumni who used to work for the firm but have since moved on (e.g. Corp Start at F500, Bschool, etc.). They'll give you the lowdown on everything from where the firm places to how to best position yourself (e.g. which projects to get on).

 

Consequatur itaque ullam accusantium. Animi a quidem dolor. Minima aut atque culpa. Sunt sapiente non eum id quae tempora aut.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Consulting

  • Bain & Company 99.4%
  • McKinsey and Co 98.9%
  • Boston Consulting Group (BCG) 98.3%
  • Oliver Wyman 97.7%
  • LEK Consulting 97.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Consulting

  • Bain & Company 99.4%
  • Cornerstone Research 98.9%
  • Boston Consulting Group (BCG) 98.3%
  • McKinsey and Co 97.7%
  • Oliver Wyman 97.2%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Consulting

  • Bain & Company 99.4%
  • McKinsey and Co 98.9%
  • Boston Consulting Group (BCG) 98.3%
  • Oliver Wyman 97.7%
  • LEK Consulting 97.2%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Consulting

  • Partner (4) $368
  • Principal (25) $277
  • Director/MD (55) $270
  • Vice President (47) $246
  • Engagement Manager (99) $225
  • Manager (152) $170
  • 2nd Year Associate (158) $140
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (108) $130
  • Senior Consultant (329) $130
  • Consultant (586) $119
  • 1st Year Associate (538) $119
  • NA (15) $119
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (145) $115
  • Engineer (6) $114
  • 2nd Year Analyst (342) $102
  • Associate Consultant (166) $98
  • 1st Year Analyst (1046) $87
  • Intern/Summer Associate (188) $84
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (547) $67
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”