Consulting Firms in Atlanta?

Firms BASED in Atlanta? What kind of question is that? Why wouldn't you just work for the Bain office, McKinsey office, or BCG office there?

I don't know, and I have seen 404 (area code for ATL) keep posting asking these kinds of questions. I have tried to answer and be helpful, but now it is apparent he is using this site as his own google.

404-> visit www.google.com, type in your search. Scroll down and read the results until you find what you want. If you are unable to do this, you will not have the skills necessary to work in consulting, BB IBD, regional BB, boutique IB, local AM firms, or any other of these positions that you keep posting about.

There actually are firms that are strong regionally. Even within MBB, I'm guessing different practice groups/office heads cause them to be more respected in certain areas than others. I don't know who's strong in ATL, but I don't think it's a ridiculous question to ask.

It is a ridiculous question to ask.

Not sure what this "firms that are strong regionally" stuff is. Consulting isn't like banking where BCG's Consumer group is going to be head and shoulders above McKinsey's while Bain's Financial Services is way better than Monitor's FS practice, etc. etc.

There are very strong groups in certain consultancies but it's maybe one group is very strong with the others all roughly the same. By and large, the only impact it's going to have is when you're in a bakeoff on a marginal project (i.e. partner level); at the analyst level, it's all the same shit everywhere.

disagree, somewhat. I probably didn't articulate this correctly the first time. 1. I doubt that there are any firms that are incredibly strong in Atlanta but weak elsewhere, but there are firms that definitely have higher profiles in both consulting and non-consulting circles on the east coast than the west (and perhaps vice versa, but I'm not as familiar with that). Perhaps my opinion is just due to recruiting and different regional recruiting practices that some companies have. 2. This is especially true among firms that have recently grown by acquisition. For example, CRA International only expanded into the west coast and south by buying other consultancies - and therefore have a much lower profile in CA than their competitors, even though they are still a leader in many practice areas.

^No I completely disagree. I'm going to have to take boozer's side here.

M/B/B is pretty much strong across the board, across different product groups and across different regions. Sure there might be significant regional/product based differences for firms such as Deloitte/CRA/Oliver Wyman...but who cares about these firms anyway. The only reason why reputation is important is for exit opps (duh), and the only thing that matters is whether you are at M/B/B or not. I've said this before as well, UNLIKE banking, M/B/B have a solid reputation and hold on the market that is not going to be lost anytime soon. NO ONE, is going to say: wow you work for McKinsey's Atanta office...I'm going to pick you over a McKinsey London associate. THEY WILL pick a Mck associate over a Deloitte/CRA/Oliver Wyman associate, however. As boozer said, you guys are over-thinking things.

All that said, the nature of your work can vary quite a bit depending on office location (e.g., the majority of PE diligence work at Bain gets done out of the Boston, NY, SF and (to a lesser extent) Chicago offices).

what is the recruiting schedule for m/b/b?

have they already filled their '08 classes?

Someone might be able to answer this better than me, but from past experience I would assume that MBB has almost certainly finished recruiting (for FT) by now.

Some offers may still be outstanding (I think I had until 12/15 to accept), but I would be very surprised if any new interviews or offers were forthcoming.

Completely finished.

Location certainly affects the work you would do like smuguy said and may be a personal choice as well. I personally passed on MBB because the offer wasn't for NYC, and I know a few other people who have done the same.

Yup and the same is true for MBA. Also, if you are in a large city there is at least some chance you might get on a local project. There are far fewer local projects in smaller, regional cities such as Detroit, Cleveland, etc.

Not as true for MBAs... much more of a "take it or leave it" attitude at the analyst level for a number of reasons.

On the location issue, reminds me of the girl in the Houston office who was shocked that 90% of the projects she was discussing were energy...

I didn't think that recruiting worked the same way for MBA candidates. When I was at one of the MBBs, all MBA recruiting was structured in such a way that students (at least from M7 programs) had their choice for office location. Of course, each candidate still had to interview with that office.

Recruiting is over. I think everyone has already had their sell-days as well.

While your analyst experience certainly depends on the office to some degree, the firm goes out of its way to staff you on projects nationally and globally. In fact, I think I don't feel constricted at all by the industry focuses of my office.

They're also making significant efforts towards making recruiting less local and more national -- actually, make that more global.

The problem is when you are one of the 2 or 3 MBAs from lesser-recruited schools, then you are going to be filling the slots not taken by the M7 guys.

Stop defending the OP, he is a fucking idiot and this was a dumb thread.

Also, 404, I didn't realize you're a senior - you are screwed at this point if you want to work in IBD or consulting at a good firm.

Yeah, all that scrappy "whatever it takes" stuff doesn't really work that well in consulting. And unlike banking, the experience is vastly different at a "boutique" (other than a few) consulting firm.