Different regional MBB offices: WLB, pay and culture

I have offers from two MBB firms in my home country (ignore my profile title), but am strongly looking to relocate to a different area of the world. As such, I am wondering if anyone has any general insights regarding MBB WLB, pay, growth opportunities (e.g., for France I've heard you are pretty much killing your career if you don't know French), culture and easiness to transfer to/enter, as well as the general expat community life for any of the locations listed below:

  • Hong Kong, China
  • Cairo, Egypt
  • Istanbul, Turkey
  • London, UK
  • Singapore
  • Tel Aviv, Israel
  • San Francisco, US
  • Paris, France
  • Rome, Italy

Realize that I am asking for a lot of information on a lot of different regions here, but just the smallest insights on any of these locations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot in advance.

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Transfers usually aren't possible until 12-18 months into your time at MBB and your ability to transfer is driven by performance. Focus your first year on doing a good job at work and then think about transferring down the road. Some of the offices you listed are either small across all MBB (Egypt, Turkey, Israel) and/ or require local language proficiency (France, Italy). Smaller regional offices should be avoided early on since there is usually a smaller client base and thus fewer projects, and offices in emerging markets usually don't offer great compensation.

MBB can be your ticket to see the world if you have the right language skills and focus on an industry that is inherently more international, but MBBs marketing themselves as an opportunity to engage in some sort of international wanderlust adventure are misguiding you IMO.    

 

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