International Development work at MBB
For an incoming AC - are there opportunities to work on international development projects while at MBB? Are one of these firms better than the others for this type of work? What exit opps are there in this field?
Elaborate on 'international development' projects.
Good timing with this thread. I had the same question. I'll elaborate as I'm sure the original poster won't mind.
I'm interested in international development projects within the economic development and government organizational change spaces. Example 1: working with the public-private partnerships in sub Saharan Africa to create an economic strategy to enhance workforce efficiency within the private sector, or to analyze how to better recruit FDI, or how creating a business expansion platform for companies already within their borders. Example 2: performing infrastructure impact studies and initiatives in Asian countries, or assisting nations in Latin America with bureaucracy-reform policies.
I'm working in economic development now, and I know that I want to take my econ and strategy experience to the next level within the next couple of years. I'm looking at getting a 2nd masters degree from a top school, but I don't know if MBB recruits non-MBAs like they do for their MBAs (i.e. target schools). I hear that experience hires get a break with educational pedigree, but I don't know if I can trust that. Should I not bother with an MPA or MPP unless its from a target school? I'm also looking at LSE in the future.
?Any suggestions for what steps to take next? My mugshot below....
THANKS in advance!
Can only speak from a Bain perspective. we do local office staffing model. So while we do have some intl development projects, it'll be tied to a specific office, most likely in an emerging market (e.g. South America). So if you're staffed in a North American office, you'll likely find it very difficult to get onto one of those cases.
As for non-MBA recruiting, we look for Advanced Degrees - including PhD, JD, MD. You'll likely only get a decent look with MPP/MPA for regular on campus recruiting from a target like HKS. BCG and McK have done a lot more non-MBA recruiting in the past but Bain is aiming to catchup.
As far as your profile, you'd have to network pretty hard to get an interview at Bain without going MBA or other advanced degree. You'd also be coming in as a Consultant, not a manager. You may want to explore specialist route at McKinsey...
Would you recommend BCG or McK over Bain for public sector work?
If you only want to work on public sector projects, then yes. McKinsey's staffing model let's you specialize if you want to, so I'd imagine you could network into all public sector studies if you wanted to - though I'll let a McK confirm.
As for sheer number of public sector engagements compare across firms, I have no idea. I just know from a Bain perspective, they're much more typical in emerging markets. Had a friend in an international office work on one recently.
Emerging markets seem to be where its at with public sector outside the US. nothing against defense, healthcare, and IT, but that's not my wheelhouse.
I'm starting to suspect that I'd end up either out of the Miami office (for Latin America and occasional non LA projects) OR somewhere in Europe that's closer to the bulk of the action (Africa, Asia, MENA).
Thank you Aura....now for the "easy" part of a Target US or European MPA/MPP/??
I'm working on a project like that at the moment, a privatization strategy/methodology/PMO with some financial governance/institution development thrown into the mix, for an Asian country. I myself am from a European office, so this is cross-office staffing. I dunno how this works in the States, but in Europe it's easy to get staffed on an international project in Africa/Asia/Middle East from time to time, if that's what you want. Or you can just transfer to one of those offices eventually.
We've done a lot of this kind of work globally, mostly things like PPPs, strategy or portfolio company management for sovereign funds and development institutions, industry regulation, public sector organizational work et cetera. I don't think we do straight up econ policy, but who knows, maybe a few obscure projects here and there.
The public sector practice area is very developed and you can get on these projects same as you would in any other area (you can influence staffing if you're good, have a strong reputation and do internal networking). You have to get in first, obviously, as a regular associate/consultant - there are no separate "public sector consultants". At this point in your career you probably should get a target MBA or MPA, cause a PhD would take like 5 years on top of your Masters and 6+ years of experience and you would be kinda old. Also, you are not going to be able to specialize in a narrow subject area within public sector, because projects getting sold is unpredictable and you get different things all the time, so most of the time your PhD expertise is not going to be relevant anyway.
Note - this is BCG, I also have friends at McKinsey and it's very similar there. No idea about Bain, it is generally not as strong outside of the North America and a few other markets (still very good, but not as strong as McK/BCG).
Thanks for the words, Qayin. Looks like a top tier MPA or MPP is the best way to go. I love the diversity projects that the public sectors gets. Your work sounds very interesting, for example. I have no problem living in Europe, so I have no worries there. And for Latin American engagements, I'd likely get placed somewhere like Miami, which is where I live close to now.
I'll try for the target school programs for both the US and Europe. LSE has very cool specialty, one-year MSc programs I'll consider, as well.
Great feedback. Much appreciated, Q.
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