McKinsey / BCG / Deloitte in Prague
I'm wondering if anyone has experience in the Prague office of McKinsey, BCG, or Deloitte. Any information or insight at all would be helpful, especially the following:
- How does the interview process compare to other European countries or the US?
- What degree of fluency in Czech is required?
- The nature of the clients and work performed out of the Prague office.
- Salary levels compared to other European countries or the US?
- Work culture (hours, travel, etc)?
There's very little information out there since Prague is not a first tier market, but any information would be much appreciated.
i cant answer most of your questions specifically, but i spent a semester in prague and remember seeing at least bcg and deloitte.. amazing locations!!! deloitte is right on the vltava river, and bcg is right next to wenceslas square, which is one of the most fun areas in the city (though if youre asking about all 3 of those places all in prague, im assuming you actually know something about the city, so i guess my personal insight is probably somewhat irrelevant)
im assuming you hafta know a decent amount of czech for the job. while a lot of people speak some english in the main part of the city, english really isnt all that common, and i definitely couldnt have gotten around as easily if i hadnt taken czech classes (any english people speak is generally very broken, so i cant imagine a lot of business is done in english.. most likely czech). not the prettiest language or easiest to learn, but the city and country are awesome!! and really, if youre making a lot less money in prague as opposed to other places in europe (like london), you can still live like a king. for $5, i could get a big dinner with a beer.. not bad at all. and its completely true: water is more expensive than beer.. really good beer (pilsner urquell)
dew2229... thanks very much for your comments, particularly about the language. Much appreciated. My conversational fluency is about 80%, but I lack the business vocabulary. I'm going to reach out to all three of the firms over the summer and see what happens. Thanks again.
I interviewed with an MBB for a position in Russia, and the language aspect killed me. I think my Russian sounds similar to your 80%, also lacked business vocabulary. All the interviews were in Russian, and it was brutal, especially the actual business vocabulary. From reading here, I expected at least half of it to be in English, and hence did not prepare sufficiently in Russian. Get a business dictionary and start studying, and practice your stories - that was also difficult for me. Of course, the process could be different in Prague, but that's my $0.02. Good luck!
Dr. Joe, thanks for your feedback. Did you have to do a case interview? And was that in Russian or English? I'm trying to get a handle on how similar or different interviewing in the CEE offices is compared to US or western Europe.
The entire interview was all in Russian, which I suppose in retrospect makes sense. Yes, there were case interviews, which were very very similar to everything described in all the books/guides I am sure you have read. Most interviews opened with "tell me about yourself in 2 minutes". Then 5 mins questions about my background, then cases. So there were a few market-sizing questions, an estimation question (market value of real estate in Manhattan), and regular case questions. The case questions were pointed at specifics that one needs to know about the country, and that was another area I had trouble with. For example, a power plant has seen profits decline massively, but all inputs/external factors have remained the same. After analyzing all sorts of costs and supply and demand and whatnot I realized production was way down for some reason, and the interviewer was looking for me to ask whether the plant has been breaking down often. Turns out that it was not running for 60% of the time due to frequent breakdowns, which (as I now know) is a huge problem in former Soviet infrastructure - it still has the capacity, but is so unreliable that this is a huge issue. However, without being familiar with the current situation, this is a tough one to come up with. So I guess in this sense, this was a very effective question - it showed the interviewer that I don't know enough about industry in Russia. So I would say watch out for that.
I would imagine the interviewers have many candidates such as myself who are not familiar enough with what is going on in the countries they are applying to, so such screening cases are probably common, so watch out. Let me know if you have other questions/want more details about specifics. But in general, interviews were very similar to what I expected, except for being ENTIRELY in Russian.
Dr. Joe, thanks again for your comments and for describing your interview experience. I'm taking your advice about being familiar with the economic climate and conditions in the country to heart. Your insights are much appreciated!
Dr Joe, one last question. I would be applying as an experienced candidate, both in consulting and industry. From your observations in Russia, was there any difference in the interview process for experienced hires? Thanks again.
Unfortunately, I can not comment on the experienced hire process. Anything I know about it has come from forums, and hence would only add an additional layer of interpretation to it. I was interviewing fresh out of undergrad. During my interview process, the other candidates were [surprisingly unimpressive, except for 1 HBS guy] freshly minted MBAs from top schools. The common theme amongst those being interviewed seemed to be "I don't speak enough Russian for this, I hope it's in English." A few candidates knew they weren't qualified, and a Stanford guy there even said he used the NYC interview for a free trip to visit his friends - he hardly spoke Russian at all though.
Wish I could help more. Good luck.
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