T2 in Major City vs. MBB in T2 City
Planning a lateral move and have 2 options on the table. Move to a T2 in a major location e.g., NYC, Boston, SF or move to an MBB in a secondary city e.g., Seattle, Denver, San Diego. Move to T2 would be due to where I am currently based (well known consulting boutique) and the move to the smaller city would be to be closer to home. Which makes more sense for potential exit opportunities, likely move to a corporate in the next 3-5 years as I plan to settle down and start a family. Are smaller MBB offices known? Do they still have CV pull due to the MBB nature?
I’ve always heard exits aren’t dependent on your location in consulting. There may be some variability - PE might be easier in NY, startups might be easier in SF, etc - just due to proximity and ease of access to those industries. But it’s not like banking, where a Houston office will have a different set of opportunities than a New York office. In any case, I’d imagine the lift from MBB in recruiting is much higher than the marginal lift from being in a T1 city at a T2 firm.
Consulting in a T2 city is also a bit of a life hack in that you get the same salary with cheaper cost of living.
That being said, if you’re looking to settle down in the near future, you may want to base your decision on what city you want to end up in, rather than purely optimizing for career exits.
I'd take the MBB in a T2 city any day. Not only does your income go farther, but the MBB brand outweighs the T2 brand for exits (city does not matter). The one caveat is I'd make sure the MBB office you would be in does the type of projects you'd be interested in, but regardless it isn't a huge deal since a lot of consultants get staffed on projects for different offices. For example, my project is with NJ and NYC partners, but there are people from NYC, Dallas, Miami, and Denver offices staffed on it.
Question for you. Do you see this applying in the European offices as well? I ask because I'm well aware that there are some very small offices in Europe that are very exposed to local markets and am unsure about the degree of exposure there. Do European colleagues in London, Paris and Frankfurt get staffed with people from smaller offices like Prague, Budapest and Lisbon or is the work more localised?
I have never worked with anyone in Europe, so I really don't know
They do, although less so at Bain than at the other two due to their staffing models. Language requirements can influence this, but projects run mostly in English anyway given you usually work with global companies on issues that span more than one market/ cluster.
Would go with MBB
MBB in T2 city, at the end of the day, you would have
1) better alumni network
2) better COL so more savings / ability to spend
3) more prestigious name on resume for exit opps
4) project work would be more strategy-oriented (assuming this is your preference)
Where do you want to live?
This is not even a question lmao MBB hands down
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