Transferring offices at McKinsey

Hi All:

I was wondering if any of you were familiar with McKinsey's office transfer policies.

I'm just about to start working as an Associate at one of McKinsey's offices in the US and I was wondering how easy/hard it is to transfer over to an international offices. Truth be told, Im not American and I landed at this office out of personal reasons rather than choice. As a result, I want to try and transfer out as soon as possible, preferably to Asia Pac. That said, I'm not sure how feasible this is to do. Preferably, I want to look at moving to Asia by December. Given that I start now, is this even possible? Also, what are the criteria for obtaining a transfer?

Any insights are appreciated.

 

I would like to know this, too, and if anyone has info for B/B, as well, it'd be even better.

For the OP: I'll be starting at an Asia Pac office, albeit for one of the B/B... wanna trade? ha.

 
Best Response

I don't know for sure, but FWIW:

1) I've heard it's a little easier to get into some of the Asian offices, especially China. Obviously you need to speak the language.

2) I'd tread lightly here. You don't want to piss off partners in your office by agitating too early on. You should have a meeting early on with your career manager (I forgot the actual term). Best is probably to mention that you are interested in moving back to Asia in the future without specifying the timeframe and see what advice they can give.

3) There is formal office transfer process. At the bare minimum, you should get staffed on a project or project with partners of your target office and make sure they like you. They will be your advocates in the process.

4) You probably know this, but there is a global rotation process you can do in your second or third year which can also assist in office transfers.

5) This goes without saying, but the higher your performance, the easier it will be to transfer offices.

6) You should have a credible story as to why you want to switch offices. They do not want people gaming the system. If they suspect you interviewed for a low-prestige office and always had the intention to switch to a high-prestige one, they will not be happy. Same story for interns trying to switch offices.

 

transferring is not difficult, but you need to know how

basically since there is high mobility between projects, you would have to try to get on projects with exposure to partners in Asia

then obviously you perform well and they like you then they will staff you to their projects in Asia, since when doing an office transfer the only thing they worry is that you won't be able to get staffed in the new location, so if a partner is backing you up then you would have no problem

i would suggest transferring no sooner than 1 yr tho

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