What is typical turnover at MBB like?

I joined MBB out of undergrad in 2015, and my office has seen what I think is stunning attrition -- 7/18 in my start class (i.e., all the 2015 undergrads) have quit, and one more has transferred to another office, meaning we've lost nearly half of my class within 15 months of starting.

Is this high attrition? I wasn't expecting anyone to leave until the 1.5 year mark, and even then only one or two people. But I don't know what the situation looks like in other offices/at other firms.

 

People have been leaving for a variety of different industries and roles (media, government, startups, nonprofits, etc.), but generally for positions that I think they could have gotten without spending time in consulting. I don't think anyone has continued on to a strategy or finance role.

I would clarify that I don't think it's because they couldn't land those roles -- I get enough recruiting stuff in my inbox to be pretty sure that's not the case. At least in some cases, I think what happened was that they were increasingly unhappy with consulting and didn't want to pursue related strategy/finance work.

 

Interesting to hear that turnover has been so high in your office - that sounds like an aberration; I certainly wouldn't have expected ~40% attrition (not counting your office transfer) in under 18 months. Depending on what the rest of your class wants to do and their attitude towards consulting, I wonder if that could be pointing to >75% attrition at the 2 year mark. (I think I know which firm this is and possibly even the office - but won't guess).

My office (Tier 2 strategy firm) has lost ~30% of its class to this point; nationally, it's probably several percentage points fewer. I think that lots of people simply decide that the lifestyle is not for them or think that the work is not as cool (and to be fair, I don't think consulting is nearly as cool or differentiated now as it was in, say, 1995). I think everybody has a mental list of opportunities that they'd take in a heartbeat, and some people are lucky enough to get them. Some are "unlucky" enough to be counselled out, too.

All this is to get back to my favorite consulting line - "it depends." Really, it does.

 

Most will stay for at least 2 years: Unlikley that anyone gets axed before 2 years. After that, it's a real mix: Some will go do private equity, some will go to business school, a few will get promoted through to a post-B role, some will join the corporate world and others will do non-profit work.

The only involuntary turn-over is when people hang around for a post-B role and do not make it.

 

One MBB was bragging about low double digit yearly attrition compared to a high teens/twenty-ish rate in the relevant region. I have a feeling this would include supporting positions in the "total FTE count", which would surely lower the total rate.

 

I think you're meaning BCG. Those guys have a track record of bragging about low attrition rates.

GoldenCinderblock: "I keep spending all my money on exotic fish so my armor sucks. Is it possible to romance multiple females? I got with the blue chick so far but I am also interested in the electronic chick and the face mask chick."
 

I once met a few BCG guys who were openly berating this McK guy for chucking his job and starting up. Also, I've heard that BCG treats its alumni pretty much like shit, compared to Bain or McK

GoldenCinderblock: "I keep spending all my money on exotic fish so my armor sucks. Is it possible to romance multiple females? I got with the blue chick so far but I am also interested in the electronic chick and the face mask chick."
 

A.) I was quoting an example, not stating assertions. The only assertion I made was that BCG guys tend to brag about low attrition rates. B.) That point about BCG treating its alumni as shit, I've heard that from people across the broad spectrum - partners, associates, EMs, etc. Even read that in a book, for Christ's sake. One of my friends was even berated this way by an EM, when she decided to leave her job for a more involved role in a startup. C.) I personally haven't seen many BCG guys starting up. They are some of the most risk averse people I've seen. This sort of behavior was only observed AFTER they joined consulting. I have seen a lion's share of BCG folks joining corporate or PE. Certainly I'll say McK's culture is more entrepreneurial than BCG's, but that's just my opinion. D.) True, BCG coddles and treats its people well. But not when they become alumni. E.) These observations were limited to a few offices, so yes, some of them may not be applicable across all offices.

GoldenCinderblock: "I keep spending all my money on exotic fish so my armor sucks. Is it possible to romance multiple females? I got with the blue chick so far but I am also interested in the electronic chick and the face mask chick."
 

i think that's a bit of an overgeneralization. The networks are built up differently. A network can be measured in its size, its connectivity and strength of its connections. The networks have different properties. My experience seems to point to the direction that McK wins in size, obviously, and Bain being the smallest; while the strength of the connectivity is directly opposite, Bain being strongest and McK weakest, BCG again in the middle; this is mainly due to culture and firm size

 

The alumni networks don't really generate their strength from size - you only need one or two of the right people to connect with, and all three of them have reached a critical mass in terms of network size. I agree that Bain's culture tends to be stronger, but they haven't implemented (or implemented a bit too late) a lot of the alumni network features that are present at BCG and McK that make them as strong as they are. Hence the McK = BCG > Bain.

 

I think you need to be a little more specific than "they haven't implemented some of the network features"...

Because as someone at an MBB and friends across all three (both current and former employees), I don't see too much of a difference besides size in terms of the alumni network. You might see some variation in level of engagement depending on function/region/affinity group/etc, but in general they are run very similarly from what I could tell.

 
Best Response

My apologies. McKinsey and BCG have done an excellent job at setting up consistent membership activity (alumni networking events, keeping in contact, support resources for alumni), whereas Bain has only more recently started to do these things. As a result, the culture of alumni support is somewhat more entrenched at McKinsey and BCG.

However, Bain's internal culture is strong enough that alumni are oftentimes more willing to help their current employees (all hearsay and anecdotal, but what I've seen over the past few years in the industry).

All that being said, it's not like Bain's alumni network is weak at all. To turn down an offer from Bain for BCG or McKinsey on that basis alone is a bit stupid IMO. Original point I was trying to make was that Frank Quattrone is wrong when he says that BCG treats their alumni 'like shit'.

 

"The alumni networks don't really generate their strength from size - you only need one or two of the right people to connect with, and all three of them have reached a critical mass in terms of network size"

Hence the importance of culture for a strong network. Agree that formal events are also needed but my anecdotal evidence from friends leads me to believe they more naturally connect for some reason, and therefore pull a little bit harder

 

Not MBB, but I was at a well regarded boutique, the half life of a consultant there was 2-3 years. This is because it really does open doors. I was able to go into an associate role at a MM bank, also had a lot of opportunities in industry which would have come with big title bumps and better QOL. Colleagues who left took great paying roles as well. Losing 7/18 doesn't seem ridiculous, but rather par for the course.

 

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