Vault’s Verdict

A true global powerhouse—both within the industry and beyond—Bain is a career accelerator par excellence. With best in class training, development and mentoring programs, plus access to C-Suites at some of the biggest names in global business, this is a company that equips consultants to become the business leaders of tomorrow.

As the most employee-focused member of the “Big 3”, Bain is the best bet for top-tier candidates who are seeking a firm with a truly collaborative culture, and that lives up to its word (most of the time) on achieving work-life balance even at the very summit of the consulting industry.

Firm Culture

“Bain has by far the best culture of McK, Boston Consulting Group and Bain. However, staffing opportunities are better with the other two.”

“Hard work at a great organisation with great people.”

“If you're looking at enjoying your time while cracking the world's toughest questions, Bain & Company is the right firm. I am incredibly grateful for the great mentoring and leadership here and know that I can count on my colleagues 100%, always. This spirit and the quality of work we deliver makes Bain & Company truly unique - I could not imagine switching to any other consulting firm.”

“Our commitment to doing what is right for clients, beyond just financial value (also incorporating environment, social and governance factors).”

“The natural approach to help someone out is deeply rooted in the firm. It doesn't matter if you are an intern writing to a partner, you will usually get quick and helpful response. For example, I once wrote a question to our Singapore office (as I had no clue about some market dynamics there) and received 5 responses within 30 minutes.”

Quality of Life

“Bain offers flexibility, which helps me manage what is important to me. Most critically, over the last six months, we are getting back to more work at the client site. These live client interactions are accelerating learning at levels - from AC through partner.”

“Best: Different working options (working from home, office, client) are openly discussed and the team members can each choose the option suiting their lifestyles best; Team experience is firm-wide disclosed though open polling and discussed with partners (NPS per case and e.g., start/ stop/ continue-discussion).

Development areas: Would be great if co-location could be outside of DACH region to provide additional perks when working high intensity cases.”

“Best: Very generous programs to take time off (e.g., 2 months per year, generous mat-/paternity program etc.). Travel has reduced significantly since COVID, which is also a benefit, but we need to get the new starters out to the client again. 

Worst: not all practices alike in work-life-balance.”

“Internal rules for sustainability with regards to working hours exist but are often disregarded by the individual case management.” 

“There is a very hard-working culture and it’s hard to break the norm of very long hours, which can wear on individuals. The firm tries very hard to combat this and make it sustainable, but it’s easier in some offices than others.”

Compensation

“Best: Parental leave options are industry leading. Worst: Compensation only increases with competitors, not proactively.”

“Best aspects: Car program is electric cars only (in Austria), free tickets for public transport are included, as is a component of pension funding and healthcare and an allowance for fitness.

Worst aspects: full comparability across cluster offices in different countries not always a given.”

“Lack of clarity of pay differences between generalist consulting and expert consulting staff and the lack of clarity on progression of those on the 'expert' track.”

“Pay is super transparent per level and also very much equal. Including the payments for healthcare and the car deals, you basically have a ‘care free’ package for life with the large base salary.”

“Unclear if recruiting compensation is now above existing employee compensation, thereby risking retention.”

Career Development

“Amazing to see how much you can 'make your own Bain' - it's really true!”

“Best: The formal training process is unique, because the core curriculum is trained by more senior consultants (Managers, Partners), who really know how what happens with clients and teams (as opposed to external trainers, who might be great experts, but don't have the experience of dealing with exactly the situations that happen in real life). Great experts for formal capability, and overall a very strong mix.

Worst: Increasingly difficult to harmonize promotion process and criteria across offices in view of growth; some comparable decisions might not be the same across offices.”

“Firm partners seem to really take the apprenticeship mission to heart. Team members are provided stretch opportunities to learn, with hands-on coaching and apprenticeship. I know where I stand, and the only thing that holds me back is my own ambition and hard work.”

“The company promotes people who are ready for promotion, independent of current course of business. International, standardized movement policies make it extremely easy to gain international exposure, in addition to international project experience. In some geographies like Switzerland, travel is a bit reduced.

You can also move your role internally quite easily by doing internal rotations for a few months, or even longer placements.”

“You can build your own Bain - over the course of my career I have reshaped what I do and continue to learn.”

Community Engagement

“A clear area of focus for the firm - demonstrable progress over the last 24 months.”

“A lot of initiatives exist but it does not necessarily translate into a more equal work force at the moment.”

“Bain has been a leader on increasing and equalising paid parental leave. In the UK, now at six months. AND, men are encouraged to, and are taking it. This is market leading.”

“Focusing on including and hosting events; offering special ally/ member groups for minorities, women-only events and networking.”

“The firm has made a lot of commitments and made some progress on gender equality in higher positions, but hasn't made as much progress as it relates to ethnicity and those with disabilities - we can see them trying through different types of programs, but these typically are at lower hiring levels and aren't affecting the leadership team split yet.”

Business Outlook

“Client serving community delivers excellent results. Growth of company is fast and there is a risk of the back-office able to keep up.”

“Very confident given strong position with institutional investors and previous investments into core topics of relevance ( restructuring, ESG, industry-specific topics, venture and co-investment efforts).”

“We have strong momentum and also great reception with the clients. Especially compared to BCG and McK. I am a bit worried about the firm's leadership, in the sense that growth is coming a lot from recruiting external partners, diluting our culture which is starting to show at the bottom.”

Hiring Process

“1st round interviews are CV agnostic to mitigate biases. The perfect candidate shows that he's smart while staying down-to-earth."

“Callback process: generally very fast (we were the first to have all interviews in one run, and an answer at the end of the day).”

“Ideal candidate: well rounded, sharp / bright mind as a problem solver, good numerical skills a ‘must have’ within a reasonably mature person that is articulate and pleasant to work with.”

“Someone who is extremely analytically minded, fast-thinking and has an enthusiastic and positive nature. Field of study does not matter, can be far outside business, we even have history and philosophy students.”

“We look for diverse candidates and go the extra mile to hire them.”

Interview Questions

“Case interviews, incl. business acumen, calculations/ quant. Personal fit interviews, incl. challenging situations and personal growth questions.”

“Early entry levels: brain teasers and simple market sizing. Mid entry levels: case studies in multiple languages. Senior levels: industry discussions and investment cases.”

“Market size estimation, cost cutting problem, M&A assessment.”

“Tell me about something you burn for or have invested much time at some point of your life and why.”

“Why consulting? Why Bain?”