Vault’s Verdict

If you’re looking to build camaraderie and make friends at work while still pushing yourself to grow and build an excellent career, OC&C is a great option. Insiders at this close-knit firm love how it balances doing high-impact, high-intensity work with personal time and company events. They also love its meritocratic promotion process and ample training opportunities. 

While the firm’s growth sometimes means that its consultants are stretched thin, with longer hours and relatively little beach time, the firm more than makes up for this with its compensation, especially at lower levels.

Given the firm’s bright business outlook—it has continued to grow and add new staff even during a difficult period for the consulting industry in general—it’s a great option to consider if you fit the culture—and can get past its rigorous case interviews.

Employee Reviews

Firm Culture

• “OC&C makes a genuine attempt to balance high-quality output standards with personal well-being and firm culture.”
• “One of the firm’s best qualities is all the work events we have, ranging from dinners to rooftop bars to more chill things in Central Park. The hours are definitely serious, but there are mechanisms in place to prevent you from burning out too much.”
• “Leadership is good about honoring boundaries when you set them.”
• “OC&C goes to heroic lengths to protect work-life balance and "walks the walk" through institutions like life nights, etc. Work-life balance is much better than in other firms I've experienced.”

Quality of Life

• “Expectations are high, and hours can be long (and are highly variable based on the needs of the project). There are good mechanisms in place to keep things reasonable and hours improve a lot as you progress beyond manager, but up until then it takes discipline and proactiveness in setting boundaries to maintain a good work-life balance.”
• “The firm does its best to give everyone one ‘life night’ per week where they can get out of the office by 6:30-7 p.m. It's taken seriously, which is great. Additionally, PTO is encouraged and has no apparent effect on promotion timelines or your brand at the firm.”
• “Structural protections focus on work-life predictability, which I find more meaningful than overall hours, though this requires personal discipline to make the most of the system and succeed. More senior levels of management have dramatically more control over when and how much they work, which is a tremendous reward not immediately recognized by more junior staff.”
• “Some strong work-life balance policies include a traffic light system for expectations of work hours from Monday to Friday, the Life Night policy that guarantees you’re able to log off at 6:30 at least one day a week, a flexible work-from-home policy, and a generous PTO policy.”

Career Development

• “The firm does a great job of providing feedback on a weekly, project-end, and semi-annually basis which tells you where you are on the ‘track.’ I will say, as an MBA hire the landing path is a bit rockier, with less training and an extended promotion timeline on average.”
• “The firm offers formal, structured training each year across all grades, including international, network-wide training courses for most grades in most years. There are extensive international opportunities, ranging from three-month ambassadorships to longer-term transfers, facilitated by single integrated global model.”
• “The promotion process is very transparent and meritocratic. It is possible to move up very quickly if you are good. I believe the assessment process is fair. I have also found that there is a lot of support from higher-ups during progression. They want people to get promoted and will help you get there.”
• “OC&C has by far the most structure that I have heard of or seen in terms of formal and informal mentorship. They make it a structural priority to ensure consultants have a support system around them to feel comfortable and empowered to develop professionally.”

Compensation

• “Salary progression is good, but salaries are most competitive at the most junior levels. Once an employee reaches manager level, we are no longer comparable with the biggest firms. Bonuses are competitive. To be more competitive with peers, we should add fertility benefits, a home office subsidy, as well as one to two personal days.”
• “The expectations and the standard to be on-track for promotion are very clear, and U.S. employees haven’t had any surprises that I've heard about come bonus season. Also, the benefits (being a primarily European company) are great.”
• “Compensation is highly competitive at entry level and for the first 2-3 years, but there is a perception that it starts to lag a bit at the senior consultant and Manager level. However, to be clear, this is a lag vs. the very highest paying competitors (e.g. MBB, EY, etc.). Relative to the industry overall, I think compensation is competitive at all levels.”
• “We have a pretty generous wellness fund that people can draw from to pay for anything wellness-related (for example: gym memberships and exercise classes). There are also occasional wellness-oriented events, such as yoga in central park taught by one of our consultants who is a certified instructor.”

Community Engagement

• “Our women and LGBTQ+ Networks extremely active. I'm very satisfied with both. Our ethnic and cultural diversity has also made really good progress over the last few years.”
• “We have very active networks and organizations aligned to diversity categories that host events and raise the visibility of relevant issues. Efforts from these groups have resulted in some concrete changes in how we, for example, screen and recruit applicants, staff projects, and choose the clients we do and do not work with.”
• “I definitely feel that all consultants have equal access to work and promotion opportunities, and the HR department has taken on many initiatives in the last year to promote more diversity in the applicant pool through intentional outreach to historically underserved individuals.”
• “Our LGBTQ+ representation and visibility are particularly strong, especially in New York.  I've been out at OC&C and an active member of our LGBTQ+ network since I joined, and I've never once felt that it had any impact on my access to project or promotion opportunities.”

Business Outlook

• “At a time when other big consulting brands are deferring new hires and performing layoffs (often through aggressive performance management), in July we welcomed our largest class ever—and we're in the midst of hiring an even bigger class for next July.”
• “We appear to be outperforming the market. My impression is that consulting is in a bit of a slump overall, but our firm—both globally and here in the U.S.—continues to grow fast. This is aligned with our recent and expected commercial performance.”
• “OC&C occupies a fantastic niche in the consulting market and is well-positioned to grow. Leadership is caring, responsive, and attuned to what's needed to thrive.”
• “We have continued to establish our position in specific niche areas and foster particularly lucrative client relationships (specifically with banks and PE houses), which has carried us through down periods for other consultancies and sustained a rapid growth trajectory.”

Hiring Process

• “The hiring process is quite straightforward. The first-round interview is either online or in person with two associate consultants or consultants. Then, the final round is in-person with two partners or associate partners. Generally, the callback is the same day or the next day”
• “We are looking for candidates that are intellectually curious; approach problem solving in a logical, structured way; have a good fundamental grasp of business concepts; yet can adapt to problems in an unfamiliar industry or business context. The number one thing applicants can do to improve their chances of getting an offer is do more case interview practice.”
• “OC&C’s interview process was the best among the firms that I interviewed with. They were the quickest to respond after every round (always within 24 hours) and the only firm that partnered me with an interview buddy after the first round to give me interview feedback and answer any questions I had.”
• “We’re looking for well-rounded individuals who are open to learning and have good business intuition.”

Interview Questions

• “The firm uses no behavioral interview questions. They’re all cases based on real projects.”
• “Expect international expansion, private equity, and market sizing cases.”
• “Size a market and diagnose why revenue is declining. Segment this market in a way that is usefully predictive of customer needs. Tell me what the key purchasing criteria are likely to be for a certain kind of customer.”