Vault’s Verdict

Oliver Wyman remains one of the most stable firms in the industry, known for excellent work—particularly in financial services—meaning that it has both the means and the client roster to not just withstand but benefit from shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The only downside: its excellent reputation tends to be among people who know the consulting industry—again, particularly in financial services—a fact that make exit opportunities a little harder to come by.

Not that this is a firm that most will be rushing to leave: Oliver Wyman offers excellent career and salary progression prospects and does its best to mitigate the work-life imbalances seen throughout the industry. Compensation growth is both rapid and generous, and all progression decisions are made by panels, which helps to ensure that diversity and inclusion blind spots are addressed, and that decisions are based on merit.

All told, then, this is a firm that will suit those with both the academic accomplishments and the passion necessary to spend their days solving tough problems.

Firm Culture

• “If you are looking for a place that really cares about your growth, about involving all employees in creating an impact then you found the right place. However, pay attention, the challenge is intense.”
• “Care more about people and having a friendly working environment and makes allowances for people who aren't very extroverted or polished…”
• “Great company, more humble colleagues than in McKinsey, Bain, or Boston Consulting Group, but still same type of challenges and lifestyle.”
• “I’m seriously impressed by how friendly and helpful everyone is - this makes it much easier to navigate the first challenging few months.”
• “The international staffing model opens up for a wide range of clients and industries; broadens the opportunities to try on new type of projects, and you always work in international teams.”
• “Think critically about what it is that you want out of your time at OW and focus on that. Is it international exposure? Then pursue a position abroad. Is it early opportunities? Then dive into your work head-on. Is it office culture? Then get involved in our firm contribution activities. Is it improved exit opportunities? Then seek out mentors in a specific area to integrate you into their team. There's always a place here, but it's not the same for everyone.”

Quality of Life

• “…The firm does not bother you during vacation, and you are encouraged to take time off.”
• “A big focus on mental health and well-being pre and during Covid-19. Access to funded professional support, multiple events/ seminars/ roundtables on key topics and more informal initiatives (yoga, tea-times etc.). During Covid-19, they made sure everyone got a 1-1 call regularly.”
• “Extremely accommodating - management encourages to take time-off; time-off are respected; no work on weekends as the minimum standard.”
• “Hours very dependent on your team. If you take the time to invest in proper project management and finding people & subjects you click well with — it can be very smooth sailing. If you are challenging yourself and want to break into something new, the entrepreneurial mindset is super rewarding but also makes it easy to take on too much. Firm has gotten better at helping people not to overdo it, but you will need to manage yourself a bit to enjoy sustainably.”
• “Our office culture is highly social with fun events planned regularly, and even offsites in far-flung places. COVID-19 has muted that to some degree, so we'll need to get back to our roots - even if virtually. Our teams are very international, too. Client engagement is unparalleled: even as a junior consultant, you get extensive client exposure and may even be asked to manage a junior client one-on-one or present in senior meetings.”
• “Very easy to take time off as long as request is submitted early on and clearly communicated to manager. Hours can get pretty bad from project to project, but reasonable most of the time.”

Career Development

• “International opportunities abound and the office culture is incredibly diverse. Formal training programs are extremely relevant to career progression, and as a bonus, they bring you together with colleagues in other offices across the broader region. Mentorship, while very useful where it exists, is not yet commonplace. The firm is taking steps in the right direction to improve those opportunities. Heavy emphasis on public sector may mean more limited or non-traditional exit opportunities.”
• “Extraordinary opportunity to work in an international environment as you often work within an international team or with an international client. Excellent informal training and mentoring. People at all levels are focused on how to create the best learning opportunities for the team. Opportunity to work in a variety of industries.”
• “Culture and people are the best aspects. Worst aspect is difficulty in having a personal life during weekdays.”
• “Great trainings and lot of opportunities to work with partners to ensure a great mentoring. Exit opportunities could be better.”
• “Oliver Wyman listens to YOU. They proactively ask for you to speak up about ideas and encourage you to pursue any interests.”
• “Promotion happens at your own pace, and [you are] not stuck to a two-year up-or-out cycle. Very supportive with finding opportunities in and out of the firm, but lower brand recognition in the external market means fewer exit/externship opportunities.”

Compensation

• “Above average compensation (at least entry to mid-level); very transparent and fair bonus system.”
• “Bonus in a year where you've progressed a lot and the firm has done well is impressive. I appreciate that our firm is inherently equal and very transparent about pay. Our biggest perks are our social events, especially international offsite for specific projects or the entire office annually (currently on pause for COVID-19). Medical coverage is extensive…”
• “Good bonuses because the firm is doing great. Though local compensation remains aligned with global performance, while local partners are cashing in massively on the stellar local performance.”
• “I think compensation is very fair and gets better with the job level.”
• “Our compensation packages are higher compared to competition. Bonus is a driven by overall firm performance as final adjustment which can be different to your personal performance/commercial success.”
• “Competitive entry level salary, but relatively slow salary progression (the effect is somewhat negated by high bonuses).”

Outlook

• “Business outlook varies dramatically by office, but the Middle East in particular is very promising. We're an entrepreneurial firm and we're able to easily shift to pursue the latest trends. Our ability to cope with COVID-19 as a firm seems to remain strong, but I worry we may lose some talent due to extended work-from-home situations.”
• “Having MMC there as a financial cushion gives us a confidence and assuredness that other firms may lack. We're also well positioned to grow strongly out of this crisis.”
• “Oliver Wyman is backed by MMC, very diversified and resilient to Covid downturn. During Covid crisis, no one was actually furloughed in the company.”
• “OW has a great outlook in my opinion primarily because it's the only one among the strategy consulting firms to be backed by a multibillion dollar listed company, that has wide shoulders. This gives OW enough firepower to think BIG about acquisitions of competitors that might be in a less happy position at the moment.”
• “Strong employee morale, highly competitive in the market with increasing market share in the Italian consulting strategy market.”
• “We have the best operating model of the industry that fosters innovation and intrapreneurship very much.”

Diversity

• “As a female, I have never experienced any non-equal treatment across all the project teams and partners.”
• “At junior (non-partner level) salary is 100% tied to your level which makes is very fair. I believe the promotion opportunities also are fair since we have extensive reviews after each project which constitutes the greatest factor to your level and promotion.”
• “Compensation and promotion opportunities are granted by a pool of people, so the development completely depends on meritocracy.”
• “Enormous focus on gender equity and policies to raise mindfulness of passive discrimination.”
• “Firm openly promotes diversity and regularly discusses improvement opportunities.”
• “The main issues are with retaining women rather than with inequality. Feels like a lot of effort is being made to hire diversely at the low levels and this is seen in the intake classes.”

Hiring Process

• “The process consists on a CV screening, some questions to answer online, and [multiple] rounds of interviews.  The ideal candidate has a strong academic background on a relevant degree, with some degree of experience in similar work and demonstrates a strong initiative and social responsibility mindset.”
• “Interview process varies slightly if it is on-campus recruiting, but in general, there are two major rounds, each with 2-3 interviews…Later interviews usually increase in seniority of interviewer.”
• “Ideal candidate is a strong problem solver and communicator, able to structure their own thoughts and clearly deliver ideas back to the interviewer. They should be intellectually curious and show outside interests. Finally, the candidate should be able to convey to the interviewer an enthusiasm for OW and their potential value add within the team.”
• “Our interview process is quite long and somehow perceived as repetitive, we are looking for curious that wants to bring impact to our clients with an entrepreneur spirit.”
• “Someone who has capabilities, but beyond this, someone who shares our values, has passion, and can champion our culture. Also, someone who we can spend the majority of our waking hours with!”
• “The ideal candidate is smart, responsible and hardworking, but also a normal person, in the sense that there is no preferred personality to work here. They should enjoy cracking the cases they do as preparation, as intellectual curiosity and creativity are two important aspects of the job.”

Interview Questions

• “4G license costing - the candidate needs to arrive at a number for how much a firm should bid for a 4G license.”
• “Aim for case studies to be non-standard / not possible to solve using standard frameworks. Generally includes small quantitative elements (e.g. calculate on the profitability model for company X).”
• “General consulting strategy cases but also special ones (focus on FS or very creative brainteasers). Standard CV screening.”
• “How many bounces occur in a basketball game?
  What is the size of the car market in Spain?”
• “…Case questions vary by interviewer and can either be rooted to a concrete business issue or more ambiguous guesstimates. We look for ability to structure the problem, communicate a clear solution, and draw on reasonable math skills.”
• “Technical interviews, also requesting to actually implement a model in-place and discuss it afterwards.”