Vault’s Verdict

YCP stands out for how its culture balances entrepreneurship, openness, and flexibility. Insiders at the firm love its flat structure and culture, where they can talk directly to leadership to share their ideas and concerns. They also love how high performers can quickly move through the organization, taking advantage of a transparent promotion process and informal mentorship, and the firm’s generous leave and work-from-home policies.

YCP  is a solidly midsize firm, yet it operates on an international scale. Its consultants say they often work with colleagues and clients across borders, which provides them with big responsibility early in their careers and pushes them to meet compelling client challenges. This doesn’t require them to sacrifice flexibility, though, as the firm offers flexible work hours and respects personal boundaries.

Furthermore, the firm’s business outlook is only pointing up. Insiders say the firm is committed to continuing its growth at a sustainable pace, prioritizing stability and long-term success. Altogether, YCP is a great firm to consider if you’re looking to build a high-speed consulting career focused on the Asia-Pacific region.

Firm Culture

“The firm is extremely employee friendly and allows opportunities to experiment, learn from your mistakes, and foster an environment for mutual growth.”

“We’re a midsize, youth-driven firm where everyone is seen and heard. Management takes the time to meet different teams across the globe and understand their challenges and potential.”

“YCP fosters a supportive work culture that encourages employees to prioritize their well-being. This includes initiatives like wellness programs, employee assistance programs, and a focus on mental health.”

“The firm doesn’t have a lot of hierarchy. It’s an open and flexible culture where anyone can connect with the CEO, talk about their challenges, and seek guidance. This trickles down to staff at all levels.”

Quality of Life

“While we’re encouraged to work from nine to five, YCP offers flexible work arrangements, allowing employees to balance their personal and professional lives. This includes options like remote work, flexible hours, and compressed workweeks. The firm provides time off benefits, including vacation days, sick leave, and personal days. This allows employees to recharge and maintain a healthy work-life balance.”

“We have good annual leave policies, plus short-term and long-term sabbaticals. We have the flexibility to work from home or outside the country for a certain period. However, staff can struggle with tight deadlines due to cost pressures, leading to long hours.”

“The firm is flexible on work-from-home. It is also very mindful of personal time and taking time off. However, we do have to respond to client pressures, which are unavoidable in the consulting business.”

“Employees can often set their own hours, allowing them to work when they’re most productive, whether that’s early in the morning or late at night. Flexibility allows us to better integrate our personal and work responsibilities, such as family commitments, errands, and self-care.”

Career Development

“Proven professionals can accelerate to partner very quickly. The firm’s biannual 360-degree performance reviews highlight your areas for improvement and strengths, and the firm’s senior leaders prioritize them. The firm also provides senior professional development training to all promising directors to prepare them for advancement.”

“The promotion process is smooth and consultant friendly. However, the training could formalize its trainings and expand them to include different, new-age topics.”

“The firm provides ample career development opportunities through a wide range of project options and exposure to various industries. We’re encouraged to take on higher roles, with good mentorship to guide us along the way. However, professional training opportunities are limited and expanding our structured training programs would greatly benefit employees in preparing for new roles and responsibilities.”

“High performers get noticed and are given opportunities to further excel and earn promotions. However, the firm has room to improve in how it appreciates different types of strengths, such as sales vs. project management, in terms of career progression and promotion.”

Compensation

“The firm's salary progression system is transparent and equitable, with regular increases based on performance and tenure. The firm offers competitive salaries that are comparable to industry standards. In addition to competitive salaries, the firm provides a range of valuable benefits and perks. These include overtime allowances, and free transportation for client site visits. Employees are also given per-diems for every 24 hours of out-of-town travel.”

“The salary base is relatively high compared to other firms. However, even if you work very hard, you still might just get an average bonus rate, which is about 15 percent of your base salary, unless you get a promotion that year.”

“The benefits are quite impressive, slightly above the average compared to competitors. The benefits package includes a wide range of perks such as comprehensive insurance coverage, reimbursement for various expenses, travel benefits, and more, providing well-rounded support for employees both professionally and personally.”

“YCP's wellness programs prioritize the physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing of its employees. The firm regularly organizes wellness sessions and activities, such as sports, massages, and yoga, to encourage employees to prioritize their physical and mental health. YCP also provides on-call psychologists to offer confidential counseling services to employees in need.”

Community Engagement/DEI

“We have a very multicultural team, where people are treated equally and given equal opportunity to excel, irrespective of their ethnicity or gender. It’s one of the best parts of the organization.”

“YCP is merit based. As long as you can deliver, your ethnicity and sexual orientation don’t matter.”

“There is no formal program encouraging equity and inclusion, but we have a very diverse workplace. I interact with colleagues from around the world daily and do not feel any sort of discrimination. However, the firm does have room to step up with hiring or promoting more female leaders.”

“The firm offers a range of health and wellness initiatives, including a free psychologist-on-call service for employees, comprehensive health insurance that covers most medical expenses, and a monthly wellness program. Additionally, there are sport clubs available to encourage physical activity and overall well-being.”

Business Outlook

“YCP's focus execution on top of strategy helps us be immune from the shifting landscape in the knowledge economy. However, the firm doesn’t have the heritage tatus and reputation that more established firms do. Even if we can deliver the same output for less, our consultants need to work harder to secure the deals.”

“YCP maintains a strong market position, benefitting from a strong reputation, established client relationships, and a track record of successful projects. The firm’s talented and experienced workforce is an important asset, contributing to its ability to deliver high-quality services and meet client demands.”

“One of the company's key strengths is its ability to innovate in both ideas and strategy. This allows us to effectively help clients not only solve their current challenges but also anticipate and address future problems, providing forward-thinking solutions. However, as the company is relatively new in my region, there is still a need for increased promotion and recognition to build a stronger presence and awareness among potential clients. Enhancing visibility will be essential to gaining more traction in the market.”

“The firm quick to integrate newly acquired teams that boost our services and bring more opportunities for our staff to explore other consulting areas, such as digital transformation, sustainability, and supply chain. However, since we’ve grown quickly we’ve had fewer opportunities to intermix with people from other offices outside of limited project work.”

Hiring Process

“The hiring process begins with an initial CV screening, followed by a problem-solving test to assess the candidate’s quantitative abilities. Afterward, candidates proceed to two live case interviews with users or project managers, where we further assess their business analysis and critical thinking skills.”

“The interview process is generally two to four rounds. We visit campuses and do lateral hires from other firms. The ideal candidate has past leadership experience, plus prior roles in consulting and strategy.”

“The interview and callback process is quite ideal, with candidates typically receiving decisions for each step within one to two weeks. Overall, the entire recruitment process takes around one to two months. I found the company to be very understanding, allowing ample time to complete the notice period at my previous job before transitioning into the new role.”

“The candidate should have a solid foundation in their field of expertise and be able to demonstrate their technical capabilities through problem-solving and case studies. They should also have effective communication and interpersonal skills to build relationships with clients and colleagues, be able to think critically, analyze complex problems, and develop effective solutions.”

Interview Questions

“It seems that interviews for the strategy team and interactive solutions team use different cases.”

“If you had to exponentially increase our division’s revenue, what would your plan be?”

“Some examples include designing a PowerPoint to summarize your past work experience, collecting data from websites and analyzing it, and critical thinking skills questions.”

“Expect to see case questions about profitability assessments, market sizing, and identifying champion and dog products.”

Uppers

“We have high autonomy and the ability to make a great impact due to the firm’s small size and nimbleness.”

“Flexibility, international exposure, work-life balance, and global client experience.”

“While many companies chase rapid, unsustainable expansion, YCP is dedicated to steady, sustainable growth, which ensures long-term success and sustainability.”

“YCP offers a rewarding environment with opportunities for growth, meaningful work, competitive compensation, and a diverse and inclusive culture.”

Downers

“Growing pains, especially in western hemisphere and global operations.”

“Compensation.”

“Limited exit opportunities due to the brand.”

“Project rigor and client expectations.”