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PROFILE
VAULT EMPLOYER PROFILE:
BAIN &
COMPANY
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ISBN 1–58131–330-6
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION 1
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Bain & Company at a Glance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
THE SCOOP 3
History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
ORGANIZATION 11
VAULT NEWSWIRE 15
GETTING HIRED 31
FINAL ANALYSIS 45
RECOMMENDED READING 47
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Bain & Company
Introduction
Overview
Bain, in its time, has gone from humble beginnings to great heights; has been
embroiled by lawsuits and buoyed by successes; has been led by the
traditional (founder Bill Bain, athletic, ambitious, straightforward) and the
very nontraditional (current chairman Orit Gadiesh, she of purple hair and
miniskirts). The company began in a Boston townhouse, expanded to Lewis
Wharf, a dock warehouse, and soon spilled over into London, Munich, Paris,
Milan, Palo Alto – even, a few years ago, old New York. It also has had a
rough course at times. It’s gotten into hot water over dealings with Guinness,
and it’s been in court with Value Partners and with Club Med. It’s struggled
over how to split its earnings, at one point falling on an Employee Stock
Ownership Plan that saw the company overvalue itself and become mired in
debt – and a slew of layoffs followed.
Nevertheless, Bain continues to hold its place among the Big Three
consultants. Its lauded culture is affirmed every year in companywide
retreats to such exotic places as Cancun and Cape Cod. With 2,300
employees, a myriad of practice groups, an impressive alumni network, and
strong training programs, it’s easy to see why Bain remains one of the most
coveted, and prestigious, consultancies.
EMPLOYMENT CONTACT
131 Dartmouth Street
Boston, MA 02116 E-mail: recruiting@bain.com
Phone: (617) 572-2000 www.bain.com/bainweb/join_bain/joi
Fax: (617) 572-2427 n_bain_overview.asp
www.bain.com
UPPERS
THE STATS • Great access to clients
Employer Type: Private Company • Excellent training
Chairman: Orit Gadiesh • Firm cohesiveness
No. of offices: 30 • Part-time options available
2004 Employees: 2,300 • Focus on community service
2003 Employees: 2,300 • Great THE
launching point for careers
BUZZ
WHAT EMPLOYEES AT OTHER FIRMS ARE SAYING
KEY COMPETITORS
Booz Allen Hamilton
BCG
McKinsey & Company
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History
It had humble beginnings – housed in Bain’s Beacon Hill apartment, with one
phone line and three employees. But it grew fast. Business boomed by 40 to
50 percent every year from the founding until the mid-1980s. Bill Bain
brought on more and more employees that, like him, tended to be fastidious,
athletic and bright. In return, he demanded a high level of loyalty.
Results based
The Bain approach differed from the start. Rather than merely observing, its
consultants moved into a company, worked alongside the company’s
employees, and only then made recommendations. What’s more, Bain
assured his clients that his consultancy would not work for more than one
company, minimizing conflict of interest and maximizing security. (Today,
that rule has been relaxed somewhat; Bain will work for more than one client
in an industry, as long as one client’s success doesn’t mean another’s failure.)
Most clients liked this approach. In 1981, National Steel hired Bain. Three
years later, after implementing Bain’s recommendations to simultaneously
downsize and modernize, the company went from being the highest-cost steel
producer to the lowest-cost. Bain also worked for Chrysler, helping it cut
more than $1,400 from the cost of the Omni Horizon by repackaging its
options.
Another facet of its approach involved the consultants working closely with
client CEOs. Some charged that this made these consultants into the CEOs’
personal firing squads, simply putting the Bain stamp on CEOs’ preconceived
notions. To counter such charges, the company in 1983 established the so-
called Bain Index. This measured clients’ stock performance against the Dow
Jones Industrial Average. The goal, Bain said, was to give its clients an
increase in company value equal to 10 times Bain’s fees. This seemed
popular, and Bain tripled its staff between 1980 and 1986.
Guinness stout
Bain began consulting for Guinness in 1981, when the beer company had
drifted from its beermaking business during a decade-long diversification
strategy that resulted in it being reduced to little more than penny stock status.
Under Bain’s recommendations, Guinness chairman Ernest Saunders dumped
150 companies, then branched into the hard liquor market with the acquisition
of two whiskey companies, one called Distillers. By 1986, the company’s
profit levels were up six-fold since Bain’s involvement and its stock soared to
$5.75 per share.
A Bainie named Olivier Roux was credited with much of this turnaround.
He’d remained at Guinness to help out Saunders. But in December 1986
Britain’s Department of Trade and Industry investigated the Distillers sale. It
discovered that Guinness had illegally inflated the price of its stock in order
to fend off a rival bid. Roux quickly cut a deal with authorities and testified
against Guinness officials, while Saunders and other execs went to prison.
Roux avoided jail time, and although Bain was not deemed legally culpable,
its conduct in the affair was not well received in the London business
community. The matter received remarkably little press attention in America.
While companies didn’t point to the Guinness debacle as the source of their
unhappiness, many of Bain’s clients began to shy away from the consulting
firm.
Faltering forward
But Bain’s comeuppance was nearing. Older partners were upset over the
partnership deed. It was, said one, “not a bill of rights, but the rights of Bill.”
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Goodbye to Bill
Indeed, the only way he could save his company seemed to be to sacrifice
himself. Bain resigned, replacing himself with financial whiz Mitt Romney.
To get the firm on solid financial ground, the founding partners returned
about $100 million by dissolving Bain Holdings, an investment fund partially
backed by the ESOP. The founding partners also gave up their 70 precent
stake in the company so that Bain’s 75 younger partners now owned 60
percent of the business and the ESOP the remaining 40 percent. Now, Bain
had to convince clients that it could run them, even with its apparent problems
running itself.
A big part of this strategy was the hiring of Orit Gadiesh as chairman, a
charismatic and talented woman (the first woman to hold that position at any
major consultancy) who returned the company to its days of prestige and
growth. She’s still nominally in charge, but John Donahoe, worldwide
managing director, runs most of the day-to-day operations. In February 2000,
Bain’s global partner group elected Gadiesh chair of the board for a third
consecutive term, while Tom Tierney was replaced by Donahoe in a planned
succession after two terms. Donahoe had been head of Bain’s West Coast
operations since 1992 and had spearheaded the development of bainlab, the
firm’s e-commerce incubator. Bainlab works globally with entrepreneurs and
corporations’ dot-com branches, providing management expertise. Donahoe
is encouraging Bain’s active participation “in all sectors of the digital
economy, in all regions of the globe.”
The firm now has roughly 2,300 employees. Bain’s client base includes
international corporations in all sectors of business and industry, such as
financial services, e-commerce, retail, health care, consumer products and
technology. The firm boasts that their clients usually outperform the S&P 500
by three to one. And Bain occasionally takes equity as part of its fee. The
firm measures its success by its clients’ results, and Bain staff is likewise
rewarded through these investments. For example, Bain took an ownership
stake in client Del Monte, the fruit processor, while trying to revamp the
company’s strategy. Today, Bain gets about 10 percent of its revenue from
private equity investments in client firms.
Taking action
Corporate culture is key – and almost cult-like – at Bain. The company
insists that immediate and valuable suggestions for its clients are of the
utmost importance. And “OG,” or Orit Gadiesh, the outspoken chairman of
Bain & Company, tells her employees that it’s better to have an 80 percent
solution that can be immediately implemented than a perfect, 100 percent
solution that is purely theoretical.
Bain used to hold fast to its image as a generalist strategy consulting firm.
Former Bain worldwide managing director Tierney once said that he
envisioned a near-future scenario where there would be four “buckets” in the
consulting industry: strategy (where Bain places itself), “expertise” or
operations firms, information technology and accounting firms. Tierney
predicted “greater differentiation [and] greater gaps among those four types
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of competitors. And within those buckets, you are going to see an increasing
distance between high-quality providers and the other providers,
differentiation based on quality, not on size.”
In this, its strategy differed from the industry at large. Many large
consultancies are expanding their offerings to include operations, IT and even
strategy consulting. One example is Price Waterhouse and Coopers &
Lybrand, which merged in 1998 to spawn PricewaterhouseCoopers. In May
2000, accounting firm Ernst & Young acquired consulting firm Cap Gemini,
instantly making the combined firm one of the largest in the industry.
Given the industry shift, Bain seems to have switched tack. Now, it offers
consulting expertise in areas such as IT, organization, supply-chain
management, and private equity.
Investing in Bain
Bain, the consultancy, shouldn’t be confused with its venture-capital wing,
Bain Capital. This shop, founded in 1984, manages over $17 billion in assets.
Its funds range from leveraged debt to public equity to venture capital. The
two companies are theoretically independent, but enjoy a close relationship.
Bain Capital was founded by four former Bain consultants. It’s not difficult
to jump between the two companies, our contacts say.
What it knows
One of Bain’s flagship consulting groups is its customer loyalty
concentration. What is the effect of loyalty on profits, and how much is a
good customer worth over time? Bain argues that loyal customers are less
hassle (to customer-service reps, for example), less price sensitive and good
spreaders of word-of-mouth. A 5 percent increase in loyalty, Bain says – and
tells its customers – can increase profitability between 40 and 95 percent.
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York was the wrong jurisdiction. From the start, Bain characterized the suit
as “meritless,” and in February 2003 that opinion was confirmed when after
listening to several days of testimony a Boston judge dismissed all charges
before the case even reached a jury.
In October 2003, the Boston Herald began a series of articles charging that
Bain’s work with Philip Morris during Massachusetts governor Mitt
Romney’s tenure with the firm was influencing Romney’s opposition to a
statewide smoking ban. Not true, said Romney, insisting that Bain Capital,
which he founded after leaving Bain, did no business with tobacco firms. In
May 2003, the Boston Globe reported that a state senate committee was
investigating a possible ethics breach involving Romney’s use of the firm to
conduct crucial policy research.
An eye on nonprofits
Meanwhile, an arm of Bain called the Bridgespan Group continues to thrive.
A legally separate nonprofit organization, this offers strategic consulting to
other nonprofit organizations for a reduced fee. Bainies can take on a six-
month stint at Bridgespan if they’re qualified (of course, a pay cut goes along
with the territory).
named one of the five best business books of 2003 by The Economist. It
encapsulates the Bain approach, and builds on Zook’s earlier work, Profit
From the Core, in which he explained how to grow profitably by focusing on
a firm’s core business. In Beyond the Core, Zook tells readers what to do
when this core-centered strategy isn’t enough (the answer: look for
“adjacent” markets where customers, products, sales channels, geographies,
or other capabilities are shared with their main businesses). By staying one
or two adjacent steps from their core business, Zook argues, companies can
succeed by drawing on their strengths.
Bain also publishes the Management Tools Survey, a global survey on the
usage, satisfaction and effectiveness of several widely used management
tools among a broad range of senior executives. Headed by Bain director
Darrell Rigby and published since the mid-1990s, the survey has been cited
in Forbes, The Financial Times, The Economist, and other business
publications.
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Organization
CEO’s Bio
After her graduation in 1977, a conversation with Bill Bain during her
interview enticed her to sign on. “Machine Gun Orit” quite liked Bain’s
results-driven implementation approach. She made her mark doing work for
the steel industry. “I fell in love with steel,” she once exclaimed. “I still have
my steel shoes and my hard hat.” Several years later, when Bain was rocked
by falling revenue, scandal and wrenching change in the late 1980s and early
1990s (including the decision of founding father Bain to leave his own
company), the firm needed a fresh start. In 1993 it turned to Gadiesh and her
marketing savvy.
Locations
U.S.
• Boston, MA (HQ)
• Atlanta, GA
• Chicago, IL
• Dallas, TX
• Los Angeles, CA
• New York, NY
• Palo Alto, CA
• San Francisco, CA
International
• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Beijing, China
• Brussels, Belgium
• Dusseldorf, Germany
• Hong Kong, China
• Johannesburg, South Africa
• London, England
• Madrid, Spain
• Melbourne, Australia
• Mexico City, Mexico
• Milan, Italy
• Munich, Germany
• Paris, France
• Rome, Italy
• Sao Paulo, Brazil
• Seoul, Korea
• Shanghai, China
• Singapore
• Stockholm, Sweden
• Sydney, Australia
• Tokyo, Japan
• Toronto, Canada
• Zurich, Switzerland
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Organization
Key Officers
Chairman of the board: Orit Gadiesh
Ownership
Bain is a private business owned by its partners. Bain’s main competitors are
the other two Big Three strategy consulting firms, McKinsey & Company and
Boston Consulting Group. On a lesser scale, it competes with firms like the
Monitor Group or Mercer Management Consulting. Meanwhile, firms like
Accenture, EDS, IBM Global Services and Arthur D. Little vie with Bain for
industry-specific engagements.
professionals.
Vault Newswire
July 2004: Schwab working with Bain
Charles Schwab announces that it is working with Bain as part of a
restructuring and cost-cutting effort. Bain has a big job, as the financial
services company wants to cut costs by $150 million to $200 million
annually, and wants a roadmap for doing so by the end of this year.
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A few say the culture’s been changing for the worse, though. “Bain’s
traditionally strong culture has been watered down over the past two years
due to a significant increase in travel and small classes of new consultants and
associate consultants who drive a lot of the activity around the office. This
should change now that we are bringing in large new classes,” notes one
insider.
Meanwhile, the people are said to be terrific. “The people are selected on
their social skills (which does not always happen at competitors),” says a
source. They “tend not to take themselves too seriously.” (Notes one source,
“There’s an interesting dichotomy between how seriously people approach
client issues, yet how people really don’t take themselves too seriously.”)
One consultant enthuses, “I look forward to seeing my colleagues every
morning when I come in to work.” Plus, “there are very few prima donnas.”
Expect “fun people who are easy to work with and very, very smart.”
Signs of life
While work-life balance is hardly balanced, consultants say they appreciate
Bain’s efforts in this direction. “Within the parameters of consulting (e.g. you
DO work a lot), Bain does a great job of trying to balance work with the rest
of your life. Work levels do vary by office (e.g. L.A. works more hours than
San Francisco or Atlanta), but weekend work is usually reserved only when
absolutely necessary (before a big presentation),” says one source. Adds
another insider, “It is extremely rare for us to have to cancel a previously
established personal appointment, or vacations.”
Also helpful is the fact that “facetime is not a requirement, only getting the
job done.” So while “we do crunch to meet deadlines” and “there are peaks
and valleys,” most agree that “overall, it is a sustainable lifestyle.” “People
who are proactive about balance and are able to work efficiently can usually
maintain a sustainable balance,” one source says.
But some don’t agree. “Bain makes a very public effort of promoting work-
life balance but comes away with moderate success,” says a source. “Like any
firm, when things are busy they are busy. I think the most important thing for
potential [associate consultants] to understand is that this is not a 50 hour per
week job. It is 60 on average and 80 happens, sometimes with frequency.”
“Consulting is a difficult industry if you really want a balanced life. It’s the
nature of the business. You are at the client’s beck and call ... and they know
that,” says another source. “This is a high pressure, client-driven
environment which makes it hard to build a sustainable lifestyle,” opines a
third consultant. Our surveyees report that weekend work is occasionally
common. Most say they work between four and 30 weekends a year.
Bain gets special accolades for trying “to accommodate those with families
or those with a preference not to travel.” “I am a full-time working mother,
and have been able to balance this well so far. Bain has been very supportive,”
says a source. Another source agrees, “I recently started working part-time
as I had a baby, and the firm has been really excellent as they try to help me
manage both parts of my life.”
In this vein, it offers “sabbaticals which can range from one to six months,”
and “a part-time option, which helps. Anyone can take on just one client case
(instead of the usual too), get paid 60 percent, and have your ‘second side’ be
at home. That said, work-life balance is pretty difficult if working part time.
We work 60-70 hours per week on average. Travel is still just a day or two
per week.”
Hourly dues
“Work hours are very variable (50 to 90 hours) depending on the client, and
the case requirements at any given time,” says a source. Projects last as few
as four weeks for private equity deals, up to 10 months for corporate client
work. Meanwhile, most Bainies are fully staffed all the time; a week here or
there is the most most spend not on projects.
“Hours are difficult and a drawback of the consulting life. Probably the most
difficult thing is the variability due to client/partner demands,” says a source.
But variability to one is another’s flexibility: “I appreciate the flexibility in
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work hours. Some days I’ll leave at 2 p.m. or not come in until noon if I am
waiting on something from a client and have no work to get done. Being
empowered to enter and leave the office freely in addition to working at home
makes the long hours much more bearable,” notes a source. And while
“hours are high,” they are “increasingly controllable as you get more senior.”
Travel pass
Travel can be taxing on Bainies, who are away anywhere from zero to five
days a week. (“Even if I spend most of my time in another city, I normally
spend Friday in the office,” notes one.) Travel “is currently increasing,”
especially in Bain Northeast, which is “increasingly relying on cases that
bring consulting staff out of the office (although often only one or two days
a week). The double case model has not yet adapted well to this shift; it’s a
rocky spot that I expect to get worked out in the next few years.”
That said, “Bain does not generally ‘camp out’ at the client. Instead, we travel
when it necessary for meetings, data gathering, etc. We recognize that our
clients have day jobs. The exception is where we are doing intense operations
or turnaround work.” Agrees another source, “When we do have to travel, we
don’t believe in ‘face time,’ so you don’t ‘camp out’ at the client four to five
days per week ... you only go when you need to be there (which tends to be
two to three days/week ... sometimes no travel for a given week). About half
of our cases are local.”
There are also the rare consultants who don’t travel much. “Since working in
our London office (about two years), I have had only two days of work
related travel outside of London,” reports one. And since “Bain’s Boston
office has a two-case model, it means new hires are rarely on the road.” “I’ve
been in town for the past year. Before that, I was on a travel case for one-and-
a-half years, travelling two to three days/week,” reports a source. Happily,
many would agree with the consultant who says, “I can honestly say I’ve
never spent a night on the road when it wasn’t absolutely necessary.”
Pay check
Salaries at Bain are competitive at the top level, but a little low (at least
compared with the other Big Threes) for associate consultants.
Managers get between $125,000 and $150,000 salary, plus between $60,000
and $160,000 in bonuses. “Managers (and obviously partners) have profit
sharing and opportunities to invest in private equity investments. So, I expect
my ‘performance bonus’ to be about $80K (probably slightly more, but not
much more) and my profit sharing could range from about $40K (based on
firm performance in 2003) to $80K+ (based on a great year, which is what we
are currently on pace for),” notes one manager.
There’s a host of other perks, too. “Free Celtics and Sox tickets,” “a gym,”
free coffees and fruits, “company-sponsored pints,” “company car,” “health
and life insurance,” a “ski house in Tahoe,” “beach house in Santa Cruz,” a
$2,000 home-office allowance, and “the company spends a lot on the annual
summer retreat (two and a a half days) and the Christmas party. Both are tons
of fun and nice perks.”
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quality days in Miami in February this year [2004] with colleagues from all
around the world.” Another consultant opines, “Our summer offsite at a New
England resort is amazing. People look forward to it all year.” Plus, “the firm
works really hard to make its employees happy. Last year a group of
[associate consultants] went on a cruise – rather than 30 of us each taking a
vacation day, the firm gave us the day off in addition to contributing $50 to a
private excursion while we were in the Caribbean.”
The praise continues. “Interaction with top management starts very soon and
is an important booster to grow up,” notes one source. Another says,
“Mentorship is probably my favorite thing about Bain. The people I work for
take great care of me and provide me with consistently growing
responsibilities and helpful feedback.” Another source reports, “Supervisors
at Bain are very intelligent and have been trained as good managers for the
most part.”
Client contact seems to be the norm. “Since the first day in Bain I always had
high exposure with client’s management,” says one consultant. Another
consultant agrees, “You are given as much responsibility and interaction with
clients as you can handle.” “Because Bain works with mid-size clients on a
frequent basis (companies around $1billion), consultants have an opportunity
to interact directly with a CEO,” explains a source. “The CEO knew my
name at the last 3 clients. There were people who worked at the client over
10 years who the CEOs never knew.” Summarizes one consultant, “We
always have the opportunity to interact with clients at the highest level. This
is one of the key aspects of consultancy, as you have the opportunity to learn
from both your own firm and key members of the client. Because the clients
are results orientated, we see the impact of our work in the client’s behavior
and decision making very early on, which is very rewarding. As a result, you
are often asked your opinion on issues as they evolve, rather than having ages
to analyze piles of data – it feels very real.”
Meanwhile, there are “lots of activities to bring the office together. Extensive
emphasis (and budget!) put towards formal and informal mentoring
throughout the office both within consulting classes and between different
levels of the company.” One consultant observes that, “The ability to interact
gets better with tenure as can be expected. I have not worked on a case where
I have not known the partner and he has not known me though, which is a
good thing.”
Office space
The offices in most locations are said to be “really nice.” Bain has “amazing
offices, always in the No. 1 or 2 building in the city,” says a source.
Singapore just “had a major renovation,” and Boston “just moved into a brand
new office which is really superb.” In London, offices are “very nice and
centrally located,” while Chicago boasts a “high profile location in the Sears
Tower, well maintained and renovated when necessary.” Says one German
source, “Our office in Munich provides excellent infrastructure, a very
pleasant working atmosphere that does not at all feel like ‘working in
cubicles,’ and is located right in the city center!”
In certain places, the views are outstanding. It’s “one of the best views in
Hong Kong – 68th floor view of the entire city and Kowloon.”
And “our 36th floor panoramic view of San Francisco Bay is the best in the
city.” “Our office is located in one of the best office buildings of Amsterdam
with a 360 degrees view over the city,” notes a European consultant.
The layout has supporters and detractors. “Bain has a ‘bay’ layout in all
offices, which adds a lot to camaraderie,” says one source. But in Atlanta, a
source says, the “cubes are small and the walls are too low.”
Training wheels
Training is another highly-rated part of life at Bain, lauded as “incredible”
and “awesome” by our surveyees. One of the great aspects of it is the
location, “from Cape Cod to Cancun.” There are “worldwide training
sessions for first and third year ACs.”
There are several partw to the training. “Official training at the regional level
takes place almost once a month, and at the international level once every two
years. Unofficial training is daily,” notes a source. Another explains it
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thusly: “We have very much of both kinds of training (official and unofficial).
There is an official year-round ongoing training program, and full-blown
official training once a year. These once-a-year training events are fantastic,
uniting half, or all of the people (worldwide) in your class.” “Aside from
these trainings there is a virtual university at Bain (online), where you can
find training modules on all imaginable subject relevant to strategy
consulting,” notes a source.
Women power
Bain gets high marks for accomodations for mothers, and for being generally
welcoing to women. “The chairman of the board is a woman. Until three
months ago the head of the home office was a woman. And the Boston office
has made staffing compromises to ensure the viability of a part time model,”
notes one source.
Women are heavily recruited. “We don’t quite have a 50-50 gender ratio, but
Bain does at least as well as the top business schools in that area. Women in
Bain have their own support and mentoring networks that focus on unique
issues that face them,” notes a source. Another source grumbles, “We
overemphasize recruiting women in the office.”
But not everyone thinks the women ratio is as high as it should be. “It seems
as though globally this is an issue that Bain is trying to tackle, but there are
not yet enough runs on the board to comment on its success
“Bain tries to hire and promote women but its a demanding lifestyle for most
who want to raise a family so they often leave,” notes a source. “My firm
doesn’t have a lot of women, but they are great about trying to attract and
retain women,” notes another source.
“Women are not treated in any ‘special’ way, we’re considered peers to men
and as such we do not deserve special treatment,” notes one (female) source.
Another consultant says, “I think we are very receptive. At the more junior
levels, intakes are often 50-50. We do find though that at the senior levels
there are fewer women.”
However, there are options for women with children. “The two-case model
allows for women to go part-time and work on one case. While that is
challenging, it has resulted in several women remaining at Bain as mothers,”
says a source. “I think that our office has been extremely supportive of
women. I’ve always found the mentoring opportunties I need. Bain truly is
a meritocracy, where I feel that I am graded on my on-the-job performance.
There’s also an active women’s program which consists of one to two
activities per month for all women at Bain, including administrative and
consulting staff. That being said, I think we have not been as successful at
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Others say it’s doing just fine. “Ethnicity is a non issue at Bain. The
consulting staff is generally far more diverse than our clients,” says one
source. “It’s an oxymoron, but the majority of our office is minority,” says a
San Francisco consultant. And “Bain NYC has been improving and continues
to make progress in this area.”
The recruiting effort for the gay and lesbian sector is quite strong, sources say.
“Bain actively recruits gay, lesbian and bisexual people to work at the firm,”
notes a source. And programs for the BGLT community are also strong.
“Bain has an internal group for homosexuals that appears to be
significant/helpful. Most people here are quite open-minded.,” says a source.
Another reports that there is a “written non-discrimination policy. Domestic
partner benefits. Open very senior VPs, very active gay employee group
(BGLAD), very active gay recruiting process for both MBAs and
undergrads.” It is, opines a source, a “very receptive, very supportive, very
open culture with regards to gays and lesbians.” “Their partners attend Bain
social events. Many of us have supported our gay colleagues (outside work)
in the fight to stop an amendment to the Georgia constitution to define
marriage as between a man and a woman,” says a source. However, it can be
“harder to be “out” in a number of international offices (notably in Asia) as
well as in our Dallas office,” says another source.
Community center
In addition to its nonprofit wing, Bridgespan, Bain is actively involved in
community service. “Our office has what we call Club Bain, which is an
informal group of like-minded Bainies,” says a Singapore source. “We have
Elsewhere, there are “office-wide community service events, pro bono work,
charitable involvement; a wide variety. This has been a major initiative in the
last 18 months in the Northeast.” Another source weighs in, “We do a fair
amount of pro bono consulting, and we also have a number of different
initiatives being led by different levels within the firm. A group of associate
consultants, for example, are coordinating a mentoring program for
disadvantaged children. The entire Chicago office takes a day off each year
to participate in our Community Impact Day, when we dedicate our time to
around five charitable organizations by redecorating and repainting premises,
taking children out on field trips ,etc.”
Meanwhile, the “Atlanta office has donated three years of free consulting to
the City of Atlanta.” “In the London office we have a number of community
projects including Business Action on Homelessness; Mentoring for people
funded by the Prince’s Trust; Helping school children with reading and
maths; an annual community action day where we work with a variety of
charities.” And in most offices, “twice a year the office shuts down for
volunteer day, where groups of staff go out to local nonprofits and help them
with assorted projects for the day. We also do some pro bono consulting for
local non-profits.” Plus, “one extra vacation day per year can be charged to
community service.” Overall, opines an insider, “community involvement is
key differentiator versus competitors.”
Getting ahead
Our surveyees differ on whether it’s a strict ‘up-or-out’ culture or not. “As an
AC you can pretty much stay for two years after which it is up-or-out,” says
a source. But another says that “promotion is almost entirely tenure based up
through the manager promotion – at least in the U.S. You are promoted in
tandem with your start class, which cuts down on competition, but also means
that merit is not necessarily strongly rewarded.” Another opines, “The up-or-
out policy is applied but not in a too strict way People can take more years
to be promoted without getting kicked out of the company. Promotion time
has actually extended over the last couple of years.”
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Our Survey Says
Consultant to manager, two and half to three years. Pretty much up-or-out
with possibility for additional six months to achieve promotion.” One
consultant handicaps it thusly: “associate consultant is a two-year position,
after which is a promotion point to senior associate consultant. AC’s who are
performing well typically make this hurdle without too much trouble. SAC’s
typically go to business school, although a select few will decide (and be
promoted) to stay as consultant (post-MBA title) without an MBA.
Consultants become case team leaders after 2 years, and then go through a
difficult promotion hurdle to manager.” “The promotion from senior
associate to consultant is generally the hardest to achieve, and you are
encouraged to attend b-school first,” notes a source.
A different source says that it is “a soft up-or-out, meaning you get a clear
message but you have some time to relocate.” (“They are very helpful in
finding you a new job if you are not going to make the next level according
to friends of mine that have been through this,” says a source.) But “there is
no stigma to taking a little longer to get a promotion, and often those who
were delayed make the subsequent promotion quicker than their peers, as the
skills required are different at differnet levels in the organization.”
For every level, there is an “expected track” which sets the expectation on
how fast the consultant advances to the next level. Says on source, “The
overall performance of every consultant is tracked and reviewed regularly, so
measures can be taken in case of faster development leading to faster
promotion, or slower development leading to special support. Only if these
measures do not help and the underperformance continues, will the decision
be taken to give an exit message.”
And overall, “the firm makes sensible compromises when consultants want to
go part-time for personal reasons (usually to be a primary caregiver to young
children). There’s an obvious career advancement trade-off when you go
part-time, but I think it’s well-balanced for both parties,” notes an insider.
Getting Hired
The Hiring Process
Job banks and Bain don’t really mesh. The firm almost exclusively recruits
from the top schools. Of course, Bain will accept paper resumes or resumes
submitted online, but colleges and graduate schools are the best way to get a
foot in the door.
Which schools, exactly? Our sources say Bain looks for “MBAs from the top
10 schools, advanced degree recipients from other schools and undergrads
from the top 20 or so schools.” Ergo, head to Harvard, Dartmouth, Williams,
UVA, Amherst, Yale, Princeton, Columbia,MIT, UPenn, Brown, Cornell,
UofM, Northwestern, Illinois (limited), or Indiana (limited). For MBA,
Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, Kellogg, Wharton, and Michigan are the surest
choices. “Undergrad is based mainly on geographical location and top
schools, where MBA is generally just top schools,” explains a source.
Meanwhile, international offices look at top local schools (in London,
Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh) and top international schools like
INSEAD or LBS.
Winning personalities
Overall, while of course grades and business experience are key, it’s
personality that sets those who get offers apart, our sources say. “We recruit
Cased in
Case questions can seem off-the-cuff, and “generally the case questions are
examples pulled from real life cases that the individual interview has recently
worked on,” says a source. “The undergraduate level tends to focus on
market sizing questions (requires less knowledge of business) due to the fact
that many students have limited business backgrounds,” notes a source.
• “Estimate the market for pet food in Italy and the business planning/analysis
required to set up a local pet food shop.”
• How would you calculate the break even point for an airline company?
How would you define the sales force model for a consumer goods
company?”
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Getting Hired
Bring a pencil and pad to the interview, and be sure to ask at least a couple of
your own questions during the case studies, insiders say. That’s because the
recruiters want consultants who will suss out the important information.
When you’re structuring the case question, one source advises, think of
customers, cost and competitors.
Questions to Expect
1. Case Study:
Profitability problems are a mainstay of first round MBA-level interviews.
Questions take one of two forms: cost or revenue. “No matter what the
situation,” says one insider, “either the cost is too high or the revenue (sales)
is too low. You have to know about fixed costs and variable growth.” To
determine what the problem is, past interviewees suggest breaking down the
scenario. “Ask questions,” suggests one successful MBA applicant. “What
are the costs like? What do they consist of? Compare those costs to the
market or average. Then ask, ‘What’s the difference?’”
2. Case Study:
Distribution problems are also popular for business-savvy candidates. For
instance, Bain might want to know how a certain product is distributed in one
region of the U.S. “I was given a ‘small firm’ scenario,” says a source. “I was
told, ‘There is a small firm with a few stores in New York City and one
warehouse in upstate New York. The firm has consistently shown strong
sales growth. It has kept its product costs in line. Sales are going up, but
profitability is down.’ I, as the interviewee, needed to find out why. By
asking questions, I determined the firm had grown so much that it now had
higher transportation costs. It was spending more on drivers, gas, tolls,
whatever – that’s why profitability was decreasing.” The insider went on to
create possible solutions, such as opening up smaller warehouses in the areas
farthest from the company’s manufacturing facilities.
3. Guesstimate: How many gallons of white house paint are sold in the
U.S. each year?
To answer this question, you must first estimate how many houses there are
in the U.S., how often they get painted, how many gallons the average house
takes and on the average, what percentage are painted white.
7. Case Study: You are a large manufacturer of athletic shoes and you
have a $10 million budget. Your sales are slowing. How do you revitalize
the market? In your advertising efforts, which person would you hire for
promotional work: a superstar athlete or a local sports hero?
Although the more kindly, humanitarian pick would seem the local sports
hero, Bain is a business. As such, it is profit hungry and ravenous for results.
“In this case, forget about doing the ‘right thing,’” our insider reports. “If a
Michael Jordan is going to earn the manufacturer big bucks as opposed to
Johnny Mulberry of Duxbury, Mass., Bain wants to hear you squash
grassroots sentiment and go for the mainstream dollar.”
8. Case Study: You have been appointed the manager of a rental car
company. How do you measure its efficiency?
In this case, our insider said the key was to determine how many cars were
being rented at any given time. She suggests that a good place to start is with
the number of cars parked in the lot versus those that are presently rented. She
also says that one must understand the company’s clientele. Business
travelers and leisure travelers tend to travel for different lengths of time.
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Getting Hired
They also demand different types of vehicles (Lincoln Town cars versus
Dodge minivans, for example). Other significant factors include the
company’s size, location, staff, history and plans for change. Once these
“facts” have been determined (or at least considered), the candidate is in a
much better position to suggest improvements in overall business
productivity.
12. General: What are the three best ideas you’ve had in the past five
years? It’s always a good idea to stock a few “top three” lists in your
head: top three failings, top three descriptive adjectives, top three pivotal
experiences, etc.
Although you have to doubt the ultimate relevance of such questions,
interviewers are fond of asking them.
Questions to Ask
2. What kind of pro bono work does Bain do? What kind of projects do
Bainies work on outside of the office?
Bain prides itself on its community service, so this will be an exciting talking
point for interviewers. Ask about what the specific office you’re interviewing
for works on; many have their own projects. What’s more, the most
successful Bainies often display a commitment to good deeds, especially
when these deeds are in some way related to the firm. Bain’s latest endeavor,
the Bridgespan Group, applies strategic consulting methodology to help non-
profit organizations achieve “breakthrough results in performance.” Finally,
keep in mind that if you are accepted into Bain, assume you will spend some
“unofficial time” working on the firm’s favorite extracurricular endeavor:
recruiting.
5. What are Bain’s expansion plans, both on the domestic and the
international fronts?
The firm has always been ambitious in its plans for expansion. Express not
only an interest in its future offices, but also a willingness to do one of the
things Bainies do best – travel between them.
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Getting Hired
Compensation
Pay
Associate Consultant (1st year): $57,000 base. Signing bonus and
performance bonus.
Consultant (1st year): $105,000 and up per year salary (+ bonus and, often,
a signing bonus).
Perks
• Subsidized day care
• Paid maternity, paternity and adoption leave
• Off-site training programs
• Paid MBA tuition (not guaranteed)
• Health insurance plan
• 401(k) plan
On the Job
Day in the Life
10:00 a.m.: Head to the library (“Bain is very research-oriented. I can’t think
of another firm that has such quality resources at its disposal.”)
1:00 p.m.: Take a break for a quick lunch. (“Lean Cuisine in the
microwave.”)
1:30 p.m.: Finish whatever possible in library. Ask research assistant for
some research.
2:00 p.m.: Head across town to interview some of the client’s customers
7:30 p.m.: Make some last-minute phone calls and return e-mail from vice-
president assigned to team.
8:00 p.m.: Head out for cocktails (“Straight scotch, thank you.”)
6:30 a.m. Grab a taxi and head to the airport, suitcase in tow.
12:00 p.m.: Grab some lunch with other team members (“On the road, the
time with your team is intense. You learn how to work with each person in a
diplomatic way. And if you can’t, you learn to cope.”)
6:00 p.m.: Meet with team for post-presentation feedback and discussion;
discuss tomorrow’s agenda.
8:15 p.m.: Eat dinner with team. (“The tab is always on the company when
it comes to team dinners.”)
10:00 p.m.: Retire to hotel room, call husband and set alarm for tomorrow.
Consultant
9:00 a.m.: Arrive at work and check e-mail, The Daily News and voice mail.
(“I often have upwards of 20 e-mails waiting for me each morning-clients,
client affiliates, upper-level managers with questions, team members wanting
to discuss new data analysis, the list goes on ...”)
4:00 p.m.: Begin work on client case No. 2, a cable company in New
England.
6:00 p.m.: Eat a non-nutritional snack. (“My favorites include Twinkies and
pretzels.”)
6:15 p.m.: Check e-mail again; finish the spreadsheets started earlier that
day.
6:30 p.m.: Meet with research team to determine what is needed for an
upcoming presentation.
10:00 p.m.: Call it a day and head out the door. (“The day of a consultant
necessarily extends into the night. And the long hours encroach upon family
life.”)
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On the Job
Job Descriptions
Associate consultants
Associate consultants (the “analyst” position at most consulting firms) are
recruited during the senior year of college (or after a non-business master’s
program). They are typically responsible for identifying information sources;
interviewing a client’s customers, competitors, suppliers and employees;
gathering and interpreting data; and presenting findings to team members.
Like regular consultants, associate consultants are staffed on two projects
simultaneously.
Consultants
Consultants at Bain gather data in the field, analyze their findings, make
client presentations, and work directly with clients to implement
recommendations. After being hired, they are placed on two client case teams,
ostensibly to help them gain as much experience as possible (although many
consultants complain that their dual work assignments keep them working
efficiently on any one case).
Summer program
Bain’s summer internship program receives rave reviews from participants.
Reports one insider, “Bain manages the summer program extremely well.
Interns are given meaningful pieces of work and all the support required to
have a rewarding, productive experience.” Another Bainie says, “My summer
internship provided me with an excellent insight into the work as a consultant
at Bain & Company. I was doing work comparable to that of being a starter
already and was also with the team on the client site. Bain tries to provide a
‘real’ case experience for three months to get a taste for the work and then
‘fun time’ to get to know the people, the culture, etc.” Another participant
gives us the lowdown: “The summer involves one case and a whole lot of
socializing. Spend the first week training in Cape Cod, then during the
summer go rafting in Maine, summer meeting in New Hampshire, baseball
games, dinners to get to know everyone at different levels in the office. It’s
pretty great. The case experience is real with a real piece of work, but there
is a heavy emphasis on the fun part.” Another former intern says, “I had a
‘true’ consulting experience. I had significant client contact, I owned a
discrete workstream on the case and I interacted with both partners and
managers on the case. I also had a great social experience where I participated
in a lot of different activities and met people at all levels of the company.”
For those entering their senior year in college, Bain also offers “unique and
meaningful” associate consultant internships. While not quite unheard of in
the field, such internships are unusual among top consultancies, who prefer to
mine the mental resources of MBAs. Undergraduate interns learn basic
business skills such as financial statement analysis and cost accounting; they
are mentored by associate consultants.
For undergraduates
To become an associate consultant, or AC, one must graduate from a leading
college or university and possess remarkable academic credentials, strong
analytical skills and almost superhuman motivation. (ACs spend many a late
hour in the Bain office.) Associate consultants work as members of a case
team in roles that vary according to individual performance levels and general
team objectives. As an associate consultant gains more experience, she will
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On the Job
To help prepare employees for these new endeavors, Bain offers rigorous and
frequent on-the-job training programs. Within their first few months, new
Bain associates can also expect off-site training, often in exotic locales. These
getaways serve a double purpose: Bainies gain analytical and business skills,
but perhaps more importantly, they interact with other newly hired associates.
Considering the strength of Bain’s existing alumni network, it is not
surprising that the firm encourages close bonds between fellow employees.
New recruits at Bain shouldn’t get too comfortable. Associates typically stay
at the company for two or three years. Staying for four is extremely unusual.
To return to the firm, you’ll need an MBA, which Bain may or may not pay
for, depending on how enthusiastic they are about you. “Very few people
make it to manager without an MBA,” remarks one insider. However, with an
MBA in tow, returning consultants can quickly climb the ranks to become
case team managers and even vice presidents. The Bain advancement track
almost always includes large doses of client management and business
development.
For MBAs
MBAs join Bain as consultants and immediately join client case teams and
become involved in the creation and implementation of strategic
recommendations. Case team managers and vice presidents lead formal
training programs that are meant to expand upon business school training as
well as to offer practical experience. Like ACs, consultants work on two cases
at one time. This approach offers exposure to a cross section of industries and
people, but it can also overburden time-strapped newcomers. Those who
endure usually acquire the training and experience to become case team
leaders. Consultants who meet Bain’s stringent standards and who aren’t
shown the door after two years can expect to move up to case team leader and
then to vice president fairly quickly. Vice presidents have the opportunity to
develop new business relationships or even to open regional offices. In its
official literature, Bain professes to be looking for MBAs from “the most
highly rated business schools” who possess “a high level of energy and the
desire to effect change.”
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Final Analysis
If you ask anyone savvy about the consulting industry what firms are at the
top of the heap, they’ll most likely answer McKinsey, BCG-and Bain. Bain
may be the smallest of the “big three,” but it doesn’t take a backseat in
profitability or prestige to any other firm. Bain deals with the most
intellectual strategizing and determined implementation, working with top
management at some of the world’s leading firms. It takes talent, brains and
determination to enter the charmed circle of Bain-and maybe a little bit of
luck. The firm at times seems more like a (co-ed) fraternity than a company.
If you’re looking for an elite, entrepreneurial, and highly selective firm that
offers limitless opportunity, you should look closely at Bain & Co.
But be aware that the consulting industry may be on the verge of radical
change. Traditional management consulting firms like Bain, which have
focused on the big picture approach, may become a thing of the past. With
every down cycle in the economy, doomsayers have always predicted the
demise of the consultants, but there are compelling arguments that this time
they may be at least partially correct. The industry has always been able to
sell big ideas, from the “product portfolio matrix” and the “experience curve”
in the 1960s to the more recent concept of “reengineering.” Now the
consulting industry appears adrift, unable to formulate the next big idea.
Further, it is trending increasingly toward the implementation of technology
and away from pure-play strategy. In 2000 it was estimated that 57 percent of
the U.S. consulting market was devoted to IT services, with that number
expected to grow to 70 percent by 2004. Traditional consulting firms now
find themselves squeezed from two sides. The large technology
implementation firms like Accenture, EDS, and IBM Business Innovation
Services are encroaching on their turf, while at the same time many former
clients are establishing in-house strategy teams-often staffed by raiding
consulting firms. Smaller technology-oriented firms that thrived during the
dot-com bubble and managed to survive when it burst, are also looking to
leverage their technical expertise to offer strategic advice to clients.
Moreover, the days of open-ended projects, in which swarms of consultants
roamed in the belly of the corporate beast and emerged months, sometimes
years, later with brilliant insights and grand schemes to pursue are essentially
over. Many former clients who felt they had been burned by consultants in the
past now keep a tight rein. They bring in consultants to accomplish specific
projects in a certain timeframe, to either save them money or make them
money. Clients are also keeping a tight rein on consultancy fees because of
the poor economy; they are demanding and receiving discounts from
consultants.
Where will all of this lead? Traditional consulting firms, in the words of
Fortune, “still house enormous talent and a wealth of knowledge about how
successful businesses operate. But their future will look very different. Many
people believe that they are going to get a lot smaller. Their partners may
splinter off into several smaller boutique firms. Or they may merge was an IT
outfit to gain tech expertise and access to new markets.” (Indeed, rumors
were floating earlier this year that IBM had an eye on Bain.) Bain insists that
business remains strong and that it has no intention of dropping its generalist
approach, but the firm has already made some concessions to changing times-
the new IT group is one such change.
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Recommended Reading
“50 Smartest Women in the Money Business (and what you can learn from
them),” Money.com, May 1, 2000. A short profile of Bain chair Orit Gadiesh.
“Kleiner Courts the Old Economy,” TheStandard.com, April 10, 2000. How
Bain came to partner with one of the biggest names in the Internet economy
to form eVolution Global Partners.
“A Man of Words is Still Partial to One: Loyalty,” The New York Times,
December 29, 1999. Profile of Bain partner Frederick Reichheld.
“Businesses Get Into the Spirit of 2012 Olympic Bid,” The Dallas Morning
News, October 23, 1999. How Bain is helping Dallas compete for the 2012
Olympics.
Chris Zook, Beyond the Core and Profit From the Core. Popular books by a
respected Bain consultant.
Consulting/Career/Reference
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