Employee Review
- Current Employee, more than 5 years★★★★★
Welcome to Bain
Oct 5, 2015 - Manager in Chicago, ILRecommendCEO ApprovalBusiness OutlookPros
Welcome to Bain. I'm going to give you a problem that neither the CEO nor his entire management team could solve. And I'm probably going to give you lots of different opinions and imperfect data sources. And then I'll ask you to focus in on where the most value is and convince all those people with different opinions that you're right. But don't worry, I'm also going to give you a Bain team. Those associates and consultants are going to be tenacious in coming up with creative approaches. Those managers and partners are going to knock down barriers for you, connect you where you need to be connected, guide, support, direct and re-direct you. The office support staff is going to fix your computer after you spilled coffee on it for the third time, find you the unfindable data source, and smile and hand you a baked good after you ask for help re-doing dozens of slides. You are empowered and accountable but you are not alone. And the best part is you can't fail. Because after all, what all those people are reinforcing is that a Bainie never lets another Bainie fail.
Cons
Here's how you know you've made it at Bain. The reward for doing a good job is getting a bigger, tougher problem next time. Meaning, you are always solving the easiest problem you will ever solve again. This takes a lot of resilience and active managing of self-expectations to remember that you are not actually getting worse, the problems are just getting harder. So my advice is to remember that. And then take a second to realize that it would be a lot less fun if the reverse were true. And isn't that precisely why you wanted this job in the first place anyway? It sure was for me.
Continue readingYou have captured the essence of what it means to work here! Thanks for sharing your experience.
Other Employee Reviews
- Current Employee★★★★★
Pros
people, work culture, dynamic environment
Cons
work hours, breadth of work
- Current Employee, more than 5 years★★★★★
Great place to start career
Apr 24, 2023 - Consultant in New York, NYRecommendCEO ApprovalBusiness OutlookPros
Incredibly fast learning, development opportunities, great coaching, wonderful people. Incredible place to get early-career training and development, amazing exit opportunities. Work with some of the smartest, nicest people you will eve rmeet
Cons
-Work-life balance is tough, and does not get better until you hit senior partner. Expect to work 55 hrs in the average week, up to 70 in bad ones - with extreme unpredictability based on client churn -No control over your staffing, which is THE key determinant of your entire experience -- day-to-day life, what you learn, how much you work, etc. etc. etc. Very different from somewhere like McKinsey, where you get much more freedom to define your career path based on interests / choice -Despite what they will have you believe, there are other jobs out there where you can find similar growth / pay, with a better lifestyle. Especially true at post-MBA level -Learnings / skillset becomes very consulting-focused after senior manager year -Compared to McKinsey and BCG, Bain is relatively 'cheap' -- no free lunches in office, limited perks, etc. ; not a huge deal but definitely jarring given the otherwise-similar nature of the firms
Bain & Company Response
Director, Global Consultant Talent Management