Hi guys,
I'm lucky I landed C jobs at BCG and Bain in Doha. Please, I need your opinion on the below

1.BCG is T1 in the region while Bain doesn't seem so. Do you confirm? And the trend?

2.Interviews/negotiations went great with Bain vs BCG more acrimonious. Does my experience reflect structural cultural differences (pressure, up or out, cutthroat)?

3.What about transfers to the US-EU?

4. Type of cases

Your personal opinion: would you prioritize BCG T1 status over Bain "friendly culture"?

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Here are my thoughts as I recently had to choose between two MBBs in the region, so I've done a lot of research and had many conversations:

- Bain is small in M.E. and Qatar (only ~10 found on LinkedIn in Doha) but is growing quite significantly. BCG is already much bigger. Might be a plus for Bain, as growth for the firm may mean growth in your career path (especially in Doha). This also means that you'll stand out a little more at Bain and be valued more as part of a smaller firm.

- Bain culture is great in comparison to the market. Basing this on many conversations and my interview experiences across several firms in the region. Bain seems entrepreneurial, fun and more open culturally.

- Bain's cases are more focused on private sector work, while BCG is known to be huge in public sector. This comes to your preference but personally I think a more diverse set of cases may be better than mostly govt work.

- Bain is quite diversified in location of cases as well, while BCG focuses heavily in KSA (from what I've heard). Might also be a good thing for you to diversify your cases by geography to grasp local knowledge in different countries/cities and do some travelling :).

- Assuming BCG comp is a bit higher but not sure by how much, comes down to your importance on the $$.

Verdict: my (potentially biased) opinion is to go with Bain! Lol. Hope this helps

likehelpful

First of congratulations on the offers! smashed it!

BCG in Doha has a very good presence as they and McKinsey work extensively with 5-6 govt clients and that reduces your travels as well. The Doha office is primarily for the Qatar relates projects unlike how UAE and KSA are now shifted to more KSA projects hence the constant travel to KSA primarily due to mega projects like NEOM, etc.

BCG is renowned for public sector, education and healthcare and how these are very in line to core sectors of the ME region this plays a huge role in types of projects and experiences you’ll have.

BCG has a fantastic culture in terms of development and friends you can make inside the firm as they regular socials etc and its part of their fabric - I have seen a lot of people choose BCG / McKinsey Doha primarily because work life balance is much more manageable compared to KSA/ UAE just because of how projects are for the offices.

Bain UAE had made a shift in their culture from 2020 onwards as they had constant negative reviews especially from wlb. They have invested heavily on culture and making sure workload is manageable for people but I wouldn’t be able to speak from the Qatar office point of view - this was back in 2020 in the UAE offices.

BCG has a 2 year policy for transfers and you need to be a decent performer to make your case for it. I am not aware of Bain’s policies in that regard

Hope this helps in any way in making your decisions. Either way its going to be a really great step

helpfullike

Confirm 18 months required for transfer at bain as well. Need to be a good performer and chances of being granted a transfer also depends on how competitive your target office is and which office you're coming from. Ie transferring from Doha to NY seems.unlikely

What are the total comps for both?

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Both BCG and Bain are considered Tier 1 in the region. For me if the offer is similar, then I would go for Bain as it’s culture is known to be better. For Global mobility/ transfers, I have heard that all consulting firms do secondments or transfers but you can’t-do so unless you have 2 years in the firm. And it’s not for granted and not everyone’s transfer request is accepted. Best of luck you’re going to enjoy it!

helpful

Its* culture..

Why not Mck?

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