I got offers from top consulting firms in Berlin and Amsterdam. Any ideas what factors to consider in my decision?

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If you are into friendly people please consider NL. Germans can be rude af (and yes, I am German myself).

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Second that. Especially in Berlin. They are not as cosmopolitan as they think.
German here too.
I’d choose Amsterdam.
There is no big business scene in Berlin. You would want to be in Frankfurt, Düsseldorf or Munich.

Which city do you prefer?

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Currently I am undecided- really like both cities

Yea what languages do you speak

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Flex

McKinsey Amsterdam is a phenomenal office. If you’re ambivalent on the cities, I feel like you choose based on the firm. Feel free to DM.

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NL / Germany are also quite different in terms of WLB and money. WLB in Germany is generally worse compared to the rest of Europe. But salaries are substantially higher.

Think this WLB pattern is broadly similar across firms, though there will be differences. These differences are mainly driven by project type and international staffing. I.e., you’re likely to do more CDDs at Bain, which means longer hours on average. McK or OW are more likely to staff you internationally, which generally also means longer hours (as Dutch WLB is probably one of the better ones in Europe) and more travel. But in general, the pattern holds across firms if you compare NL to Germany.

Happy to talk about differences between specific firms (to the extent I can) - feel free to DM if you are not comfortable sharing the names of firms you’ve got an offer from on here

Heard bad things about WLB in Germany.
Do you speak both Dutch and German? If only one then I’d say do the office where that is the main language.
Other than that, I’d personally say Amsterdam would be a better lifestyle but Berlin more high powered.

It depends on how the specific firm operates. In Europe we travel less between countries so the market you serve is often the national market. So Amsterdam could either be a hub to travel and serve the rest of Europe or mainly focus on Dutch market. Berlin will, either way, be busier as Germany is a huge economy (although Germany has more satellite offices within it than UK or France).
Another factor is, do the firms have other offices in Germany? Accenture has several but the huge one is Frankfurt and Berlin is a lot smaller. So if Berlin is their only office in Germany then it will be busier than Amsterdam, but there is also Frankfurt, Stuttgart etc then perhaps not.

By high-powered I generally mean more important work for bigger clients. So you need to work faster and better.

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In Germany good WLB is eob before 2230 (good WLB = time for gym and one episode of Netflix/book etc) while in the Netherlands average eob is before 2000... However, pay is substantially different. Lot of projects in the Netherlands are also home based (I.e. No hotels)

Worked for a NL firm in the industry a few years ago and they had the worst mindset ever, like zero work ethic.

That's the best

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Berlin all day long

Just out of curiosity, where are you currently based at?

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