McKinsey & Company Bain & Company Looking into staying in London after my diplomatic assignment is up, ideally with MBB or a boutique firm at the AP level, preferably TC above £ 220k. Is this a reasonable expectation for someone with 17 yoe and multiple countries/roles? I know comps are lower in the UK then in the US, but surely partners at these firms are still bringing in £500k plus right?


Bain & Company Boston Consulting Group McKinsey & Company

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Not going to happen.

Happy to give you my story offline and explain why not.

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You've had some quite robust and bad news in this thread OP. I must say that you've been ferociously diplomatic. Good stuff!

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I appreciate the vote of confidence! I’ve had some practice… :)

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Have you ever worked in consulting or corporate strategy at a company? A career diplomat without prior experience has zero chance of walking into an AP role.

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Unfortunately it will not. You would likely need to do FT at LBS (if you're dead set on staying in London) and then come in as an associate post-MBA.

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They are. You will not be.

likefunny

A few years ago a Brigadier from the Army joined McK. Came in at consultant level (MBA level).

likefunny

I know a guy who was a career diplomat for 15 years, did various strategies for UK gov, but came into BCG as a consultant (post-MBA level), granted our Cs make ~250 TC so might fit your bill but low chance you’ll come in as anything higher if you don’t have any consulting experience

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EY-P, very kind of you. Will DM you.

If your diplomatic work was heavily tied to a functional area of interest (e.g., mega project finance, sustainability) and you have real depth in it, you might be able to enter in an AP-level expert role. That’s partner electable at McK and would be highly compensated. But it doesn’t seem likely and the only remotely similar example was someone from a regulatory agency (and that’s not actually all that similar). I have most often seen people with long, but strictly military or diplomatic backgrounds enter as ASC unless they were in senior, more political roles (in which case they often enter as Sr Advisors).

I am also not sure the full-time MBA route makes much sense in the absence of some more relevant experience. I’d much rather see you get some experience in any industry, get a part-time MBA at Warwick if so inclined, and apply as an experienced hire in 2 years than to go somewhere full-time and end up getting hired as an ASC through campus recruiting (we are not going to consider you for AP if we’re recruiting you on-campus).

Have any of your colleagues gone somewhere interesting? An ambassador you know well who is now on a board? School mate who’s somewhere in industry?

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That’s sort of the track I had in mind. Maybe come in laterally as a senior advisor, pivot to EM for a few years before AP, maybe partner a few years from there. But who knows, this is assuming my skill set is a match. I have another 89 zoom interviews with McK I think.

You’re getting mixed messages here because there are 2 possible ways of doing things. Hard core consulting means dropping to associate level, learning the analytics to complement the comms/social skills you already have and following a regular career track (some acceleration if you’re good). Not easy. Lateral entry means finding a team with very senior sponsorship who can work with what you have in your head/rolodex right now and will twist hiring processes to make that happen. Definitely look beyond MBB if this is your path (M possible).

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MD1 is right. Don't forget that MBAs are a stage 1 filter for recruiting, hence the concept of target schools and why MBB don't pay attention to your [insert terrible university here] MBA programmes. EMBAs on the other hand... The bar to get in is pretty low, so its filtering function is irrelevant.

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Admission to MBB at senior grades is next to impossible without prior consulting experience, if not prior MBB experience. I actually think you’d have better luck as a direct admit SM or Director into Big 4. Again, depending on networks and functional expertise. TC is lower (£150k range), but probability of success is higher.

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1Y partners in the UK make approx £400k total comp.

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Can’t help you if you’re set on MBB but happy to have a chat if you’re interested in D. My team consider senior civil servants, and we are recruiting.

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Right—that’s survivor bias at play, ie, you see a tech unicorn and say “hey let’s make a dating app where instead of swiping you have to shake your phone.” But you’re not counting the 10k apps that failed to even make it to the App Store.

Then again you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

What I’m saying is I think I might have an idea for app…

likesmartfunny

Do you have contacts in government? If so, you may want to try Greensill Capital

Indeed! I keep seeing the company name in FT for some reason. Must be record breaking earnings.

funny

What is a career diplomat? Sorry for asking

That said, I’ve been yelled at by foreign heads of state, spent a day underwater on a nuclear submarine, kicked the tires on an Apache, helped get dangerous chemicals out of North Africa, chatted with Christine Lagard, to name a few cool experiences. It’s like crawling through the desert and finding amazing oases from time to time.

uplifting

Super cool though, any special education for entry in these roles?

A good degree in anything really works. Plus willingness to sign away your life for a few years. Of course there are two entrance exams, waiting, a ranked list, security check, more waiting, and then you’re in. Oh also a medical check. If I’m being honest, yes, you need to have minimum smarts, but a lot is down to luck and timing.

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