McKinsey & Company My GF got an offer from Boston Consulting Group & McKinsey & Company in NA. We want to move to Europe (likely Switzerland) in about 1.5 years. How easy is it right now to Transfer for either of the two? She has EU citizenship - but does not speak German.
Much appreciate some guidance!
Understand that foreign country transfers are expensive and complicated. Switzerland is especially challenging, since they’re not part of the EU, their official languages include Swiss-German, Swiss-French, and Italian, and their business culture is not often English-friendly?
A. If your gf don’t speak the language, at a native professional level, why would a consultancy transfer her to that country? Would she be able to succeed in such an environment?
B. As a brand new hire, what skills does your gf have, that the local consultancy can’t find locally?
What would you be doing there if your gf transfers?
I.5 yrs is plenty for her to become fairly fluent if you both commit to it. Never speak English at home. Daily studies. If she is valued and the request to transfer comes due to spousal transfer,that is usually stronger pull. She will still have to interview at the office and don't expect them to pay for the move. Being at least conversational in the local language would be a plus.
I am Not at McK anymore. But when I was given where McK is currently financially any kind of moment to change offices and geography would basically require a lot of pull directly from Sr Partners in Switzerland office to be able to make that move.
Im a mck alum and agree w the other thoughts here. I wouldnt bank on it unless she has a very unique skillset that the local market needs, performs exceptionally, and heavily networks to build sponsorship/mentorship from local leaders . This is all assuming 90% of studies in switzerland are done in english (which im not sure about). If you’re set on moving, id imagine she’d have to consider a job change.
Very difficult but doable if the following four are met: (1) Distinctive rated (2) Local language fluency (3) Pull from senior partners in Switzerland for in-country and EU needs (4) At least 2 years, more like 3 in the initial hiring office
+1 to what M2 said. 3) holds the highest weightage. And the only way to get pull is to work with these Senior Partners (coffee chats won’t cut it). And it’s extremely difficult to find a project with a Switzerland based Senior partner while being in the US (Each office is incentivized to first hire consultants from their own offices for projects). All this to say- theoretically it is possible (if economy becomes crazy busy like in 2021), but practically it is not!
Think she needs to start learning German asap….(not at MBB but just English seems very limiting, even in pharma there). 1.5 years feels very ambitious in any firm though
You will not be able to transfer to Switzerland at McKinsey unless you speak Swiss German, have a lot of senior partners pulling for you, and a very compelling reason like your spouse, kids, and entire family live there already, you have been staffed frequently in Europe, and are distinctive. I knew someone whose spouse lived there, they had fluency, and support from partners but still could not transfer. The soonest office I think you could transfer is Netherlands after a couple years and even then that’s dodgy. I would not join McKinsey expecting to be able to transfer from NA in less than 3 years. Not sure how BCG is…
Take the money now and plan for future move. Plans change so may as well have money in the bank