Question for the Oliver Wyman folks: Do you need to be close to an office to be considered? Closest office is about 2.5-3 hours from me but am interested in applying.

Depends. Will you be able to go in for office events / colocating / client travel? Then you’re all good. Either way would apply and see, it wouldn’t be an automatic reject (EU btw)

Can’t you just tell them you are willing to relocate when you get the job?

I have had people on my team "remote" and they came in to the office for events etc. Not necessarily a disqualifier.

Fine if you’re willing to commit to being in the office on a somewhat regular basis, at your own cost. Also depends somewhat on the office because the expectation would be if you are staffed on a local project you’re able to collocate with the team without travel costs to the firm of client, so an office like NY where local work is very common wouldn’t work well, but an office where there is minimal local work you could probably get away with only being in the office one Friday per month

It depends on the office and honestly you shouldnt apply if you arent willing to relocate. My office and group I work with have limited expectations on being in office, but I know of other offices that have higher in-office expectations. And if youre staffed with a partner or EM who is in your local office and is expecting co-location on a project, you have to be willing to do it on your own dime… which seems brutal for a 5/6 week project

If you’re fine with traveling more than the average consultant, and live near a major airport, most practices are fine with it. You’ll probably be asked to co-locate quite a bit