When jobs advertise that colleagues are ex-BB, B4, MBB etc - does this come across as a red flag for bad culture?

helpfullike
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Having bounced in and out of industry and consulting (including B4) over the past 15+ years, in my anecdotal experience, yes.

I've found those groups of people to be very cliquish, often dismissive of people who don't have that background, and proponents of making industry WLB just as bad as consulting WLB. Sure, they're almost universally smart and driven, but in my opinion the negative attributes when they're grouped together outweigh the positives.

likehelpful

Yes. As someone who served clients that were ex-colleagues or from eg BCG - those are the worst

like

“It depends.”

I’ve seen (via friends, not myself) small insular groups of all ex-MBB/Big 4 consultants at a company that somehow have collectively decided to chill. I’m sure the opposite can happen with a bunch of overachievers together though.

like

In my experience, yes

like

What's b4?

like

Firms that primarily do accounting (Big 4). Except for their smaller consulting arms (PWC-S&, Parthenon-EY, Deloitte Consulting -separate entity).

Whats Ex Bb

like

I’m guessing Bulge Bracket

likesmart

I don’t *think* so. I think they are just trying to signal talent caliber usually.

Pros:
- they bring drive into a usually slower environment, so you‘ll get more things done when working with them
- they are usually more responsive

Cons:
- they often feel superior to others
- you can have the usual competitive „macho“ behavior

I actually prefer working on projects with such people as things get done. However, culture is similar than if you are at MBB or B4 so if you want to change to escape this, it‘s probably not the right move

For me - yes. I try to avoid these places when applying.

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