Toxic work culture - absence of mentorship - luck based growth rather than outcome based growth
Pros
- Brand name: Sadly even today the outside world values a "BCG Consultant" as though they have magical powers. This will change very shortly! Because within BCG, people grow into senior roles without having true leadership skills. Most of the partners do not have good leadership skills.
Cons
- Mentorship & leadership: Although this is the aspect that BCG publicizes, this is the one component that is missing completely. 90% of BCGers would be scared to express their true thought process or push back to a P/ PL or Partner in a case. - Work culture: If you are lucky enough to be staffed with a P/ PL who is open to learning alongside you and mentoring you, you will be in constant threat of being counselled out. If you somehow end up being well liked by your P, you will get good scores irrespective of your true performance. The only factor to success at BCG - Luck! - Diversity & Inclusion: Again an aspect they publicize on, but is completely absent! Just count the number of women partners vs white male partners. Someone with pedigree is valued way higher than someone who doesn't have a fancy Ivy league MBA - even if the latter adds more value, is hard working, motivated and dedicated and is open to feedback. - WLB: I don't think I've ever heard people at BCG use this term - if you ever bring this up with your P/ PL, you can expect to be counselled out post next CDC. - Happiness: You are neither happy at your job given the bad work culture nor happy at home given the bad work culture! It consumes you. People end up going to therapy to deal with the stress and low self confidence. Job security is severely low. One could probably even seek the up-or-out mindset and say that they like the fast paced growth. But the "up" is not dependent on how dedicated you are. The "up" is dependent on your luck in terms of the P/ Partner you end up working with. - Pay: Again another aspect heavily publicized in the positive light. There are many places outside of BCG that pay much better for significantly better WLB. For example: tech, start-ups Advice to folks looking to join BCG: Heavily recommend spending some time on Fishbowl (or similar apps). Fishbowl is an app where current and former consultants share anonymous posts about their experiences pre, post and during their consulting days. This opened my eyes! I wish I had read this before joining the firm.