Bain & Company Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Bain & Company full-time for more than a year

Pros – Great employer with an amazing cohort of down-to-earth, talented consultants who are fun to hang out with; great opportunities to travel both domestically and internationally, as well as pursue learning opportunities both within the Bain network but also through MBAs

Cons – As with all professional services, hours can be long and travel intense. Increased turnover within the Australian business over the past couple of years, with sustainability and work/life balance being the biggest challenge facing the business.

Advice to Senior Management – Do ensure sustainability is a top priority within the business, to prevent burnouts, breakdowns and depression within the workplace. There are very few people within the business that have created a sustainable balance, so it can be difficult to train junior staff or transfers to develop/display the right behaviours within the business

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Bain & Company full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – If there was ever a company that invested in its people it's Bain. Local and global training, formal mentorship and sponsor programs, diversity initiatives, customised learning, learning through apprenticeship - that's all Bain.
The Bain culture is very strong and cemented on genuine values that resonate with Bainies. People are very smart, but pragmatic, fun to work with and down to earth. We help each other out. You actually DO want to see these people on weekends!

Cons – As in any other consulting job, the hours can be long and a bit unpredictable. It is really about getting used to it. But I think Bain is amongst the best in the industry in terms of actively managing sustainability and ensuring that flexible options are available so people don't get burned out

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Bain & Company

Pros – The best aspect of Bain is the people, which make it the the most fun and friendly of the top tier consulting firms to work for

Cons – As with all the top tier firms, Bain is a competitive place and you need to be talented to succeed

Advice to Senior Management – Keep up the focus on sustainability - it is possible to be a successful consultant and maintain a good work/life balance

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Bain & Company

Pros – great personal development processes, including international and local class based training. Bain also allows consulting staff to remain "generalised" until they become quite senior, which means that you are gauranteed exposure to many different industries, capabilities and functions over the course of your career. Bain's private equity practice is much larger than its nearest competitors, which means that you are offered opportunities to work between typical strategic cases and 'Due Diligence' work in the Private Equity group.

Cons – hours can be long, travel can be significant. Also, the regional staffing model means that to some extent you are confined to the industry mix of the office in which you are located

Advice to Senior Management – keep up the good work!

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Bain & Company

Pros – Learning curve, great colleagues, dynamic company with much drive, very smart people;

Cons – worklife-balance is non-existent, hard to balance with private life / family life;

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Bain & Company full-time for more than a year

Pros – +People are fantastic
+Learning is rapid, and the analytical tools you build are transferrable
+From a high-level, the work is very interesting, and you can get a lot of responsibility at a junior level

Cons – - Relative to other consulting firms, feels like junior people get less exposure to clients
- Promotions at the more junior level are tenure-based, rather than merit-based
- The junior level work can be very uninteresting, and you live in Excel/Powerpoint

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Bain & Company full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Great training environment: instittionalized professional development systems, with regular chats with supervisor and mentor, formal review after each case, consensus review after every 6 months, global training program every 1.5 years of your tenure on average, local training program every 2-6 months each year (depending on level). Development criteria common across offices.
Strong culture: true north, results driven, answer-first / hypothesis led approach, etc; culture common across offices, but some variations in work-life balance.
Strong global network of well-connected offices (and hence opportunities), like 6-month transfers, permanent transfers, on-demand transfers

Cons – Sometimes work can be physically very tiring, without creating a lot of value for the client; leadership team's ability to manage client's direction and expectation can vary wildly
You will not learn/develop too deeply in any technical knowledge or expertise: e.g. financial forcasting and valuation modeling

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Bain & Company

Pros – Brightest people, interesting work, and great training

Cons – Difficult lifestyle, travel and long hours are not sustainable

Current Employee – been working at Bain & Company

Pros – Talented people, very career oriented

Cons – Hard to get work/life balance

Current Employee – been working at Bain & Company

Pros – Mentorship, Learning, Opportunity to advance quickly

Cons – Lifestyle not always under your control