Fresh out of business school, I joined BCG to apply and further grow my analytical and leadership skills. I knew that at BCG, I would be able to use my personal intellectual approach in solving challenging problems and that I would get to team with highly talented executives as I developed my own leadership style.

For one of my cases, I worked in a large nonprofit that was in the midst of a major transformation. Ensuring proper leadership to implement the new strategy we’d developed was key. On that case, I realized how leadership skills—like strategy—have to evolve to adapt to the new demands organizations face. Motivating leaders to enhance their skills toward the successful execution of strategy is just one of the many ways BCG makes a difference.

When I was looking for a consulting firm, I wanted to work for a firm that is involved in a wide range of industries and on the cutting edge of business.  I viewed BCG as a firm that understands an individual’s strengths and skills and provides endless opportunities for a young professional to develop expertise that can be applied to a vast array of clients.

In my first year at BCG, my experiences included improving the capabilities of an international retailer, a beverage company and a 99-year-old nonprofit. Through those fascinating cases, I was introduced to challenges that enabled me to grow and become more versatile. I saw how BCG respects each consultant and taps into our unique skills to provide the best service to our clients.

I joined BCG straight after university. From the very beginning, I was extremely excited by the variety of challenges across different industries and geographies. It has always been my dream to be able to have an active impact on global business, and BCG has allowed me to achieve that dream.

One of my first strategy projects was an oil-industry case where, with the involvement of several industry experts from BCG offices all over the world, our small team developed an upstream strategy for a leading oil company in Central and Eastern Europe. We started by analyzing the upstream oil market, looking at key competitors and, with heavy involvement of the company’s board of directors, defining future ambitions for the organization. My primary task was to build a comprehensive financial model that would enable us to quantify, under different scenarios, the impact of the strategy to the company’s financial profile over a 15-year period. I was also charged with scanning several potential geographies for available upstream oil and gas opportunities.

For me, personally, one of the most satisfying moments of the project was the positive reaction the CEO received when he presented the strategy and its financial implications to the investment community. This was direct validation of the work I had done, and I was delighted to see the company’s stock price subsequently soar.

Overall, I find that the most rewarding aspect of working for BCG is being able to help the world’s leading companies solve their most complex and demanding problems. Many times while traveling, I will read articles in business publications that discuss recent bold moves by one major corporation or another. Only a smile on my face at such moments can disclose that I was personally involved in shaping some of those efforts.

I chose consulting to be able to watch senior executives make decisions, and to lead. I chose BCG because I knew the firm, and knew that colleagues in my home office would invest in me—having that personal connection was huge. The principals and project leaders act as coaches, helping me navigate the client environment and pushing my analysis, but also giving me space to learn and own my work. As I grow, I am supported not only by my teammates, but also by the diversity and women’s mentor networks and my mentors in the Atlanta office who have helped me develop, and who have counseled me through tough situations. These relationships, built on trust and a mutual interest in my development, have been integral to my career development and progression.

When I decided to transition from academia to the business world, I knew that I wanted to work in an environment where I would be challenged intellectually, and where both my partner and I would feel fully welcome. Through BCG’s LGBT Initiative, I have been able to connect with a tremendous group of peers spanning all regions of the globe and all levels of tenure. The network has truly become my extended BCG family. The corporate support given to the LGBT Initiative demonstrates BCG’s commitment to diversity, and it is no surprise that there has been tremendous growth in membership in recent years.

Coming to BCG with a background in archaeology and anthropology, I wanted the opportunity to use my nontraditional skills when approaching business problems. Whether it is around the case team table or in working directly with clients, I have been strongly encouraged to offer my unique approaches to tackling problems and to push my thinking further in ways that go well beyond my base of experience.

As I chart my course through BCG, I know that my career development is strongly supported by both the formal mentor network in my office and the mentoring provided by the LGBT Initiative. Through these networks, I have established relationships with a number of senior leaders in the firm who have shown a clear interest in ensuring that I grow as a consulting professional, find intellectual challenge, and have a positive experience at BCG.

My decision to join BCG was driven mostly by the firm’s culture and the BCGers I met with throughout the recruiting process. Putting aside the pretty marketing material and the cocktail parties, at the end of the day, I asked myself, “Where will I be able to best develop my career and most enjoy doing so?” At BCG, I’ve found a diverse group of extremely smart and down-to-earth people who, from day one, gave me the feeling that part of their goal is to help me grow professionally toward achieving my personal goals.

I have worked with great teams and clients to solve complex business challenges and drive to significant impact. I have definitely grown professionally, and I’ve been exposed to many opportunities to continue growing.

I have always been an engineer—that is since I got my first self-assembling toy. The years flew by. I graduated from the faculty of optimisation and decision support at the Warsaw Technical University, and was about to complete my doctoral thesis in software engineering.

It was then that I made first contact with strategic consulting and discovered a place where bright people looked into companies from all possible angles to find practical solutions to serious problems. It seemed like an exceptional mix of analytical problem-solving with an almost sport-like sense of challenge. I expanded my economic and business knowledge, and found myself at BCG.

I was not disappointed. It turned out that this sport requires not only strong intellectual muscle, but also a simultaneous development of other “muscles”, such as entrepreneurship and initiative, interpersonal and communication skills, as well as time management. With each project I discover new challenges and develop skills that enable me to better deal with them.

I had worked as a consultant before business school, so I thought what BCG could teach me would be somewhat limited. Little did I know.

My first project was an industrial goods case that required me to travel internationally and work side-by-side with the client’s country managers to refine their strategies. BCG’s culture encouraged me to go beyond prescribed solutions and push for breakthrough thinking, continuously asking, “What would I do if this were my business?”

Since then, I have worked on strategy projects in the financial services and consumer goods areas, exploring territory beyond the health care industry, my focus in the past. Regardless of which path I take, I know that BCG will be my best preparation for a career in busine

Since joining BCG, I have discovered a passion for social responsibility and have had the opportunity to work on four social impact cases. These projects are as challenging and complex as the work we do with corporate clients, and I feel a great sense of accomplishment in knowing I helped change the community in positive ways.

A unique aspect of working at BCG is being able to use our knowledge and skills to work on social impact projects. On one particular project, we worked to improve the Atlanta Public School (APS) system, focusing on increasing both high-school and college graduation rates. We quickly learned about the high level of complexity involved in public-school operations, as well as the support systems that students need to be successful, and I am confident that the solutions we found will help APS students.

Coming in as a biology PhD, I was excited when my first case at BCG involved helping an international pharmaceutical company streamline its clinical trials and prioritize its products. BCG joined with senior members of the client company to form a working team dedicated to the redesign and served as the client team’s thought partner while exploring potential organizational structures and resource needs. Throughout the process, we added insights of senior BCG partners with vast industry experience and of leading scientists and physicians. Together, we designed a new organization that will help our client become more efficient.

At BCG, the outstanding quality of formal training, the tremendous support of colleagues, and the culture of apprenticeship have allowed me to develop at a truly remarkable pace.

After four years in consumer goods, I chose to join BCG. I expected to broaden my horizon with challenging new topics and open additional doors in my career path. The most positive experience of the last year has been the incredible climate of teamwork and mutual respect in which everyone dedicates all efforts to finding the best solutions for the client. On every team, I have been acknowledged for the experience I brought, while at the same time it was the most natural thing to help me quickly learn the consultant skills I needed. No matter what your background, you always add something to the team and make what it can deliver better. This is what makes working at BCG so special to me.

I joined BCG in 2006 after working at two semiconductor startups and receiving my MBA from London Business School. Since then I have deliberately pushed for a diverse experience and have worked in technology, media, retail, financial services, and private equity.

Throughout my time here, I have found that it is the people that make the difference at BCG. The LGBT Network helps nurture individuality and provides access to worldwide connections within BCG. I was recently awarded a position in BCG's Ambassador Program to spend a year in another office. The LGBT Network was an invaluable source of contacts and advisors around the world to help me choose my preferred location.

I chose BCG for an internship because the BCG consultants I met during the recruiting process seemed intellectually challenged, enthusiastic about their work, and visibly loved their jobs! As an intern, I had the opportunity to drive my work, directly engage the clients, and walk away with a clear understanding of what it is like to be a BCG consultant. There were also many other components to the internship, such as training, lunches, Cubs games, and more, that enabled me to really get to know the Chicago office and my fellow interns. Overall, I was challenged by the work, encouraged and mentored, and given the opportunity to build lasting friendships. Since returning to BCG full time, I have continued to build on these experiences and have been able match my own interests with my personal development goals.

What excited me about joining BCG is what continues to excite me today: working with incredibly talented, down-to-earth people who share a common goal of helping the world’s best organizations improve their performance. The learning I’ve done from working with the top minds in business from around the globe has been the greatest surprise.

Working side-by-side with these top minds as we tackled some of the most challenging issues—leading enterprise-wide transformations, addressing demographic risk, developing new processes to drive performance, and shifting corporate cost-structures—I was at the rock-face of innovation, and have learned firsthand from incredible people both at our firm and with our clients.
 
I’ve always understood that our BCG culture was unique in the sense that we work so collaboratively with our clients. I realize now that not only does this afford our clients greater impact from our work, it has also provided me with an incredible platform for professional development and personal growth.

This is such a stimulating, exciting, and challenging place to work.

Having spent two years abroad studying for a master’s degree in international relations, I decided not to follow my classmates into international organizations, lobbying firms, and not-for-profits, but instead to seek rigorous private-sector training. As a graduate, I was looking for a dynamic environment with early responsibility, a challenging culture, and exposure to different industry sectors. In all these respects, BCG has outshone my early expectations.

My first client at BCG was a global environmental charity, which placed me in familiar territory, as I had already worked with a couple of charities and knew that they often struggle with complex organizational structures and slow decision-making processes. In this case, we conducted a strategic review, with a focus on defining clear roles and new performance metrics for each department of the organization. The project made real progress, and our efforts were rewarded a year later, when the charity’s director general wrote to thank us for our “sure and guiding hand” at a “critical stage in our development.”

Since those beginnings, I have had a broad range of assignments, from financial services cost-reduction projects to media strategy cases. Building on this experience, I have just started a temporary placement at the BBC. Here, I have been reassured to find that the skills I learned at BCG—thinking in a structured, creative way and supporting my arguments with rigorous analysis—are also relevant to the public sector. This is particularly true for projects involving new media platforms, where technology is opening new doors, audience behaviors are shifting, and new business models are being established.

So, having initially harbored concerns that my background would not be relevant to BCG, I have been happy and somewhat relieved to discover that social science and consulting both depend on similar basic capabilities. Coming full circle, it has been very rewarding to build on these skills at BCG and now, to be able to apply them once again in a public-sector setting at the BBC.