FAQs
- How is Booz & Company different from other top-tier consulting firms?
- How is the firm structured?
- How would you explain the work that Booz & Company does?
- I am trying to decide between a corporate career and a consulting career. What are the major differences and how will I know which is right for me?
- What does it take to be a successful consultant?
- Why Booz & Company?
- What is the culture like at Booz & Company?
- What can I expect from my career at Booz & Company?
- How can I balance my career and my life?
- Every company is talking about diversity. What does diversity mean at Booz & Company?
- What is the typical interview process at Booz & Company and how can I prepare?
How is Booz & Company different from other top-tier consulting firms?
Our major differentiator is our focus on strategy-based transformation
- Helping clients face change brought about by discontinuities in their markets (e.g., deregulation, new competition, convergence of technology, mergers and acquisitions).
- Working with clients that want to drive to a new future through major, cross-functional change.
- Covering the entire CEO agenda, including corporate portfolio, business unit strategy, and functional strategies (e.g., marketing, technology, operations)…with precision, speed, and certainty.
A strategy-based transformation includes:
- Understanding industry structure and dynamics.
- Developing a strategic agenda—including both business and functional strategies.
- Driving the CEO’s agenda forward through skilled program management.
- Cascading the strategy throughout the organization through effective leadership and organization strategy.
This strategy-based transformation work is more focused on the full CEO agenda than the work of most of our competitors.
Booz & Company has a straightforward corporate structure. The firm is made up of several business units: North America Commercial, Europe, and International.
Our senior staff are all members of industry- or function-focused teams.
The industry-focused teams are:
- Automotive
- Aerospace & Defense
- Consumer
- Energy, Chemicals, and Utilities
- Financial Services
- Health & Pharmaceuticals
- Industrials
- Insurance
- Media
- Telecommunications
- Transportation
The function-focused teams are:
- Information Technology
- Operations
- Organization & Strategic Leadership
How would you explain the work that Booz & Company does?
Although we have long-term relationships with many clients—we have worked with several clients almost continuously for 40, 50, or 60 years—people come to consulting to do a variety of different things. Our goal is to keep you on one project for no more than six months. Thereafter, you may stay with the same client, but you will be working on something different—something that will help you develop and take you to the next level in your consulting career. Team size can vary, depending on the project, but most times you will be working on a fairly small sub-team, focusing on a particular aspect of the client’s issue. A typical sub-team could be made up of three to a dozen people—and almost always, you’ll be working side by side with members of the client organization.
I am trying to decide between a corporate career and a consulting career. What are the major differences and how will I know which is right for me?
Consulting offers a broad, cross-functional experience. You’ll work directly with our clients’ senior executives to create and implement strategies and technologies that make an impact in today’s challenging environment. Success comes in two forms—from working with clients to turn winning ideas into reality and from developing your own innovative ideas.
A consulting career will usually expose you to a more expansive range of situations and opportunities than a corporate career. As a consultant, you’ll be able to learn about a variety of industries and functions, work on different teams with many interesting people, and experience growth that will be anything but linear.
Consulting is, by necessity, an open-ended, flexible, and interactive process. You will work with the best and brightest people across the firm, approach problems from a broad perspective, and be allowed to grow in many different areas.
Ask yourself:
- Do you enjoy diving into an ever-changing portfolio of new projects?
- Does the thought of transforming organisations excite you?
- Do you thrive on seeing your ideas through to implementation?
- Do you enjoy meeting people at various levels of organisations and synthesising their perspectives?
- Do you demand an environment in which you are constantly expanding your horizons, seeing new perspectives, and facing new challenges?
- Do you enjoy working with new and interesting teams of people in a fluid environment?
- Do you want to make a difference?
If you answered “yes” to all or a majority of these questions, chances are that consulting, and Booz & Company, are a good fit for you.
What does it take to be a successful consultant?
In many ways it is their differences—in training, backgrounds, and areas of expertise—that make consultants invaluable to clients with specific needs. But the most successful consultants share several important attributes. They:
- Feel passionate about the work they do.
- Enjoy working in teams of colleagues and clients.
- Focus on results.
- Listen eagerly to their clients’ needs.
- Exhibit a drive to effect positive change where it is needed.
- Possess the tenacity to work through the details as well as the vision to keep clients’ goals and the “big picture” in mind.
People who succeed at Booz & Company have demonstrated strong team and thought-leadership skills in their previous jobs or on campus. They are analytical in approach, thorough in charting a course and, most importantly, have a curiosity and passion for solving problems. As long as you excel at what you do, almost any academic or industry background can be a good fit at Booz & Company—our business spans most industries and functional disciplines.
At Booz & Company you’ll be energised and challenged. Every day you’ll make an impact on a variety of interesting projects, learn new things, and teach others. You’ll feel the excitement as you work with the best and brightest people for the most prestigious clients. And you’ll be rewarded with world-class compensation and benefits programmes.
What is the culture like at Booz & Company?
We succeed because of the way we work. In setting the standards of our profession, our approach is noticeably different. We think ahead; we are undaunted by tough challenges; we are direct, honest and unambiguous; practical, pragmatic and committed to making things happen; and we bring the best people in the world together, realising the power of our multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural teams to make the greatest impact.
Some companies produce things, but at Booz & Company our only commodity is the innovation and know-how of our people. That’s why we hire the best and the brightest and why we do everything we can to keep them.
One way is by providing a culture in which people at all levels are encouraged to think out of the box and raise issues. We applaud innovative ideas, encourage feedback about the firm, and recognise exceptional efforts through a multi-tiered awards programme and a 360-degree appraisal process that helps ensure your efforts don’t go unnoticed.
What can I expect from my career at Booz & Company?
Professional development begins on your first day at Booz & Company and continues throughout your career. All new hires undergo an extensive orientation, which imparts Booz & Company’s heritage, culture, and approach to consulting. You will continue to find opportunities for personal and professional growth including:
- Targeted courses in consulting, management, and business development.
- Coaching and mentoring.
- Cross-functional assignments.
- Immersion programmes to help you develop skills as you progress through your career.
- Tuition assistance for academic and technical certification.
From your first day with our firm, we’ll continually add to your "toolbox" of skills and capabilities. This toolbox will serve you on every Booz & Company assignment and provide an invaluable foundation for your future.
At Booz & Company, you will create your own destiny and carve out your own individual career path. The firm will support your decisions through our world-class training, career development, and mentoring programmes.
But perhaps the most important way you’ll grow will be in your interactions with colleagues and clients over the course of your time with us. Once you become part of Booz & Company, you’ll begin building relationships that will stay with you forever. You’ll refine your consulting skills through day-to-day interaction with senior members of your team, and you’ll work alongside the movers and shakers of industry and government—our clients. Time and time again, our alumni tell us that it’s the people, at Booz & Company and among our clients, that they miss the most once they move on, and it’s the number-one reason many alumni choose to return to the firm.
How can I balance my career and my life?
Booz & Company realises that there’s more to life than work and that we all benefit when employees are happy, healthy, and leading a well-balanced life. That’s why it’s important to Booz & Company that you are able to rejuvenate through personal activities that are important to you; that you are involved—not only in the business community, but also in the community where you make your home.
Booz & Company has programmes for your personal well-being, opportunities for flexible work arrangements, and impressive benefits packages. If you want to join a professional association, or go back to university for another degree or a certification, we’ll help cover the costs. The firm supports your need for community involvement with a full-time community relations department. To take your mind off work, many offices field sports teams and plan other after-work activities.
Every company is talking about diversity. What does diversity mean at Booz & Company?
We recognise that teams comprised of individuals with diverse backgrounds and styles produce richer results for our clients and ourselves. We believe that diversity within our own community enriches us as individuals by enlarging our sense of who we are and what we can become.
What is the typical interview process at Booz & Company and how can I prepare?
The interview process at Booz & Company will generally be conducted over two rounds. Each round typically consists of two 45-60 minute interviews, each of which involves:
- General CV discussion so we can get to know each other.
- Case discussion in which we try to understand how you go about analysing real-world business problem.
- General consulting skills and industry knowledge where applicable.
- Answers to any questions that you might have.
After each round of interviews you will receive feedback on your interviews and the next steps within a week.
For interviews that are held during campus milk rounds this feedback will be provided on the same day or later the following day.
If you are invited to sit for interviews, a case preparation is recommended. Practice as many case scenarios as possible, talking aloud with a partner and generating defensible hypotheses and solutions. Here are some tips that should help you succeed in the case interview:
- Listen carefully; ask questions if there are any points you do not understand.
- Once the interviewer provides you with the case parameters, summarize the case to the interviewer in your own words to be sure you understand the problem.
- Then, take some time to think for a minute. Be confident and, perhaps most importantly, relax.
- Find a way to structure the problem; this will guide your discussion with the interviewer. Briefly describe the framework you plan to use to the interviewer, allowing him or her a chance to offer comments. In general, the simpler the framework, the better.
- Begin with the first element of your framework, and work through the answer out loud so the interviewer can evaluate your analytical structure and help you along.
- Try to be aware of the time you have, moving through your framework at a pace that allows you to touch on all the elements you described at the beginning of the case discussion.
- Pause periodically during the discussion to give your interviewer a chance to “course correct.” If your interviewer gives you some advice, take it—the interviewer wants to help you!
- Toward the end of the case discussion, be prepared to take a stand. Most case discussions will seek some sort of recommendation from you.