Allan George (NYU Stern, ‘21) spent his summer at Bain and Company as a Summer Associate Consultant. During the summer, Allan got direct experience building core consulting skills by working on a manufacturing excellence case. In this interview, Allan spoke about his summer experience at Bain, the Bain culture, and the skills he used to be successful during his summer internship.
MBASchooled: What did you do for your summer internship, and what did you work on?
I spent my summer working for Bain & Company as a Summer Associate Consultant in the Houston office.
My team and I worked on a Manufacturing Excellence project for an international chemical manufacturer. Over the past decade or so, the company has grown aggressively and they’ve reached a point where a lot of their new assets weren’t operating at their full potential yet. Our project focused on taking a highly site tailored approach to get these assets on track. My particular workstream focused on identifying some of the key levers we needed to pull at a few of the sites and beginning to design initiatives focused around those levers.
MBASchooled: What were the most important skills you needed to use this summer?
I would say over-communicating and avoiding analysis paralysis. Not working in the same room or office as your team members leaves you susceptible to interpreting a message wrong or miscommunicating with a team member which will leave everyone on different pages. I intentionally focused on over-communicating to be 110% sure intended messages, expectations and deliverables were aligned.
Learning to avoid analysis paralysis was also extremely important. The case was fairly analytics/quant heavy but the data needed wasn’t always 100% complete. Working with some unknowns and making intelligent assumptions to perform high quality analyses was certainly an important skill.
MBASchooled: What was the highlight of your internship?
My internship was great overall but what really stood out was Bain’s Juneteenth programming. It was a completely different energy from my previous work experiences. They held a mandatory day of learning and reflection for all employees centered around honest conversations about personal experiences, race and diversity and inclusion. Bain also addressed where they currently were and where they could be doing more – taking concrete steps in the right direction through financial commitments, policy change and leadership additions. I appreciated Bain addressing the current climate and helping to push the conversation forward instead of avoiding it.
MBASchooled: Bain is known for its strong company culture. What stuck out to you about it?
Bain’s strong company culture is one of the main reasons why it was my #1 firm pre-MBA and my internship really confirmed that. “A Bainie never lets another Bainie fail” is more than just a saying, it’s a principle. There was a support system in place to make sure I was supported from day one including people at every level of the firm. The affinity groups are also incredibly active and provided additional connections and support throughout. What that results in is a strong culture of inclusivity and collaboration that encourages you to be yourself. It’s also one of the reasons why Bain has been one of the top four Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work for the last 12 years. They truly aim to help every employee feel comfortable and be able to succeed.
MBASchooled: What was it like to experience consulting and client work virtually?
The virtual work environment wasn’t perfect but actually better than expected. As I mentioned, not being in the same room as your team members presented its own challenges but it also created some new opportunities and flexibility. Not being on at the client site meant I could walk the pup or have lunch and dinner with my partner. None of which affected the overall length of my day or the actual work that I was doing.
MBASchooled: What was it like to build relationships virtually? What helped?
Tough but doable. It just required a lot more intentionality. Bainies did a great job of reaching out and setting time aside to just chat and get to know each other. There were also plenty of opportunities built into the summer to connect with my class and colleagues remotely; game nights, cooking classes, walk and talks, etc.
What I enjoyed the most, in that aspect, were the opportunities to interact with partners and other leaders in the firm from across the country through virtual events. I still have no idea how tall most of my coworkers/colleagues are but I won’t be at ground zero when I return (hopefully) in person next year.
MBASchooled: What was a challenge that you had to overcome or work through?
I think there were two main challenges I had to work through this summer. The first was learning how to present the results of weeks’ worth of work in a clean and compelling way. Different clients and different representatives for those clients all have distinct styles and level of details that they care about. Tailoring your presentation to satisfy each one is tough.
The second is Zoom fatigue. I’m sure we’re all very familiar with this but it’s still a persistent problem. Luckily Bain is also extremely aware of it and took necessary actions to help minimize it.
MBASchooled: What advice do you have for other MBA students who are interested in internships in management consulting?
Over-invest in getting to know employees at each level – especially in the office(s) you’re interested in. It’s a people-oriented career path so you want to make sure that you mesh well and can actually see yourself working with the individuals in that office. This is especially important with Bain’s home-office model and the fact that you will probably be working with people from your home office a bit more than you would at other firms.
Also, know your why. It’s a demanding career so having something that keeps you grounded and motivated when things get tough is important.