OFFICE SELECTION
You hear an office is growing.
More hiring. More attention. More activity.
That sounds like an easy signal: apply there.
Growth is useful information, not a decision.
An office can be expanding for reasons that have little to do with the experience you want as a new analyst. The interesting question is what that growth changes for junior consultants.
“Growing” sounds specific... until you ask what is actually growing
Office growth can mean several different things.
A firm may be adding headcount.
A region may be seeing more client demand.
An industry practice may be expanding.
A newer office may simply be building toward scale.
Those situations are not interchangeable.
The headline needs a denominator.
If you are evaluating geography, start by understanding where firms have meaningful presence and how that fits the markets that interest you. Top Consulting Firms by Geography gives you the broader landscape to investigate.
Then go one level deeper.
Ask what the growth means.
The most useful questions are about consequences, not announcements
Suppose an office has been hiring quickly.
A student may hear: opportunity.
Good.
Now keep going.
Could that mean more new teams forming? More junior peers? A changing staffing environment? New client sectors? More pressure on onboarding capacity?
You do not know yet.
That is precisely why the conversation matters.
| What you hear | Do not stop there | Ask this next |
|---|---|---|
| “The office is growing” | Assume more opportunity | What is driving the growth? |
| “We are hiring more analysts” | Assume faster progression | How are new hires staffed and supported? |
| “This market is important” | Assume every project is local | What work are junior consultants actually seeing? |
| “The office is expanding” | Assume culture stays unchanged | How has the office changed recently? |
Growth creates opportunities and questions.
That is a much more useful recruiting mindset than chasing whatever office appears hottest.
A smaller office may give you something the large office cannot
Undergraduates often equate size with optionality.
Sometimes that is reasonable.
But size creates trade-offs too.
In a smaller environment, you may know more colleagues across levels. In a larger office, you may have access to a broader local network. One location may have deep exposure to industries you care about. Another may offer more variety.
None of those automatically wins.
The point is to understand the operating environment rather than treat office size as a proxy for experience.
If BCG is on your list, Top BCG Office Locations can help you build the office-level questions you should investigate.
Then ask the question recruiting pages rarely answer cleanly
“What has changed here in the last two years?”
That one question can unlock much more than “How is the culture?”
A consultant may tell you the office has added people rapidly.
Or that a certain industry has become more visible.
Or that teams increasingly cross office boundaries.
Or that very little has changed despite the growth narrative.
You are looking for movement, not marketing.
Talk to several people if the office matters to you. One person gives you an experience. Multiple conversations start giving you a pattern.
Then compare the pattern with what you want from your first job.
An office with momentum can be exciting.
But the word “growing” should start your diligence.
Not finish it.