Meet our people
Sandrine
Consultant, Brussels
My profile
I find the support group of the Women at Bain group in Brussels to be amazing.
Why Bain?
I choose Bain for a variety of reasons but above all because the culture of Bain fits me perfectly. "Work hard, play hard" is truly the mindset here and I realized at Stanford that I was really similar and getting along great with all of the Bainees. I also love the fact that Bain is growing fast and that Bain has a huge presence in PE which is one of my areas of interest.
My passion
I've a lot of passions in life, in and outside of Bain. In particular, I find mentoring and personal development to be super exciting and I thus am involved in the HR stream at Bain Brussels. I also am particularly interested by women advancement in the workplace and am heavily involved in Women@Bain. Finally, I find a lot of meaning in having a social impact so I try to lead the Bain Cares initiative in Brussels. Outside of work, I am really a sports fanatic and I am trying to set up more women networking opportunities in Belgium. Bain is truly supportive of all of these. In fact, you can organize pretty much what you want at Bain and people will always be thrilled to participate and help out!
My favorite case
I did my first PE case in Stockholm a few weeks back and I loved it.
It was very short but very exciting because the action was pretty alive (the target was being bid on already), the team was incredible (we were working with Finnish colleagues who were really fun to work with), I was staffed with an amazing Belgian colleague so it allowed me to learn more about the Belgian office as well and it was my first travel case so I found it just exciting to travel.
My perspective on diversity at Bain
As mentioned above, I'm part of Women@Bain and the advancement of women in the workforce is one of my big area of interest. In fact, I'm currently leading an initiative on improving the use of flexible working models in the Brussels' office. I find the support group of Women@Bain Brussels to be amazing; all bright, ambitious, young women trying to make things change with a positive mindset. We participate in a lot of activities, including networking events with senior female clients that have worked really well till now. So it's exciting to see that a generation of women is coming up the ranks and supporting one another in this adventure.
My personal results story
I've to say that what strikes me most at Bain in terms of the work is that I learn continuously. You would think coming out with an MBA that you know a lot, but it's incredible how I learn every single day I've been on any case. How to approach a problem, how to structure a solution, how to set up a creative workshop, how to design a good slide, how to improve an excel model, every day you learn a different skill. I wonder how long this will last but talking to a manager yesterday, he said it's still the case for him too .
A final thought
My advice to recruits is to decide which offer to accept with your heart, not with your brain. Eventually you will spend 15 hours a day with your colleagues so you want to make sure you're "fitting in" and appreciating them a lot. Choose the culture that fits you best and you'll love your job!
