Bain gave me the opportunity to take a three month externship with a not-for-profit of my choice.

• Why Bain?

  With any consulting firm, there is always the potential for travel or long hours with your team, which is why it was important for me to find a firm with people who I knew I could learn from, work well, and have fun with.

  I vividly remember one evening during the recruiting process when I was out with a group of friends and I realized a strikingly high number of them happened to be Bainies. While each of them was unique in his or her own way, it was, across the board a very friendly and energetic group of people. I then decided to sign with Bain; now a couple years later I am lucky enough to look around the Bain office and realize that many of my coworkers now also happen to be my friends.

• My passion

  I have always had an interest in exploring the not-for-profit sector and working abroad. Before I started working full time, Bain gave me the opportunity to take a three month externship with a not-for-profit of my choice. I chose one in India where I was working on developing and distributing non-electric low-cost baby incubators. It was an amazingly enriching experience where I not only learned a lot about the public health sector but also left feeling extremely personally fulfilled

• My perspective on diversity at Bain

  Before business school I was working in the aerospace manufacturing industry which has a much smaller percentage of women than consulting does. Therefore when I started working at Bain, I was not sure how much benefit I would gain from attending 'Women @ Bain' events, assuming I already knew how to work as a woman in a male dominated field. However, I was very pleasantly surprised at the level of discussion and action that this group puts into its mission. Women @ Bain not only work hard at fostering female talent but also promotes and enables the most collaborative environment for both genders.

• A final thought

  During the interview and decision making process, ask a lot of questions about case experiences from different people. It helps you understand a couple things:

  • What the daily life of a consultant can actually look like.
  • How this experience differs across consulting firms.
  • How rich and diverse the opportunities you will have really are.