Toxic environment, period. Where do I start?
1. Feedback is never genuine. You could grind to improve on something mundane just to be beaten on it over and over. Once the hounds smell blood, you can never recover. Your cohort will dwindle and soon enough it will look like a season of survivor. This also harms the relationships you create while in Bain because it's just a long struggle and not something you reminisce.
2. The managers and the partners are mostly unpleasant. Mentorship is not genuine at all, there is no sense of collegiality, and there are no sources for support. When I first got in I couldn't get a 1:1 with my mentor for months, and everybody knew that the guy just doesn't like being there so what could I possibly learn from him or get help on?
3. Nobody has time, ever. Especially since COVID. Nobody has time to give you feedback or have a PD chat. Nobody has time to befriend you. You will be extremely lonely and just wait for it to end. Pre COVID this was different but the culture has not recovered.
4. Diversity not only doesn't exist - this place is openly discriminatory. I constantly heard misogynistic comments from managers and consultants, such as "women don't do well in these interviews so we had to change them", or "women can't drive". I really don't want to know what they have to say about non-white or non-straight people. Women are told that if they feel that their team doesn't want to hear their opinions, maybe they should stay quiet and learn.
5. HR, like in most corporate places, is a rubber stamp. Please don't go to HR if you have issues, and just try to stick around long enough until you find your next step.
6. Many people here get physically ill because of how much they have to work and how much pressure they are facing. It's not that hard to extend deadlines with clients or work more efficiently - but Bain doesn't teach you that. Instead, you will reiterate font sizes until your head drops on the keyboard.
7. The up-or-out structure is not what it used to be. You don't get long severance anymore with decent time to look for a new place, and there is no real process to get you on track if you're not doing well enough. You just get a call one day saying you're done and good luck. Even the manager on your case might not know and you'll be the one telling them. Yeah they put you on a PIP but it's maybe 4 weeks long and there is 0 transparency about the whole thing. It has become a theme in this office that talent is not nurtured or discovered - their job is to find bros like them who will become abrasive managers and partners with the ability to squeeze any drop of productivity from the consultants and generate big buck for the firm.
8. Just to reinforce the pros - despite everything I said, go for it. stay for 1.5-2.5 years, that's enough, don't dig through reddit forever to learn that you need to leave as a manager. Get the fast learning of the first year and then start looking outside, there will be something waiting for you and I thank Bain for that.
