Pros
Face it, people work at Bain for the cachet. People that you need to impress are impressed when you say you work for Bain & Co. It allows for lucrative exit opportunities in the corporate world, great b-school opportunities, and facilitates an easy transition to private equity. Working with smart, motivated, and talented people who truly want to make a difference. I love that everyone is competent and delivers what they promise. There are very few people I don't get along with, and no one whose abilities I do not respect. The people get along really well, and it's a fun crowd to hang out with after work. Communication is pithy and direct within the firm, and people are very goal-oriented. I believe my communication is much more lucid, and my thinking process much more logical than when I entered the firm.
Cons
Unlike finance jobs in HK, Bain does not pay a housing allowance. The corporate culture in the Greater China offices means that work-life balance is not respected at all. The US offices would have a 7 or 8pm end on a typical work day, whereas midnight is very very common in the China offices. Lastly, because of how many people apply and the vast turnover, Bain Greater China simply doesn't appear to value its people as much as the other offices. Within that is the terrible ACN (Associate Consultant - New) position that doesn't exist anywhere else, which is essentially a probationary period for new hires in the Shanghai and Beijing offices before they make the entry level Associate Consultant position.
