Consulting at Green Dot -> Research at McK/BCG

I've recently been considering an international move (from the US to Australia). I have three options:

- Stick with Green Dot with the option to return

- Move to a smaller firm at a significant premium (read: AUD 15k more than Green Dot)

- Move to the research department of a prestigious firm like McKinsey or BCG.

What should I do?

Background: Strategy Management with experience in Tech and Management consulting projects as well as FS strategy/research work.

The green dot and like companies are notorious for low-balling salaries in australia. The exception is managerial level and above, where they are generous.

Yes, smaller firms will give you 15k or more than deloitte and the like. If its money you are after, then this is a good option.

The real prestige companies such as mck will offer way higher, but is , of course, really tough to get into. The likes of mck have intense competition wherever you go.

What level are you targetting? what are your primary drivers? ( money, career growth etc???)

Do you plan to return to the US? If you do plan to return, a small no name aust company will limit career growth upon return.

Tough to give more constructive advice with the limited info in the original post.

Thanks for your response! I guess my concern with McK/BCG is not that they are hard to get into but that the position is with their research group and not their consulting team.

At the end of the day, I am looking for a challenging and rewarding experience. My hope is that when I eventually return to the US, I am well position for a junior exec role at a prestigious firm

This is what I get for trying to give an intelligent response to a very good question through my cell phone.

To give a little background. I graduated with an undergrad degree from a top 15 business school and have since worked in a mix of consulting and strategy research role with top 10 consulting firms here in the US (Corporate Executive Board and Deloitte). My roles in research focused on strategy and (later on) in media research. At Deloitte, I moved to the technology practice but still did some strategy work (though mostly lower level).

Looking our 10+ years, I don't think I want to remain a technology consultant. I want to either take up a senior role within industry or move out altogether and execute one of my own ideas.

I think that given these objectives, options 1 and 3 from my original post work fine... and option 2 works alright if I can translate that into a serious leadership position instead of just a role as a practitioner.

The key, of course, is whether I should take the research role within BCG despite it being a non-consulting (read: prestigious company, semi-prestigious role)... or stay as a consultant within Deloitte (read: semi-prestigious company, prestigious role).

I've not been able to turn up anything on the Research side of BCG and so, have been unable to do the "calculus" required to weigh my options.

Strategy... I don't think this word means what you think it means.

Options 1-3 may be out of your reach in all honesty. From the background description, I don't think you'll qualify for transfer or visa.

I appreciate your response... though, I guess I am a bit confused by your assessment of my qualifications (and my understanding of strategy).

Regardless, I am quite optimistic about the visa (considering I have already been offered relocation for the offers I have on hand and these companies have previously relocated people for similar roles).

Further, considering I already do work for the Green Dot in a similar role in the US, I doubt option one is going to be an issue.

I already have 2 offers for Option 2 (with relocation included in the package).

The recruiter seems optimistic about option 3 and mentioned that the relocation shouldn't be a concern.

But then again, I am prone to sudden bouts of optimism.