Adrienne Koor

How did you know that Bain was the right company for you?

Perhaps a cliché answer, but I believe Bain is truly the sum of its people – and the people here are what brought me to Bain and keep me energized more than two years on. I originally applied to Bain because two close friends of mine had started their careers here a few years ahead of me and could not speak more highly of the culture and the people they cracked interesting problems with every day. The "Bainie never lets another Bainie fail" mindset permeates all parts of the Bain experience, creating an environment that is incredibly supportive and collaborative. This sense of camaraderie made me realize that Bain was the right place for me.

Do you feel like you can do impactful work at Bain? What opportunities excite you?

I'm most excited when I get chances to learn, grow or challenge myself. A source of continual excitement at Bain has been learning through working with different people - whether it's the partner from my first case always finding time to say hello and connect and hear about how I've been, or the AC from Seattle I met at global training in 2022 that recently completed a case demand in Melbourne. I'm excited to keep building my 'crew' at Bain as I've found some incredible professional and personal mentors during my time here, and have been able to perform my best in this environment where I have felt comfortable and supported. In terms of growth and challenge, I've worked across a different industry for each of my cases (healthcare, insurance, energy transition, retail, finance and airlines) and hope to be exposed to even more industries during my time here while also hopefully completing a transfer abroad with Bain in the near future.

“Build Your Own Bain” means creating a thriving career on your own terms. How have you been able to “Build Your Own Bain?”

Bain has a number of opportunities that are a particularly special part of working here, whether it's a case demand experience, MBA, externship, experience share or transfer there are ample opportunities. At the end of my first year at Bain, I was lucky enough to complete an externship at Tennis Australia which had been a fairytale dream of mine growing up. As VIP and Strategy Lead at TA I worked alongside two ex-Bainies and was immediately immersed into the business workings and strategy of a sport I grew up loving to play and watch. My time at TA was thoughtfully planned by my TA team and Bain to continue to support my professional development and I was able to work across a number of discrete projects including financial modelling, strategy reviews, tech implementation and running on the ground logistics during the Australian Open. On a personal level, this experience was also a once-in-a-lifetime to see the inner workings of a tournament I used to wake up at 2am as a 10-year old to watch. Bain's flexibility to allow me to create my own Bain experience has truly made the start of my career an incredibly rewarding one, by creating space for me to explore my passion areas in a way that was far sooner and more in-depth than I could have hoped for.

What is the culture of the Melbourne office like? What made you choose this office?

The culture of the Melbourne office very much mirrors that of Melbourne - it’s a fun and welcoming place with a diverse mix of people from all corners of the world. I love working in the Melbourne office as you can sit down and be surrounded by an AI-expert consultant and a designer that are part of our AI, Insights, and Solutions team, along with our brilliant network of functional professionals. The energy in the office from everyone mixing and working together makes it a really fun place to be.

Can you describe how your engineering education/background helps or bolsters your career at Bain?

My engineering background, particularly in user experience and human-centered design, has been a strong foundation for my work at Bain. It has equipped me with a structured approach to problem-solving and a keen eye for detail, allowing me to design solutions for clients that are not only technically sound but also user-centric. This has been valuable on my cases where the impact of what we deliver not only depends on solving a problem, but also being practical to implement and use for our clients into the future. An anecdote I like to use is that sitting an engineering exam is no different (really) to casework at Bain - you are exposed to a lot of ambiguous problems that are accompanied with vast amounts of data, not all of which is relevant. You may be solving for the angle of attack on a new design for an airplane wing or the strategy of a client in an industry you aren't familiar with - both require you to understand the use case/s, what data is most important and the most efficient and effective way to get a practical and feasible answer.

The other aspect of my degree which I thoroughly enjoyed was the collaborative nature of the cohort. I was able to live this during one of my first cases where I worked alongside an AAG colleague to analyse the uplift from our work (a digital engagement aimed at revenue optimisation) for the client using Python. The best part of this was teaching our clients how to run this analysis themselves with no prior coding or engineering knowledge, so they could continue optimising beyond Bain's initial work. Being able to draw on these skills and also be able to present back our findings in laymans terms has been incredibly rewarding and a skill that will continue to help me at Bain.