Share your journey to Bain.
Going into my senior year of college, I still didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted to do. I had just wrapped up an internship at a hospitality software company, where I worked with owners and operators to turn sales data into practical insights. A big part of the role involved helping customers make sense of the data and decide what to do next, and I realized I really enjoyed that kind of problem-solving and coaching.
After mentioning this to a friend, they suggested I look into consulting. Around the same time, I was lucky that my résumé ended up in the hands of Ben, a senior manager in Bain’s Washington, DC office and a Cornell alum. Ben had reached out to Cornell Career Services about mentoring a couple of students interested in consulting, and through a bit of good timing (and a helpful friend in career services!), I was connected with him.
While I didn’t receive an offer the first time around, I stayed in touch—and the following year, Ben reached out and encouraged me to apply again. I took what I’d learned from the first process, gave it another shot, and this time it worked out.
How did you know that Bain was the right company for you?
During the application process, I was mentored by Ben, a senior manager in Bain’s Washington, DC office, who was incredibly generous with his time and genuinely invested in helping me succeed. That experience made a big impression on me. If people at Bain were willing to support a student they didn’t know yet, it felt like a great place to start my career.
As someone coming straight out of undergrad, finding an environment that emphasized learning and growth was especially important to me. Through the interview process, I got firsthand exposure to Bain’s apprenticeship-style approach, where feedback, coaching, and development are built in from day one. That combination of supportive people and a strong learning culture is what ultimately convinced me Bain was the right fit.
Do you feel like you can do impactful work at Bain? What opportunities excite you?
One of the things that excites me most about Bain is how much impact you can have early in your career. Even as a junior team member, you are a core part of cracking the case. Sometimes it’s one or two critical insights from a model you built or an expert call you led that help the team land on the right answer.
What also makes Bain special is that impact is not limited to casework. Through “Extra 10s,” everyone has opportunities to help shape the culture of the office, whether that is organizing a happy hour, contributing to an office-wide meeting, or making a fun video for the summer offsite. Those moments really add up and make the office feel like a true community.
For me, the most exciting opportunity has been serving as the school team lead for Cornell undergraduate recruiting for the past three years. I’ve loved helping build and grow Bain’s presence on campus, strengthening student engagement and increasing the number of hires each year. Having the chance to shape how we connect with and attract top talent from Cornell has been incredibly rewarding.
Share some of your favorite work (personal or professional) you’ve done while at Bain.
One of my favorite professional experiences at Bain was working on a case where I played a product management role to help a client build a GenAI-powered tool for their finance team. This was right as GenAI was taking off, and the project gave me a hands-on opportunity to learn both its potential and its limitations. I worked closely with Bain data scientists and engineers to design and build the tool. That experience gave me valuable exposure to the product development process and has since helped me better understand client needs on technology-focused cases.
Personally, some of my favorite moments at Bain have come from the relationships I’ve built with my colleagues. From weekend trips and weddings to unforgettable experiences like traveling with classmates to visit one of our Associate Consultants classmates from Beirut, these moments have been a powerful reminder of how global and diverse the Bain community really is. I have also loved visiting Bain friends in Germany and connecting with colleagues across other offices in the U.S.
What stands out most, though, are the unplanned moments. The evenings that start after an office happy hour and turn into spontaneous dinners, long conversations, and unexpected groups of people coming together. Those moments are what truly make Bain feel like a community.
What has it been like to be part of the founding team for the Montreal office?
I’ve always heard that helping start a new Bain office is a bucket-list experience, and I now understand why. It has felt both exhilarating and familiar at the same time. You get the best of Bain – its culture, systems, and history – paired with the energy of building something from the ground up together.
The team was handpicked from across the global Bain network, and that shows. Everyone genuinely wants to be here and is deeply invested in making the Montreal office a success. Even in a short amount of time, we’ve already become a close-knit group that supports each other both on and off cases.
That sense of community extends well beyond the work. We’ve spent a lot of time together outside the office, from dinners out and meals at home to social outings and spontaneous weekend plans. Those shared experiences have made it incredibly rewarding to help build the office together, and they’re what have made the experience feel special from day one.
How does working in Montreal shape your experience at Bain, professionally or personally?
After being promoted to Consultant and deciding not to go to business school, I started to feel a bit burned out. Many of my close friends were moving on to new roles or school, and after several years at Bain, I had built a strong foundation of core skills, so the learning curve started to feel less steep. I took two months off to recharge and reflect, which helped me realize that while I really loved the Bain community, I needed a change to feel energized again.
When Bain put out a call for volunteers to help launch the Montreal office, everything clicked. I had only been to Montreal once before, nearly ten years earlier and in the middle of a blizzard, but I still remembered turning to my mom on that trip and saying, “I could live here.” Now I do.
Professionally, helping to build a brand-new office has completely reignited my excitement about Bain. There is so much energy that comes with starting something from scratch, from shaping norms to building new client relationships. Because the office is still small, we get a real behind-the-scenes view of how Bain works and the flexibility to try new things. Most importantly, Montreal gave me a fresh challenge while letting me stay within the Bain community I care so much about.
How do language and culture show up in your work with clients and teams?
Working in a bilingual office has been one of the most exciting and rewarding parts of joining the Montreal team. As a native English speaker who learned French through school and study abroad, I was excited but also a little nervous about working day-to-day in both languages, especially in Québécois French! That said, everyone has been incredibly supportive and encouraging, and the team truly embraces switching between English and French. The multilingual conversations have a certain je ne sais quoi that makes discussions more dynamic and fun, even if I am sometimes a half-beat behind some of the fluent locals.
Culture shows up just as strongly in how we work together. The Montreal office brings together Bainies from all over the world, including France, Brazil, the U.S., Belgium, and the U.K., alongside local hires. People have made a real effort to share their backgrounds in small but meaningful ways, like themed weekly happy hours featuring everything from galette des rois to Brazilian treats. Those moments create real connection and reflect the openness and inclusivity that define the team.
