Nick Santangelo

Share your journey to Bain.

My journey to Bain began in high school when I learned about management consulting in a business club. At the time, I knew very little about the industry, but was drawn to the opportunity to gain exposure to a variety of industries and business challenges. It was during that time that I learned about Bain and learned about the numerous accolades as a top consulting firm and a great place to work. 

During my first few weeks at Duke University, I attended the Bain information session on campus. I confirmed that this is where I wanted to end up, but I also realized that there wouldn't be many opportunities to get involved until it was time for an internship.  

While I did not get the Associate Consultant Internship at Bain, I did intern at a different consulting firm. I had a great experience that summer and confirmed my desire to start my career in consulting. I would have been happy to stay at the other firm, but Bain was my top choice, so I decided that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to reapply and was offered the Associate Consultant role in 2020. I was worried that the opportunity that I had hyped up in my mind for several years would fall short of expectations in a world of remote work, but I was pleasantly surprised to feel the strong Bain culture holding strong through Zoom.

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

Even though I had been excited about Bain for many years prior to joining, I never expected it to be a longer-term career opportunity. I viewed it as a career accelerant, somewhere that I'd spend ~3 years before figuring out my next step. At every stage of my Bain tenure, however, I've continued to make the conscious decision to stay and shape my own Bain experience. 

My first major decision was to raise my hand to be considered for promotion from a Senior Associate Consultant to a Consultant. This path has become more common in recent years, but I didn't have many examples of folks who decided to stay at Bain and not take a break to pursue an MBA. Business school seems like a great experience, but I didn't feel like I had a sufficiently strong reason to go, and I knew that I'd learn more day-to-day as a consultant than I would in the classroom. I saw how much I was able to learn and grow with each new case at Bain, and I felt like there were still many untapped experiences to be had here. 

After getting promoted to Consultant, I decided to take advantage of Bain's Social Impact Externship program. Through that program, I had Bain's support to spend a few months working for a nonprofit in rural Kenya called WISER. I also embarked on a Take One, a one-month leave of absence from Bain, to visit New Zealand. This was an incredible travel opportunity after much of my post-grad travel had to be canceled due to the pandemic. It certainly afforded me the time and space to recharge after a few busy projects.

I'm often asked how I've ‘survived’ this long in consulting, and my answer usually combines a few different reasons. There are certainly days (and sometimes weeks) that are tough, but overall, I feel that I've been able to thrive both personally and professionally at Bain. The busy days or weeks are balanced by less busy periods, and the work itself has been interesting and fulfilling. I'm continually evaluating how this job fits into my life, and I wouldn't have stayed this long if I were not thriving. 

What advice would you give a candidate who is interested in recruiting for consulting?

For folks considering Bain, I'd encourage them to take the time to understand which aspects of work truly excite them. There are many companies where you can do strategy consulting, but the work itself can be demanding, so it's important to make sure you feel good about where you're doing it. 

After doing some research, attend a few Bain events, whether in-person or virtual, to hear about it live and have any outstanding questions answered. Conversations with Bainies at these events can help you validate your impressions of the firm and confirm that this is somewhere you truly want to work. Recruiting is not tracking the number of events you attend or the number of people with whom you speak, so no need to overdo this step in the process. 

Once you feel like your questions are answered and you understand Bain, then focus on practicing case interviews. When I think about not getting the Associate Consultant Internship (ACI) role at Bain, I think it was largely due to me being underprepared for the case interviews. When it came time to interview for the full-time AC role, I spent more time running through practice cases with peers, and that practice paid off.