Topic Activation
Knowledge Team
Candidate Guide
Everything you need to know
2023
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Welcome to BCG.
Thank you for exploring the opportunity to join BCG's Knowledge Team.
We focus on delivering insight and expertise to our clients and
colleagues. We are passionate about hiring collaborative, analytical and
self-motivated people who help us question what is possible and deliver
on what is challenging.
We are a global network of experts who collaborate closely with our
consulting teams and clients. Most of us are affiliated with one of BCG's
practices and we work within and across global topic and sector teams
to build and deliver functional and industry expertise and insight.
The KT attracts and retains great talent because of the quality of our
colleagues and culture: we bring together intellectual passion with a
curious spark, and a collaborative teaming spirit with a sense of
professional service toward our clients, our diverse global colleagues,
and the broader societal goals to which our firm contributes.
We invite you to get to know us well because we think the more you
learn about us, the more you will share our excitement at the prospect of
you becoming part of the Knowledge Team.
ANTHONY DATEL
GLOBAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - KNOWLEDGE TEAM
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Table of
Contents
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Purpose of this guide
04
An overview of BCG
06
An overview of the Knowledge Team (KT)
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How the interview process works
15
Best practices to keep in mind
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Purpose of this guide
This guide is aimed at giving you an introduction to BCG's Knowledge Team (KT) and
share information about our interview process so that you can know what to expect
throughout the interview rounds, whether it’s a phone or video interview.
You'll get an overview of BCG and the Knowledge Team (KT), how our KT experts deliver
value with our clients and case teams, align to BCG's practice areas, and testimonies from
our team members. We will also outline what the focus of each interview round is, how you
can best prepare, and the types of questions you can expect so that you feel prepared and
confident going into your interview process.
Given the diversity of roles across the Knowledge Team, there may be aspects of the
process that you will still have questions about and which we are happy to answer
individually. Your People Team contact is available at any point during the process by
phone or email, and we encourage you to reach out and ask for help as you need.
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An overview of BCG
1963
Founded by
Bruce Henderson
$11.7
Billion annual revenue
100+
Cities with
a BCG office
32K
Employees
50+
Countries with
an office
Many of our clients rank
among the world’s 500
largest corporations
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Beyond talk
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Knowledge Team
48%
56%
of our KT business leaders
and managers are women
of our KT Leadership Team
are women
BCG
44%
35%
of our firm’s global
staff are women
of our firm’s Executive
Commitee are women
$60M deployed in talent, including
400+ BCGers engaged in equityfocused projects
Pride@BCG provides mentorship
& support to LGBTQ+ individuals. For
the 14th year, BCG received a perfect
score from The Human Rights
Campaign's Corporate Equality Index
51% of US new hires identify as
Asian, Black/African American,
Hispanic/Latinx, Native American
and/or 2+ races
Diversity Affinity Networks include
Asian, Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and
Indigenous Community Groups,
Family and Caregiver Groups,
AccessAbility@BCG, Pride@BCG,
Women@BCG, and Veterans and
Former Military Groups
In 2021, Seramount's Working
Mother Magazine named BCG one of
its "100 Best Companies" for parents
in the US for the 16th time
Our diverse hiring process looks
for a variety of abilities, degrees,
and experiences beyond core skills
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How the Knowledge Team (KT) fits within BCG
CONSULTING TEAM
Strategic management consultants who work directly with
clients to achieve transformative change & lasting value
GLOBAL SPECIALTY BUSINESSES1
Subject matter experts with variety of domain and technical
expertise, who deliver value beyond general consulting
KNOWLEDGE TEAM (KT)
Advise consulting teams and clients
with extensive industry/topic expertise
EXTENDED BUSINESS UNITS
Interdisciplinary teams that extend and complement the
range of BCG's capabilities
BUSINESS SERVICES TEAM
Functional support and resources for the firm at a local and/or
global level
At the core of our business and organization is close collaboration—among our employees, our business units, and our clients.
We collaborate seamlessly to solve our clients' hardest problems challenging their businesses—and the world.
1. Global Specialty Businesses include the Knowledge Team, Data & Research Services, WKE (Digital Workplace, Knowledge Management & Product Enablement), Design Studios, and Practice
Area Management & Operations
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The Knowledge Team's global network and reach
With 900+ Knowledge Team colleagues worldwide, our
global network allows us to work with consulting teams,
clients and other teams across the world.
The majority of our KT colleagues work from BCG's
global, cross-functional hubs titled the Advanced
Capabilities Centers (ACCs). We have six ACC offices
located in Boston, Chicago, London, Madrid, Bengaluru,
and Gurugram.
We also have a presence in major markets including New
York, Paris, Munich, Frankfurt, Duesseldorf, Hong Kong,
Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo, as well as in emerging
economies such as São Paulo, Mexico City, New Delhi,
Jakarta, Lagos, Nairobi, Doha, and Riyadh.
Note: ACC offices are separate from our traditional BCG offices. For a full list of BCG's offices, click here
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Each of BCG's Practice Areas (PAs) has a KT business
PAs cover a broad range of industry and functional expertise …
People & Organization
Risk & Compliance
Social Impact
Tech & Digital Advantage
Transform
Public Sector
Insurance
Health Care
Transportation, Cities, and Infrastructure
Operations
Technology, Media and Telecom
Marketing Sales & Pricing
Principal Investors & Private Equity
Functional
Practice Areas
(FPAs)
Industrial Goods
Global Advantage
Financial Institutions
Corporate Finance & Strat.
Energy
Climate & Sustainability
Consumer
Industry Practice Areas (IPAs)
… with each set up to deepen BCG capabilities
•
Set strategic priorities for topic and
sector businesses
•
Build the firm's delivery capabilities &
capacity
•
Deepen sub-sector expertise
•
Develop and disseminate
practice insights and marketing
messages to clients
•
Align career paths for BCG staff
including Consultants, Expert
Consultants and the Knowledge Team
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The Knowledge Team offers two different career paths
The role for which you are applying
Client Focus KT
Topic Activation KT
Staffed on client cases
Staffed on client cases
Advise on client cases, proposals
and business development
Invest in IP, Knowledge Assets
Relative proportion
of time spent on
different priorities
and deployment
models
Advise on client cases, proposals
and business development
Drive strategic enablers
of a sector/topic business
(IP, Knowledge Assets)
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Learning & Development for Topic Activation KT members
KT SPECIFIC INITIATIVES TO BUILD
EXPERTISE
• Expert Development Program (EDP)
• Coaching & mentoring for individuals
GLOBAL LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT
Offering for members across our Global Specialty
Businesses, including KT:
• Core curriculum (Career-Step & Skills-Targeted
programs)
• All L&D Advisory support
• Self-paced online onboarding
• Sponsored attendance at relevant conferences and
symposiums
• Leader Development program
• Owning your Career
• Foreign language offerings
ON-DEMAND LEARNING
MENTORING
A variety of proprietary internal and external resources for self guided learning:
• LAB (Learning at BCG) – BCG's internal virtual, ondemand learning platform
Opportunities for informal and formal mentoring are
available at the local and BCG global level
• LinkedIn Learning, GetAbstract, TED@Work, etc.
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Our value proposition
Knowledge team members enable client insight and strategic work
CO-CREATE WITH CASE TEAMS & CLIENTS
• Serve in a client-facing role deeply staffed as a member of the
BCG case team
• Identify pain points, provide insights, and develop tailored
strategies bespoke to client needs
• As an advisor to our clients and a thought partner to case
team leadership
SHAPE CLIENT PROPOSALS & PITCHES
DEVELOP KNOWLEDGE ASSETS AND A
PERSPECTIVE AS A THOUGHT LEADER
• Build and deploy industry Intellectual Proprietary data
tools/assets to unlock insight
• Create knowledge assets based on case experience and
domain expertise to bring to our clients
• Develop a point of view in your domain of expertise to
share with colleagues and clients
GROW PERSONALLY & PROFESSIONALLY
• Work alongside senior consulting team members to
develop topics for client proposals
• Deepen expertise by being exposed to broad range of
business problems within your topic
• Provide subject matter expertise to co-develop approaches
to address client needs
• Creatively apply case experience, tools, and assets
• Leverage prior case experience and knowledge to bring the
best of BCG to our clients
• Diverse learning and career opportunities within Knowledge
Team and BCG
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Competencies we look for in a candidate
PROBLEM SOLVING & INSIGHT
PRACTICALITY & EFFECTIVENESS
TEAM CONTRIBUTION
Frames & structures issues, ensures high
quality analyses, pushes for insight, and
leverages expertise
Ensures efficient and effective delivery of
work streams and projects
Assists with planning and tracking budget,
prioritizes own work and executes
transactional tasks in line with expectations
COMMUNICATION & PRESENCE
CLIENT INTERACTION
ROLE MODEL
Communicates effectively both verbally and
in writing; demonstrates listening skills and
displays openness to other people's ideas
and thoughts.
Ability to develop deep and trusted working
relationship with clients; Is viewed as an
expert by client
VALUE CREATION & IMPACT
RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
Acts in accordance with BCG values; follows
through on promises; uses ethical
considerations to guide decisions and
actions; considers impact on planet of
personal actions and recommendations;
contributes to a positive working
environment
Relentless focus on providing value and
executing individual results; continually
seeks improvement; identifies and
appropriately escalates risks.
Builds collaborative relationships within
numerous teams and networks; helps other
team members and takes on challenges
willingly
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The Interview process
HR interview
Round 1: Capabilities1
Focus on understanding your fitment to role, your
expectations & motivations, overall strengths &
weaknesses, compensation and availability
Case study interview: to understand your creativity,
analytical thinking, structure and thought process
(Min. 2 interviews)
Expertise interview: mix of competency style
questioning assessing problem solving, insight, and
expertise
Round 2: Buy-in
Customized format to test competencies in further
depth, usually with a senior stakeholder
1-2 interviews
Your Interview Cadre will consist of members from the Knowledge Team and may also include a BCG
Consultant, Project Leader, Principal, or Partner
The Recruiter is your main point of contact throughout the interview process, checking in regularly between
interviews, gathering your feedback and available to answer any questions you may have
Our Recruitment Coordinators will schedule your interviews and will help with any scheduling related
queries
1. Please note that the case study interview and expertise interview are interchangeable in terms of ordering within Round 1.
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HR interview tips
PREPARE
Understand the role you're interviewing for. Learn as much as you can about the firm's history and
capabilities. Research BCG and what we do by looking at our website and talking to people that you might
know here. Try to understand what the work is like and what you can expect.
BE YOURSELF
Our recruiting team looks for diversity of background, experience, and thought. Think about the stories you
want to share with the interviewer that will showcase you as a person and make the interviewer feel that
you are the right candidate for BCG.
GET YOUR "FIT STORY" READY
A fit story tells the interviewer something they can't learn from your resume. Make sure you are
comfortable telling yours.
EVALUATE US
Use this opportunity to evaluate whether BCG is the right fit for you. Can you see yourself here?
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Case study interview tips (I)
Your interviewer will explain a client’s situation. Listen carefully and
take your time to organize your ideas. Ask clarifying questions and be
transparent verbally about your thought process. Clearly
communicate your logic, and underlying assumptions.
Your interviewer may also provide you with additional data and hints
along the way, so be prepared to take notes. Be sure to structure the
problem, develop the framework and answer all parts of the original
question.
The following pages are two examples of case studies for context.
Click here for additional information on case interview preparation.
Note: The case study problem and context will be reflective of the industry/function for which you
are interviewing
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Case study interview tips (II)
IT'S OKAY IF THE ANSWER IS NOT APPARENT
Often, there are no specific right or wrong answers in our interviews, and you are not expected to know
everything about the business. The objective of the interview is for us to learn about your approach to
solving business problems, so remember to discuss your line of thought with the interviewer.
ASK SPECIFIC QUESTIONS AS NEEDED
Don’t rush into the analysis without developing an understanding of the problem. During the discussion,
the interviewer will work with you to organize your thoughts and steer you toward a solution.
USE FEEDBACK TO HELP DRIVE YOUR SOLUTION
It’s important to stand up for what you believe, but if your interviewer challenges you, consider his or her
perspective carefully. Use this feedback to drive towards solutions and make recommendations.
MAKE QUICK AND ACCURATE CALCULATIONS
The case study will ask you to make some simple calculations. Rather than testing your computational
skills, this is meant to see if you can use numbers to swiftly form opinions and guide decisions. Your
calculations should be accurate and integrated into what you have discovered so far.
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Expertise & Buy-in interview tips
BE CLEAR ABOUT YOUR MOTIVATION
Be ready to clearly articulate why you want the role and what you can bring.
PREPARE INDUSTRY/PAST WORK EXPERIENCE EXAMPLES
Review the competencies we are looking for in candidates and reflect on your past work experience.
Have a few stories ready to use as examples to demonstrate your industry knowledge.
ENGAGE WITH YOUR INTERVIEWER AND BE YOURSELF
If you find the conversation lively and stimulating, you'll likely enjoy being a Knowledge Team
member at BCG.
ASK QUESTIONS
Engage to learn more about BCG and what we do. You are interviewing us as much as we are
interviewing you. Think about the questions you would like to ask during your interview beforehand,
to use this opportunity wisely.
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Thank you!
Thank you for your interest and taking the time to interview with the
Knowledge Team at Boston Consulting Group.
We are excited to learn more about you, and your experience and
expertise. Remember, there is no perfect answer, and we are not
looking for perfection. Our interview process is a dialogue, designed to
help us get to know each other. So, don't forget to relax, breathe, and
just be yourself. Our recruiters are always ready to support you and are
here if have any questions throughout the interview process.
Boston Consulting Group has 90 offices in 50 countries. To learn more about BCG, please visit www.bcg.com or visit our
careers site at https://careers.bcg.com/. To read BCG’s latest insights, analysis, and viewpoints, please visit us at
bcgperspectives.com and follow us on social media.
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