Overview
Introduction
OC&C Strategy Consultants is an international consulting firm that advises management of major multinational corporations and leading national companies. OC&C also supports world-renown private equity firms in areas including potential investment scoping, vendor and buyer due diligence, and post-acquisition strategy. The firm brings deep global knowledge of sectors to their work with clients.
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Vault Verdict
A global boutique that was founded in the UK, OC&C has a culture that, by all accounts, is very different from most of its competitors. The heart of that culture: a staffing team that takes individual development goals into account, and attempts to remove the industry-wide problems of staffing whoever is available and/or pigeonholing consultants on specific project types.
As might be expected, that approach is warmly received by insiders, who cite career development opportunities as a major factor driving satisfaction at the firm. Throw in salaries that are competitive with the top of the market, as well as a good track record of growth in the past few years, and you have a fairly compelling package that, at minimum, bears further investigation for anyone...
About the Company
If you want to know what OC&C Strategy Consultants does, you don't need to look too far for answers--it's right there in the title. Focusing on strategic analysis, the firm breaks the concept down into six organizational areas: group strategy, business unit/divisional strategy, product/market/channel strategy, transaction support, strategy realization, and organisation and change. Like any strategy master or tactician, the firm's emphasis isn't always on speed--it tries to pace itself during consulting projects, thoroughly evaluating possible solutions to a problem before jumping into operational issues. That's a strategy, the firm says, that ensures clients benefit from truly custom-built solutions, rather than off-the-shelf methodologies that may not fit the client's needs.
Although OC&C, l...
Employee Reviews
- “At any level, junior to senior, OC&C is a fabulous place to work. Great colleagues. No politics. Low partner leverage where partners are part of the working team on the project. Best possible place (much better than MBB) to start your career, and genuinely learn the craft of strategy consulting.”
- “Commitment to meritocracy. Partners don't control who goes on a project, it's decided impartially by a separate department whose aims are to make sure everyone receives the same opportunities to grow. Fast feedback is both upwards and downwards. Everyone is listened to - in our last team meeting, we each gave our answer to whether the client should buy the target firm, and everyone - from the senior partners with 30 years' tenure to the junior associate (me) who had started the previous week - was given 45 seconds to say their belief, and when we held a vote, it was by numbers only, not weighted by tenure. That is a firm I can believe in.”
- “Few firms have the exclusive focus on strategy deployed by OC&C at the scale we have built up. This clear focus is built on a culture of obsessing about the right strategic answer, with strong senior involvement throughout projects not just at the selling and final presentation stages. The partners don't do this because it maximises their commercial returns, but because they genuinely enjoy the strategy process and working with teams to solve difficult questions.”
- “The culture at OC&C is much friendlier than other firms, we work hard but also focus on relaxing and being together in a more social environment.”
- “There will be few better places to start a career in consulting. You will learn a huge amount and are surrounded by incredible people to learn from. The size of our firm makes it personal to everyone who works here, you're not a number. You can influence your career and direction from the start.”
Getting Hired Here
- “2 first round interviews and 2 second round interviews. Ideal candidate doesn't force fit frameworks - but instead is able to articulate their thinking well, logically structure a problem, and show commercial insight.”
- “In terms of CVs, we aren’t looking for any specific degree type or internship you must have done, we are looking for a set of skills:
- Intellectual curiosity and a willingness to learn
- Creative thinkers
- Analytics & problem-solving skills
- Solid communicators & team players.”
- “Looking for a structured, independent thinker, who's personable and easy to get on with. Interviewee-led case studies that challenge candidates on how to approach problems and sense-check their results.”
- “Process is quite fair and unbiased - name-blind CV screening, bespoke tests now being done prior to CV screening, trying to match people to interviewers (eg ensuring female applicants interviewed by at least one woman). We look for intellectually curious, structured thinkers, who are able to deal well with abstract problems rather than just regurgitating textbook frameworks.”
- “We were given a zoom call with full interview process a week before interview - date of first interview, the exact day we would be called back for second interview, and exact date we would be told of offer. All very helpful to know. Interview time you could select a 90-minute window on a selection of 3 days for each round.
- Ideal candidate is interested and interesting. After the first interview they know if you can do a case, if you can explain yourself fully, etc. second interview sees if anyone will enjoy working with you when it's a late evening, if someone can rely on you to get them the answer they need, and if you can defend your answer to a client who might be quite brusque. Always helps to give an insight a little out of the ordinary - difference of opinion and wacky ideas are necessary to find the correct answer.”
