The firms, the languages, and how hiring works

Offices by city, language requirements, the recruiting calendar, and entry titles.

Firm processes and online tests change from year to year and differ by office. Use this to prepare, and confirm the exact current steps on the firm's own careers page.

Key takeaways

McKinsey: Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hong Kong, and Taipei.
BCG: Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Taipei.
Bain: Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong (no Taipei office listed).
McKinsey Greater China asks for business-level English and Mandarin (its careers page did not load in our latest check, so confirm the details there).
BCG Greater China asks for Chinese and English at a professional level (C2), with Cantonese preferred for Hong Kong.

Checked on 2026-09-28

This lesson was checked against the sources listed at the end, official pages first. Firm processes change between offices, roles, and years, so use it as a guide and confirm the details in your invitation and with your recruiter.

Independence

So What Club is independent. It is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any firm named in this library. Firm names are trademarks of their owners and are used only to describe publicly available information about how these firms hire. We never reproduce any firm's test or share confidential interview material.

Firms and offices (official office pages, checked 2026-09-28)

McKinsey: Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hong Kong, and Taipei.
BCG: Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, and Taipei.
Bain: Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong (no Taipei office listed).
Kearney: Beijing, Shanghai, and Taipei. Oliver Wyman: Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. L.E.K.: Shanghai and Taipei. Roland Berger: its Greater China contact office is in Shanghai.
Deloitte, EY (including EY-Parthenon), KPMG, PwC (including Strategy&), and Accenture have offices across the region; KPMG China alone lists 31 cities in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau.
Chinese consulting firms such as Hejun Consulting (founded in 2000, based in Beijing and Shanghai) and Allpku (Beida Zongheng) in Beijing. We have not reviewed their interview processes.

Language

McKinsey Greater China asks for business-level English and Mandarin (its careers page did not load in our latest check, so confirm the details there).
BCG Greater China asks for Chinese and English at a professional level (C2), with Cantonese preferred for Hong Kong.
Bain's 2026 Taiwan Future Talent Program asks for fluent English and Mandarin. Roland Berger's consultant postings in Shanghai and Beijing ask for excellent Chinese and English.
In practice this means that without business-level Mandarin, most client-facing roles here are hard to get. Expect some interviews in Mandarin and practice cases in it.

How and when hiring happens

Mainland campus seasons: China's Ministry of Education ran an autumn campus recruitment month from September to November in 2025. A UK university careers service describes autumn recruitment (qiuzhao) as September to December and a smaller spring season (chunzhao) in March and April (reported).
Some Chinese employers want to see the degree certificate before signing, which can delay graduates of one-year overseas master's programs (reported by the University of Manchester careers service). Ask each firm.
BCG Greater China recruits in campaigns with fixed deadlines: for the 2026 cycle, full-time applications by 18 October 2026 and Summer Associate applications in January.
McKinsey Greater China offers Business Analyst summer internships of about 8 to 10 weeks. Apply through its official careers site.
Overseas students: firms reach Chinese students abroad directly. For example, BCG held a Mandarin-language reception in June 2026 for students starting MBA programs overseas, and Bain's Taiwan program set an 11 November 2026 deadline for first-year MBA summer roles in its Southeast Asia and Greater China offices.
Hong Kong: a study website reports most autumn application deadlines in August, interviews in October and November, and most offers from mid-December to mid-January (reported; limited reliability). We found no reliable source on Taiwan's timing, so check each firm's page.

Entry titles seen

McKinsey: Business Analyst, Junior Associate, and Associate, with intern roles. McKinsey's transformation group in China, McKinsey Lanyue, has posted Junior Consultant roles. McKinsey's pages did not load in our latest check, so confirm current titles there.
Bain: Associate Consultant, for final-year undergraduates, non-MBA master's students, and early-career professionals.

Entry titles by firm (what the firms call the first consulting job)

Entry titles by firm (what the firms call the first consulting job)
Firm	Bachelor's or master's entry	MBA entry	Where we checked
McKinsey & Company	Business Analyst (fellow and intern roles also exist)	Associate	mckinsey.com student career pages
BCG	Associate (Senior Associate for many PhD students)	Consultant	careers.bcg.com early-career and job pages
Bain & Company	Associate Consultant	Consultant	bain.com hiring-process pages
Roland Berger	Junior Consultant	Read the job posting	rolandberger.com job postings
EY-Parthenon (US)	Associate Program	Consultant Program (check eligibility)	ey.com US EY-Parthenon career pages
KPMG (UK)	Strategy Graduate Programme (per a 2019 KPMG brochure; check the current posting)	Read the job posting	kpmgcareers.co.uk
All other firms here	Varies by country and team	Varies by country and team	Read the job posting for your office

So-what

Titles differ by office and country, so always read the posting for the office you apply to.

Last reviewed: 2026-09-28. Sources, official pages first. "Reported" means a secondary source, not the firm or government itself.

McKinsey Greater China: overview (official): https://www.mckinsey.com/cn/overview
McKinsey: Careers in Greater China (language, internships, FAQ) (official): https://www.mckinsey.com/cn/careers-in-greater-china
McKinsey: Business Analyst, Automotive, China (job posting) (official): https://www.mckinsey.com/careers/search-jobs/jobs/businessanalyst-automotive-109741
McKinsey: Junior Consultant, McKinsey Lanyue (job posting) (official): https://www.mckinsey.com/careers/search-jobs/jobs/juniorconsultant-mckinseylanyue-111994
BCG: Greater China offices (official): https://www.bcg.com/greater-china/offices
BCG: International opportunities, including Greater China deadlines and languages (official): https://careers.bcg.com/global/en/locations/united-kingdom/international-opportunities
BCG: Greater China overseas newly admitted MBA reception, June 2026 (event page) (official): https://bcg.eightfold.ai/events/candidate/landing?plannedEventId=Z3dMn09EY
Bain: Shanghai office (official): https://www.bain.com/offices/shanghai/
Bain: Hong Kong office (official): https://www.bain.com/offices/hong-kong/
Bain: 2026 Taiwan Future Talent Program (event page) (official): https://www.bain.com/careers/work-with-us/recruiting-events/view-event-description/?eventid=101002
Bain: Associate Consultant (job posting) (official): https://www.bain.com/careers/find-a-role/position/?jobid=10397
Kearney: Locations (official): https://www.kearney.com/about/locations
Oliver Wyman: Asia Pacific locations (official): https://www.oliverwyman.com/our-expertise/global-locations/asia-pacific.html
Roland Berger Greater China: contact (official): https://www.rolandberger.com/en/Locations/Greater-China/Join/Join-Us/Contact-Us/
Roland Berger: Consultant, Shanghai and Beijing (job posting) (official): https://www.rolandberger.com/en/Join/All-Jobs/Consultant-(Shanghai-Beijing)-REF4375E.html
L.E.K.: Global offices (official): https://www.lek.com/global-offices
KPMG China: Office locations (official): https://kpmg.com/cn/en/about/office-locations.html
EY: Greater China locations (official): https://www.ey.com/en_us/locations/greater-china
Accenture: Greater China locations (official): https://www.accenture.com/us-en/about/locations/office-details?loc=Greater+China
Hejun Consulting (in Chinese) (official): https://www.hejun.com/
Allpku, Beida Zongheng (in Chinese) (official): https://www.allpku.com/
Ministry of Education of China: autumn campus recruitment month, 2025 (in Chinese) (official government source): https://www.gov.cn/lianbo/bumen/202510/content_7044223.htm
Beijing municipal government: work permit categories for foreigners (official government source): https://english.beijing.gov.cn/workinginbeijing/quickguideonemploymentservices/
Hong Kong Immigration Department: IANG (official government source): https://www.immd.gov.hk/eng/services/visas/IANG.html
Hong Kong Immigration Department: Top Talent Pass Scheme (official government source): https://www.immd.gov.hk/eng/services/visas/TTPS.html
Taiwan: Employment Gold Card (official government source): https://goldcard.nat.gov.tw/en/
Taiwan Workforce Development Agency: work permits for foreign professionals (official government source): https://ezworktaiwan.wda.gov.tw/en/
Taiwan National Development Council: amended foreign professionals act, in force 1 January 2026 (official government source): https://foreigntalentact.ndc.gov.tw/en/News_Content.aspx?n=F0746484B877D582&s=7B4B2A76879B6C83
Reported: University of Manchester careers service, working in China: https://www.careers.manchester.ac.uk/international/internationaljobs/workinchina/
Reported: StudyHK, Hong Kong recruiting timeline (January 2026; limited reliability): https://www.studyin.hk/en/posts/career-recruiting-timeline/
Reported (news): Reuters via US News, McKinsey cuts jobs in China, WSJ reports (16 October 2024): https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2024-10-16/mckinsey-cuts-hundreds-of-jobs-in-china-business-wsj-reports
Reported (news): Reuters via US News, consulting firms and China (3 February 2026): https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2026-02-03/top-consulting-firms-test-boundaries-with-china-workarounds
Reported (news): Al Jazeera, staff at Bain's Shanghai office questioned (27 April 2023): https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2023/4/27/chinese-police-question-staff-of-us-consulting-firm-bain
Reported (news): Al Jazeera, Capvision investigated (9 May 2023): https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2023/5/9/china-probes-global-consulting-firm-amid-security-crackdown
Reported (news): Reuters via Yahoo Finance, McKinsey cuts jobs in China (16 October 2024): https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mckinsey-cuts-hundreds-jobs-china-035403154.html
Reported (news): Reuters via Investing.com, consulting firms and China (3 February 2026): https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/top-consulting-firms-test-boundaries-with-china-workarounds-4480592
Reported (news): Reuters, revised counter-espionage law (26 April 2023): https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/china-passes-revised-counter-espionage-law-state-media-2023-04-26/

Sources for this lesson (37)

My notes on this lesson

Write anything you want to remember. Only you can see it.

0 of 5,000 characters. Saves automatically.

Completing lessons builds your skill levels and your readiness.

Spotted something wrong or out of date? Report a mistake. We check every report and correct the page.