This is how long it takes to make partner at Boston Consulting Group

If you're a partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in the UK, you can expect to earn an average of £967k ($1.2m), according to the firm's most recent annual accounts. It's good money if you can get it - but not everyone can. BCG has fewer than 60 partners in London, making its top echelon harder to reach than the managing director rung at most investment banks. However, several fortunate people have just achieved it.

BCG's UK listing page names three people who were appointed as partner this January, following the promotion of eight others at intervals in 2018 - suggesting the promotion process at the firm is ongoing throughout the year.

BCG's latest UK partners include Bas Sudmeijer, a consultant focused on the renewables and energy sector, who joined the firm in 2006 and has worked there continuously for nearly 13 years. There's also Louis Watt, who's been there eight years after graduating from Cambridge in 2003 and initially spending three years at Deloitte and two years as a policy advisor to the NHS (giving him 12 years' experience in total).

Last year's BCG partner promotions included Eriola Shehu, a capital markets and banking specialist, who made the rank after just over nine years, and Cristina Henrik, a member of the private equity practice, who was promoted after a similar amount of time.  There was also Jeremy Boote, a partner who has worked across various practice areas and who was promoted after 11 years with the firm.

The implication, then, is that it takes anything from nine to 13 years to make partner at BCG. Based on our small sample from last year, some women may be promoted more quickly. By comparison, our research previously suggests 13 years is the average amount of time taken to become a managing director at Goldman Sachs. 

Both poles are high and slippery, but if you manage to scale it BCG's may allow you to reach the top more quickly.

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