Joining McKinsey after an initial professional experience
My name is Fabrice Bocquet. I am 29 and have been a consultant at McKinsey’s Paris office for 1 year. I graduated from HEC in 2007 and started my professional career at an investment bank in London, where I worked for about a year. I then decided to set up my own sports company. It was while I was doing this I had the good fortune of meeting the owner of a Ligue 1 soccer club, FC Lorient, who asked me to become their CFO.
It was this same hunger to try something new that motivated me to join McKinsey. I love discovering new things, working with new people in new industries on new projects. When you work at McKinsey, you have opportunities to travel and to meet people all over the world. This was really important for me and, I must say, that since I joined the firm I have not been disappointed!
Daily life at McKinsey
It’s hard to describe a typical day. Usually it starts with a team meeting when we outline the day’s schedule: client meetings, preparation for upcoming presentations, review of industry reports, etc. We generally touch base at the end of the day also, so that the project can move ahead steadily in a coordinated fashion.
While working at McKinsey, I have been able to continue to satisfy a passion of mine thanks to our soccer team. We play every Saturday morning, and participate in the annual McKinsey Europe championship. This year, the championship was held in Warsaw, Poland. We represented McKinsey’s French office and won third place. We’re already getting ourselves excited about taking the title from Germany next year
The work environment
Whatever your profession, it is crucial that you get along with the people you work with. When this doesn’t happen, even if you love the work, the day-to-day experience quickly becomes very difficult. Since I have been at McKinsey, I have been struck by how supportive and caring the people are. Naturally one is drawn to some individuals more than others, but I have found that the people generally pay a lot of attention to how they act and communicate, showing consideration for others. The daily work environment is very pleasant.