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Headshot of Francesca Cooper

Francesca Cooper

Francesca

Share your journey to Bain.

Post undergrad I joined PwC in London where I trained as a Chartered Accountant and spent five years in their London Assurance practice working with small to mid-sized clients across Business Services and Retail. Looking for a change from audit, and a short-term move from London, I decided to embark on an MBA at INSEAD in 2018 - the best decision I ever made. It was a truly transformational and action-packed year, and I made some lifelong friends.

I was open-minded about what career path to pursue post MBA but it was the people that drew me to considering Bain and a next step in Consulting. I ended up spending the summer with Bain as a Summer Associate in the London office, with the intention to learn more about the work Bain does, and importantly to see if it was a firm where I felt I belonged. I had a great experience working for 2 months on a Strategy case for a media company and accepted a full-time offer to return in March 2019.

How did you know that Bain was the right company for you?

For me, my career choice was all about the people. Ultimately, you’ll be spending most of your waking hours with them, so they need to be great. I’ve yet to meet a Bainie that isn’t great. From the minute I met Bain on ISEAD’s campus I new they were special. They truly cared about the people and encouraged us to make the right career decisions for ourselves whilst supporting us in those decisions. That became more apparent once I joined the firm and met so many like-minded, inspiring people who I learn from daily.

Do you feel like you can do impactful work at Bain? What opportunities excite you?

Absolutely! From day one I felt like was delivering high impact work to oftentimes very high-profile clients. I feel our clients genuinely welcome our input and value our support which is very rewarding day to day. I love the opportunity to work across multiple industries and learn something new every day.

Today, in my new role as Director of Talent & Operations, I am able to have a huge impact on Bain's people and clients every day and that really energises me.

“Build Your Own Bain” means creating a thriving career on your own terms. How have you been able to “Build Your Own Bain?”

Since joining Bain, my path has taken different turns and been shaped by the opportunities that have come my way, and the support I've had from others around me. I spent my first year in General Consulting working on a range of topics and industries and had the chance to spend ~6 months with a global FMCG company in their Warsaw office. I then pivoted into our Private Equity practice to learn more about PE and to hone my analytical and problem solving skills, where I stayed through to Senior Manager. Following that promotion hurdle I wanted a change in pace and a chance to work more closely with our recruiting team, a topic I've always been passionate about, so I took an internal role for 6 months as on-campus rep at INSEAD and London Business School. It was great to get back on campus and be interacting daily with prospective new recruits, and it really re-energised me to embark on my next Bain chapter. Following a short stint in the Consumer Products practice, an opportunity presented itself to lead the Private Equity staffing team for a short period while the team was short-staffed. Given my love of Talent, I jumped at the chance to do so, and ended up thoroughly enjoying the role and its mix of operational and strategic challenges. A short stint turned into a longer term opportunity opening up and after 6 months I made the decision to pivot to the role full time. Today, as Director of Talent & Operations, my role has expanded further and I get the privilege of working across a vast array of Talent topics from Staffing to PD Operations, as well as a number of strategic Talent initiatives. It is this variety that keeps me at Bain today - your path at Bain is truly yours to shape, and the possibilities are endless.