Is Mastercard Advisors in-house consulting or a hybrid? AFAIK they only consult external clients like banks.

Hi A,

Yes, I can confirm that career progression is slower than in traditional strategy consulting companies. Salary is also lower, and exit opportunity are more limited. However, the work-life balance is better, and you can also build a career within MasterCard or Visa group.

Good luck,

André

Hi there,

Just to add to the previous answers:

1) If you so choose, it is possible to, in the future, transition from in-house to one of the consultancies...as long as you've shown a good path/progression

2) When confused about an offer/role, feel free to take your time in deciding! Ask to speak to more people at the firm, as a few more questions from HR. Ask some of those hard questions about what the role will truly be, who you'll work with, etc. 

Hello!

Congrats!

Agree with André: in in-house you trade carreer velocity & salary vs. a more sustainable work-life balance. 

Cheers, 

Clara

Hey,

Congratulations on the offer! Great news. 

Mastercard Advisors is external consulting (mostly strategy) working across Financial Services (Corporate Banking, Retail Banking, FinTechs) but they also cover Merchant and Retailers and also Government insitutes (Transit etc.). Most people tend to join from places like McKinsey, BCG, Roland Berger, Oliver Wyman and also Deloitte, PwC and also from in-house Consulting teams in banks etc. 

Mastercard have a pretty high retention rate, and most of it is due to the internal opportunities (especially from Advisors) but those that have gone exit to all sorts of places and not just FS but into other technology companies etc. The Advisors business has been a rapid growth story over the last 3 years and expectation is that it also continues (which sounds like a good thing in the current climate!) 

Hope it helps :) 

Hi A, 

I have quite many friends working for the company in Eastern Europe and based on their experience, I can confirm that they indeed work with external clients (mainly banks, I haven't heard about other industry work). Consultants work on multiple engagements at a time and travel quite a lot within the region. 

Best,

Réka

Hi there,

both in terms of career growth and exit opportunities in-house consulting scores lower than traditional strategy consulting such as MBB or second tiers. On the other hand, with in-house consulting you could get an earlier specialization in a field interesting for you.

Specifically:

1. Industry/Projects/Client Focus - In in-house consulting you will likely focus on a specific sector and practice – the one of your mother company. In strategy consulting you will normally see different industries, projects and clients. If you are not sure yet about your favourite sector and want to keep doors open, the second is always better.
2. Internal career progression – In strategy consulting partners may actually own part of the company; in in-house consulting the senior team may still be represented by employees without the benefit of a partnership. This means that the final outcome between the two internal career paths is very different from a financial point of view.
3. Exit opportunities – Given the same reputation and size, strategy consulting firms normally offer broader opportunities, as you would see more industries, more clients and benefit from a stronger brand. On the other hand, in-house consultancies may allow a smoother move to other areas inside the company.

Best,
Francesco

I can see that most of the comments here are answering questions related to in-house consulting, which Mastercard Advisors isn't. First of all, their website emphasizes that they work with banks and merchants. Secondly, I had an interview with them and they are not in-house. They also have a lot of fintechs as clients.

Dear Poster, have you accepted this role?