MBB v World Bank

Received an offer from MBB (post-MBA) and an interview call from World Bank for post-grad position (5 yr contract, extendable). The WB is still in the interview phase and so not counting my eggs beforehand, but am trying to create a pros-cons list for both. For those of you who have considered international development as well as consulting, any thoughts in terms of comparing long-term opps and projects?

Also I have networked extensively with consultants, so have a sense of consulting work. But I have not done much networking with world bank (tbh, was not expecting the interview call), but the scope of WB projects seems vast. Any thoughts on life and work at world bank?

(I know there is an existing thread from 2008, but would appreciate any thoughts about WB and work there?)

My list:

WB pros: contribute to reducing poverty in the global south (moral appeal of the work), exposure to intl governments, opportunities to work in government in the future, job security (5 yrs contract, opp to extend)

WB cons: probably never coming back to corporate, leaving future earning opps from MBB

MBB pros: exposure to corporate America, financial security, maybe opps to work on some international development projects without necessarily joining WB (exit opps to UN/WB after MBB?), more opp for innovation, faster pace

MBB cons: less opps for social impact, no job security, more stressful life compared to WB

 
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One of the directors at a consulting firm I worked at did some work at the World Bank, and they said that they didn't really like it because they couldn't save everyone.

 

I actually kind of struggled with a similar thing. What do you think would make you more happy? Do you want to work on solving some of the worlds most complex problems or do you need want to understand what drives the F500 company? I think that you are in an excellent position regardless. I also think that if you want to work in public service, there’s no better place than WB. However, exit ops will be way different than MBB.

 
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