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Chris B.

Chris Barry

Fmr Bain Sr Partner & Head of Recruiting, 100s Offers, Fmr Salesforce Exec+

  • The Wharton School (UPenn) Logo

    The Wharton School (UPenn)

  • Bain & Company Logo

    Bain & Company

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Available today

Starting at 9:00 PM UTC

If you don't see availability on my calendar that suits, message me and let me know your ideal timing. Please share a little about yourself and what kind of support you're looking for, and I'm sure we'll be able to make something work. I look forward to chatting!

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Work with Chris

About

For years I ran recruiting at Bain as a Senior Partner. I’ve interviewed and made offer decisions for more than 1,000 MBAs, undergrad, and industry hire candidates. I know what we look for at every stage, and I love helping people get there! Here’s what I've experienced interviewing candidates over a decade: Most everybody comes into the room knowing frameworks, having practiced cases with friends or maybe a coach, walking in with their prepared answer for why consulting, why Bain, why LA or Boston, etc. However, from this pool of candidates, those who receive offers stand out, and by a wide margin. They’ve just differentially gotten very comfortable navigating the specific criteria we assess, they show up with real presence, they show up in conversation, and very effectively. There's a parallel here to an actor's audition. There are many, many incredibly talented actors in the world, but many don’t work because they haven’t mastered the audition. The case interview is the audition for an MBB offer. I coach with the eye I brought to interviews when I ran the process at Bain. I'll create as close to a real experience for you as possible and we'll have a chance to debrief and deconstruct the conversation. I'll conclude every session with my specific advice on how to bolster your offer-readiness. I'll tell you why I might pass you on to second round, why I'd be enthusiastically recommending you for hire, or why you might be waitlisted, or just not yet there. I'll tell you exactly what would change the outcome and I'll give you the drills and examples and coaching you need to close the gap wherever it is: case-cracking skills, your impact stories, presence, listening, confidence under pressure. I enjoy working with candidates with all sorts of backgrounds and experience levels. I created and taught a university level busines class “Introduction to Management Consulting” to help candidates outside the usual pipeline break in. I draw on that work to help you creatively and proactively get into the mix and teed up for success, regardless of where you're coming from. I'd love to help you pursue MBB or other strategy career opportunities. If I might support you in any way, please do reach out! It's quite easy to book a free intro call. It's simply exploratory. I'd love to hear your goals, offer my perspective, and support you further if we both feel that would make the right kind of difference for you!

Chris’s free events

Live interactive sessions you can join for free.

Chris’s Management Consulting Qualifications

Coaches professionally

Experience level: Partner or Managing Director

100+ Management Consulting clients

Chris has helped clients get into these companies:

I'm a former Senior Partner and Head of Recruiting at Bain & Company. I was a second round interviewer across all core schools for years. And I was the Partner who led decision debriefs - selecting the interview roster and overseeing the offer deliberations. I've interviewed and made offer decisions for over one thousand MBAs and undergrads for full time and summer positions and industry hires. I also taught an "Introduction to Management Consulting" class at UC Irvine, a "non-core" school before that class, and a "core" school afterwards for the Los Angeles office. The class was basically my custom-made new consultant training - a hand-on, practical introduction to the job, structured to provide as close to a real "first case on the job" applied experience. I led students step-by-step through the process of conducting a strategic full potential diagnostic first-hand, researching companies of their choice and building out a future vision, recommended strategy, set of priority initiatives, change management roadmap. They created Board-ready presentations and delivered them in class, again receiving coaching for consultant-level communication effectiveness. In addition to teaching and immersing them in the new consultant tool-kit, I introduced them to the recruiting process and coached them on proactive, creative ways to get into the interviewing cycle. We practiced mock cases and many students successfully landed jobs at Bain and other top consultancies and strategy depts. Depending on where you are in your pursuit, I'm happy to provide support. If you've got final rounds this coming Monday, I'm happy to run a mock case with you and provide feedback. If you're a non-traditional candidate, or coming from a non-core school, and you're looking forward to submitting applications with the hope of an interview, I'm happy to work with you on a fuller break-in strategy. Some examples of things I can help with - as discrete individual sessions or as part of an ongoing coaching - guidance and feedback to best position resumes and cover letters to secure interviews, networking strategies, overview the core consulting toolkit (frameworks, analytical tools, etc) and communication skills, mock interviews and feedback, of course... And more broadly, and all along the way, I'm happy to experience share and/or provide insight into a "day in the life" and career trajectories. I'm passionate about this because I think it's really valuable for folks to understand the profession they're joining! I invite you to reach out in whatever way would be most helpful. If you're looking for a mock interview, it's very easy to set that up. You can block the time and forward your resume, and we'll treat that hour as a real deal Partner interviewing experience with feedback. Alternatively, if you're looking for a broader game plan, let's chat. Book a free intro call and tell me more about you and what you're aiming for. And we'll customize the support you need. I can coach you at every step of the way. My goal here is to work with a small group of people with big dreams and a growth mindset. In collaboration, developing real skills and perspective that will serve you well beyond the interview room. I look forward to hearing from and working with you!

Chris can help with:

Behavioral Interview Prep

Case Interview Prep

Case Math

Cover Letters

Frameworks

General Exploration

Job Search Strategies

LinkedIn Review

Networking Strategy

Presentations

Promotion Strategy

Resume Review

Skill Building

Why do I coach?

Coaching and teaching and recruiting are the most meaningful types of work that I've done. I truly believe in opening up access for others. I had no idea what consulting was before I attended an on campus presentation during my first year at Wharton. And I really didn't understand the job until 6 months into my first year at Bain! I'd love to help others better understand the world of consulting and its value proposition, especially early on in a career, and help those with the passion and curiosity for it learn the skills needed to successfully break in and hit the ground running!

Work Experience

University of California Logo

Adjunct Professor

University of California

2020 - 2023

Taught a hands-on, project-based Introduction to Management Consulting class for the Paul Merage School of Business at UC Irvine. Led students step-by-step through the work of management consulting. Coached students on the practical aspects of the job and how to successfully navigate the case interviewing process. Graduating students have successfully joined the ranks of Bain and other top tier consulting firms, as well as the internal strategy teams of numerous Fortune 500 companies.

Independent Consultant Logo

Advisor & Consultant & Independent Film Producer

Independent Consultant

July 2016 - Present

Advise early-stage and growth ventures on business strategy, financing, AI-enabled operating models, and commercial implementation. Provide hands-on opportunity capture, crisis mitigation. Film producer and creative; built a 10 year career in film and tv, alongside by advisory work.

Salesforce Logo

SVP, Transformation & Operations

Salesforce

2012 - 2014

Architected operations scaling blueprint to realize the CEO’s vision for the “$10BN Start-up”. Led enterprise-wide transformation initiatives to migrate cross-business processes to cloud, mobile, and social platforms. Co-led an overhead effectiveness assessment that reduced G&A as a percentage of revenue by three percentage points while reallocating resources toward growth priorities.

Bain & Company Logo

Senior Partner & Head of Recruiting

Bain & Company

2001 - 2012

Senior Partner & Head of Recruiting for MBA, undergrad, industry recruiting. Oversaw global recruiting efforts for Bain Los Angeles, including budget, program development, development and oversight of the interviewing process, candidate selection for summer internships and full time offers. Have conducted interviewed hundreds of behavior and mock case interviews while at Bain; and coached hundreds more. Senior Partner & Business Transformation specialist with a track record of delivering extraordinary top & bottom-line results for media/tech & consumer products companies - Turn-around of global tech co: $5BN incremental revenue, 50% stock appreciation over 2 years - Growth strategy & implementation for global CP Co: 3x revenue, 5x profit in 3 years Founder & Global Leader of Bain's Digital Social Media Practice - Led the team that developed Bain's proprietary point of view on social media tools & end-to-end digital transformation; developed the strategic tool-kit & productized / commercialized it globally - Led team of 40, consisting of consulting staff, practice area support, consumer insights, marketing, & global champion network; oversaw budget >$2M - Trained global Partners; toured globally & supported world-wide client-development efforts In addition to overseeing recruiting, held numerous other internal leadership roles with budget oversight within Bain, including consultant staffing for Bain LA, client development efforts for Bain West Coast; global training for new and experienced consultants.

Fidelity Investments Logo

Research Associate

Fidelity Investments

1995 - 1999

Diligence which drove the resource allocations of Fidelity's high income and fixed income portfolios.

Education

The Wharton School (UPenn) Logo

The Wharton School (UPenn)

MBA, Strategic Management & Finance

The London School of Economics & Political Science Logo

The London School of Economics & Political Science

M.Sc., Economics and International Relations

Fulbright Scholar

Tufts University Logo

Tufts University

B.A., Economics & International Relations

Summa cum laude

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Chris has helped clients get into these companies:


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