I've read that the Mckinsey London office has 800 consulting and non-consulting staff with over 45 nationalities represented. Is it true? When I look at all the profiles presented on the website, not all but most of them seem to be British (by their name). I'd also like to know whether the fact that English is not my native language would be a serious disadvantage in getting a job as an associate in London office?

How do you know with any degree of confidence from their names what their nationalities are?

Oh dear, person who thinks it's a breach of human rights to judge people. Guess what? Due to the way humans behave - possibly with the exception of the likes of the US and Australia (i.e. "new" countries) - people have largely developed within their own cultural and language boundaries. It's not racist, it's not bigoted, it's just humans feeling comfortable with what they know. Unless McKinsey can draw graphs showing how the "out of Africa" theory has developed so that male Brits and female Tongans are magnetically attracted and in which case, we could never doubt them as they have a brand, and, like, stuff. So, contrary to what the person above believes, we can actually say with a reasonable degree of certainty that from surnames we know their national heritage in say 8 out of 10 cases and we can tell from their face structure in say 6 out of 10 cases what their genetic background is from experience.As for the "45 nations", in my experience companies that do this rubbish have done so largely counting their admin staff i.e. the Indian secretary, the Filipino cleaner, the Russian masseuse(!). The consultants disappointingly come from a very narrow cultural and social fit profile. Still, it is London, for all its faults, it is one of the most accepting cities in the world. Not having English as a first language is not a problem, people are used to it in the UK and the likes of MacKenzies works around the globe, so posh English school boys only go so far, no matter how loud they speak to the foreigners to make them understand.

I know someone at Mck in london who is british with a very foreign name so that might be a red herring.However your standard of English seems very good from your post so the question is irrelevant IMHO. Whether you get a job will depend on your skill, attitude and potential. Many in consulting across all sort of companies do not have English as their native language. As long as you can communicate effectively in English you will be fine.

"I know someone at Mck in london who is british with a very foreign name so that might be a red herring."By your logic you're making McK more British as even people with foreign sounding names are actually just proving the big Oxbridge love-in. It's OK though, they did Classics and the likes so they must be more able than say a student from any world top 100 business uni when it comes to analysing real-life client problems. What ho, chaps? Ra, the lads.

45 seems on the high end, but it wouldn't surprise me. The London Office is easily one of the most diverse in the world - as indeed London is one of the world's most metropolitan cities. I would say somewhere in the region of 30-50% of the office is non-English.There are a good number of non-native English speakers there - particularly German, Chinese and Indian. Although obviously you will have to have complete fluency as all work will be done in English, and clients in the UK will be (understandably) annoyed if their consultants cannot communicate easily and confidently.

before people get annoying - I of course meant cosmopolitan...

I work for the McK office, London.I am not British.To answer your question: NO.IT is NOT TRUE. The 45% figure is, in fact, b@@@shxit.I am almost all the time surrounded by British people.Also notice:1) in the "different nationalities", they also include:- Australians- South Africans- Americans......all populations whose native language is English2) even if you look at the other surnames which do not sound English, you are propbably looking at people who were born from non British parents, but whose native language is, again, English (most of them won&apos;t even know their parent&apos;s language).Honestly I would say I can interact with <10% people where English is not their first language.Another (very sad) note on this: the higher you move, the fewer "non British" you will meetSecond point: disadvantage.You are right again.The English level expected had to be high. Extremely high. Not only "at the client site" but also for an informal "chat" with your next to be manager. If you don&apos;t understand exactly what they mean, they lose trust in you.And if they don&apos;t trust you in the next staffing... you&apos;d better start looking for a new job.(note: all the "you&apos;s" are general plurals)