I haven't found much info on this but if this is a reposting please redirect me. I am wondering about federal consulting. Besides doing projects for the government how is it different? Also, are the exit ops very different? And as you move up the promotion ladder, is the salary significantly lower than peers doing consulting work for the private sector? Thank you.
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I worked in the federal space for a while. often times it can be similar to commercial strategy consulting projects or organizational change management (cut cost at agency X, streamline the IRS and make it more user friendly, etc). Many projects can involve big IT support or system engineering. A lot of times it can be just straight up butts in the seat defense contracting, where you sit at a desk in agency X becoming a federal employee in all but name for a period of time. i've known consultants who were away "from the mothership" for so long that they were all but forgotten by management! Exit opp can be similar to private sector consulting as well, with government clients at various agencies liking you enough to make you a GS offer. it's a diverse landscape of contractors and consultants. a lot of time you'll end up doing work that won't feel like consulting
Won't the exit ops pay worse then for federal practice?
btw GS in federal space means general schedule, the pay table by which they make you offers, not Goldman Sachs!
the attractiveness of exit opportunities depends on the preferences of the individual consultant. during the height of the Global War on Terror, intelligence agencies were hiring any warm body with a Top Secret clearance, and a lot of defense contractors and consultants were able to catapult themselves from jr/sr analyst role as a contractor consultant into low to middle management government positions. unfortunately anytime you try to expand an organization in a hurry, the quality of the analyses and the caliber of talent will suffer, and the fed government will be saddled with this extra girth for quite a while. "Getting a blue badge" (govt employees often wear blue badges vs green for contractors) also represented job security in the long run, in exchange for mediocre performance (hard to get fired, hahaha!), as well as many fringe benefits such as Flex Time (get every other Friday off) and good healthcare
so you exchange the slightly higher pay you have as a consultant for long term job security and steady promotion as a govie. federal consulting is directly dependent on the fiscal budget. when the defense budget was in limbo during much of 2010 and 2011 many agencies instituted hiring freezes and stop orders on lower priority projects so the defense contracting community suffered a long contraction in business.
http://firmsconsulting.com/2010/10/18/%E2%80%9Cis-public-sector-managem…
i worked in the Federal arm of a large consulting firm. we did a lot of work with commercial teams, largely due to the lack of resources (people) we experienced. i may draw some fire for this, but from my experience working in commercial and Federal, you work on the same problems...you just have different incentives.
there is also a ton of money in Federal consulting and a lot of competition out there. the DC metro area hosts i believe like 10 of the 15 wealthiest American counties, and many of these people make a living doing Federal/defense contracting.
Thanks for the response everyone! Keensetofpeepers or Mashed potatoes, would either of you guys be able to comment on the salary ranges as you move up? I am guessing from what you said Mashed potatoes that the salary ranges are pretty high considering the wealth in dc?
How common is it to switch out of federal to private? Whether within the same company or as an exit opp.
Also is the travel for federal consulting greatly decreased because theoretically everything would be in the DC/Virginia/Maryland area? Obviously you have to go to those places, but you wouldn't be flying as much...
travel is almost non existent largely since your clients are all in the DC metro area. travel may be limited to denver, san diego, san antonio, new england, chicago, anywhere you will find larger government presence.
as for salary, i believe that salary is on par across positions at pretty much each firm, until you get to a manager role. once your at a manager role, you are going to be owning/responsible/pursuing business development opportunities more readily and it will be a large factor if you want to continue being promoted...i know for example at my firm, when i was in the Fed practice, my pay was on par with buddies of mine on the commercial end (both in my industry practice and non)
the bill rates are far less in Federal consulting than commercial, but the way that most of the large firms get away with this is that they are heavy into augmenting staff. so for example, Booz Allen partners make a ton of cash, but thats because they will staff their consultants at a government agency and this consultant will the do role of like 4 gov workers, and for this the government will pay 2x what they would normally salary some one for that position..all the while there is only a single consultant doing multiple roles. so its easy money for partners. also on the commercial end, i think its easier to get work (from my experiences now), but when i was on the Fed end, its damn nearly impossible to knock out an incumbent...so some firms like Deloitte and Booz Allen, they are very comftorable retaining work and have their foots in the door at all the right places. i know that Booz Allen has like $150M annually of HHS work,which is insane.
the gov also has tight regulations on teaming partners and such so getting business is much more complicated than commercial end, where you just pitch and hope to God that the c-level exec is not a alum of MBB or a competing firm.
also in Fed consulting, youll have the opportunity to work with lots of former heads of gov agencies and stuff. in my group, we had the deputy secretary of department of labor as a director and other senior advisors to cabinet members and stuff.
unfortunately, you build a very jaded and cynical view of gov after working with them.
Commerical vs. federal consulting (Originally Posted: 01/15/2014)
I have some questions on the difference between federal and commercial consulting, particularly for positions within PwC, Deloitte (technology and human capital), and Accenture management consulting/MCDP.
Specifically, I was curious about differences in: 1) Compensation, both at the analyst/associate level and up the career ladder 2) Promotion speed from one level to another (consultant to manager) 3) Acceptance of employees attending graduate school, either by sponsorship or how much they push for an advanced degree to advance
From what I’ve heard via those working in at these organizations as well as from online resources (WSO, Glassdoor), federal has far lower compensation, doesn’t promote as quickly, and discourages business school for its consultants.
Are the differences really this stark, or are they trumped up?
Relatively accurate, yes. I'm a bit dated, but for Deloitte, but I think a Federal Analyst (Fed S&O) starts around $55k, and a Business Analyst (Commercial S&O) starts at around ~$70k. Farther up, I think the discrepancy grows even more. SC’s (post MBA position) are paid to compete with MBB, while SC’s in Federal often don’t even have an advanced degree, and have gotten their annual raises from the time they were a Federal Analyst.
If you're out of undergrad, promotions actually aren't all that different. You'll make Consultant within two years, and if you were to stick around long enough, SC within 3 years, most likely. Farther up, commercial moved MUCH faster. The up or out culture, plus the solid exit opportunities for SCs and Managers, lead to a lot of people moving out and therefore, a lot of people moving up. Still takes longer to make partner than at MBB, but it moves.
As for business school, it is not emphasized nearly as much in Federal. In the commercial practice, you are expected to get an MBA to move up to Senior Consultant. They are very lenient with sponsorships and quite helpful. In Federal, you do not need an MBA to advance. That being said, I wouldn’t say it’s discouraged. GSAP (sponsorship program) is still available to Federal Consultants. Moreover, unless you plan to make your career in federal, you’d be expected to come back and do two more years in Federal, and by that time, would be pretty damn branded as a public sector guy.
What are your options? I worked on both Federal and Commercial projects during my time there, so can give you a pretty decent perspective.
Thanks for such a detailed reply, BGP. I sent you a PM with some details and a bit more background about myself.
I do not have offers yet, but am in the process of getting put into contact with recruiters. Additionally, I am in the DC area, and consequently the amount of consultants in the federal practice of almost every firm outnumber those serving commercial clients.
I wanted to clarify one thing. You stated that “you'll make Consultant within two years, and if you were to stick around long enough, SC within 3 years, most likely.” I take this to mean that one makes SC after 3 years at the Consultant level (~5 years out of UG), is this correct?
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