LEK vs. OW vs. S& Deals Strategy
Hi everyone,
I am evaluating offers between LEK, OW, and S& Deals Strategy. I am curious as to what everyone on WSO MC thinks about these offers and which you would pick if you were in my situation. Specifically, I am trying to compare and contrast each of these firms on the following categories:
- Work life balance
- Business school placement
- Exit opportunities (Specifically into an operational role at a growth PE fund or a cushy corp strat gig)
- Quality of work (I would like to be doing strategy projects)
If there is anything else I should be considering, please let me know.
Bump. Another factor affecting my decision is comp: LEK > OW > S&
This is a tough question to try and answer, for a couple of reasons. First, it depends entirely on your exact situation, which nobody reading this is going to know about. But beyond that, the insight on the categories you laid out are pretty unlikely to be known by a single person for all three firms.
I interned at LEK this summer (MBA intern). But I have no idea what it's like to work at OW or S&, so my perspective isn't really that meaningful. Instead, here's what I would do if I were you:
2 & 3. Business school placement and exit opportunities. LinkedIn is your friend here. Whenever some firm says "oh yes, we place into X school or Y industry," go find the bodies. Sometimes "we place into PE" means there was one analyst in the last six years who found a job in your target industry, and sometimes it means there's a half dozen every recruiting cycle that make the jump. Pour a cup of coffee and spend some quality time on LinkedIn and count the stats.
Are the offers for the same city? Do you care about industry mix? These might move the needle depending on your personal preferences and goals.
How was your summer internship experience? I heard LEK is no longer the sweat shop it was known to be and folks are averaging ~60-65 hours a week instead of the 80 hours.
Will you be returning to LEK? If so, what drew you back in? I would love to PM if you don't want to disclose this information on this message board.
EDIT: I see that this is a 2 year old thread.. Layne Stanley are you at LEK now?
Thanks for the response @dmw86. Been doing that to a good degree of success.
Just wanted to bump this again and ask everyone here which they would choose? Even without any reasoning, just curious to see what y'all would pick out of these.
OW > LEK > S&
OW: stability and name LEK: quality PE S&: no stability and not recognized for PE work yet
What office(s) are the offers for?
In general for the U.S. OW > LEK >>>>>> S& (don't do S& given these other offers)
LEK Chi, OW NY, S& NY.
I think I eventually want to jump to PE. I want to be in NY but I hear LEK hours are hellish, especially NY even if I got switched. I would take OW but I worry I'll get stuck in risk modeling/stress testing and can't get in their diligence group. I would take S& since the Deals Strategy group is all growth strategy and diligence, but the pay is substantially less than the other two.
Do you think I could get to PE if I do a kick ass job at OW? Do you think there's a chance I get stuck doing risk or stress testing? I'm not too good quantitatively but definitely a shake hands, smile, personable guy.
There us no doubt about it, LEK absolutely WILL beast you, though Chicago is a bit less intense than NYC. OW FS is pretty solid and has a strong reputation in banking circles. They also sponsor a fair number of MBAs, so OW-M7-PE is hard, but doable.
I've interacted with the FS team at Oliver Wyman and thought them all quite sharp.
Definitely, the only worry I would have is getting stuck in less-sexy FS topics.
I preface this post by saying I had offers from LEK & OW at the same time 5 years ago. I still have friends in both.
Go LEK if you (1) are into strategy (2) think PE/Aviation/Operational type projects might be your thing (3) Might want to try out London later (4) think you'd be good at those strategy ppt slides (5) might wanna exit to PE later.
Go OW if you (1) kinda wanna make a lot of money, cos their bonuses are excellent (2) are of a highly analytical bend and think you can crush them financial models (3) find risk/stress testing/LGD EAD models kinda interesting (4) are not really thinking about an MBA later or prefer to focus early on FS/Banking (5) are OK with living on excel vs. making ppts, (6) crave global office mobility including coming over to Asia.
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In summary, LEK gives you a more typical consulting / strategy experience, while OW gives you cash & you work with some seriously smart people. LEK is a little less global and primarily a NA/UK play, while OW is way more spread out, and has been killing it in Asia in the last 3 years.
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