Hey guys,
I got entry-level FT offers from both Parthenon and IBM. The IBM offer is from their strategy consulting practice. My long-term plan is to apply for top business school after 3 years and then look for opportunity to go to buy-side.
Any thoughts on the decision?
Thanks.
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Congratulations on obtaining two FT offers! I would be cautious about joining IBM for strategy consulting. This is because this is not their core competency, IBM is an enterprise software company. I am unsure about how strong they will be in strategy consulting. On the flip side, Parthenon IS a strategy consulting firm. They are small but this is definitely their area of focus. Do speak to IBM folks to evaluate more on their expertise in strategy consulting. It’s great you know what to do in the future. You want to b-school > buy side. My advice is to then find out which firm sponsors b-school applications. From the little I know, Parthenon has a culture of sponsoring 2 year analysts for b-school. To me the decision is clear on which firm to join. Though IBM is a more popular brand name, Parthenon is definitely better if you want to do strategy consulting and apply for b-school in the future. All the best!
Completely different places. One's huge, the other's tiny. So the decision depends somewhat on which culture/atmosphere you prefer.
With that said, Parthenon wins easily in my book. While they're small, they're considered a top boutique shop by anyone who knows anything about consulting. My impression is that they place very well for b-schools as well. I don't know how good their PE practice is and how feasible it is for their analysts to go buyside, but I can't imagine it's more difficult than being at IBM.
gotta go with IBM. more prestigious and selective = HSW chances are higher. just look at where their consultants went for b-school.
As far as consulting firms go, IBM GBS isn't more prestigious nor more selective than Parthenon. Of course, more people will recognize the IBM brand, but that doesn't mean it's more well-respected within consulting. In terms of prestige and selectivity go, I'd put Parthenon at the top of Tier 2 with LEK, Deloitte S&O, OW, etc.
i would be curious to see the breakdown of HBS alumns from IBM and Parthenon.
100% Parthenon. Their exit ops to PE and b-school are almost as good as MBB, and it's definitely possible to rise the ranks there. IBM does not measure up on either of those.
parthenon
I'd be cautious with shops such as IBM or Accenture's 'Strategy' consulting practices. A good friend of mine works at one of those shops under 'Mgmt Consulting' division, yet 70-80% of the work he does are writing business requirements for IT implementation projects.
By going with IBM, I'd think you run the risk of getting staffed on less than ideal projects, getting lower quality of work, and thus potentially suffer from lack of skill / experience development in the area of your interest.
In addition, IBM is more recognized but there is no question Parthenon is the more prestigious consulting shop. The person above saying IBM is more prestigious because of its more well known brand name is equivalent to saying an Audi is better than Aston Martin because more people recognize Audi's brand than the latter. The people 'in the know' will recognize that Parthenon is the superior shop.
I'd go with Parthenon without hesitation. IBM's consulting is much different (very tech and implementation-related as far as I've heard) while Parthenon is heavily strategy consulting. Parthenon pays a rather hefty salary, has a really high acceptance rate to the top b-schools (H/S/W), and ranks right below MBB among consulting firms. Congrats!
I'm with IBM. You can read my post history for more.
1) I doubt many people here actually know about the CbD program since it just started 4 years ago.
2) Since IBM is a very large company, it is absolutely up to you to get the projects you want. I've had 10 projects during my time here and will be starting my 11th soon in Florida in Marketing Strategy. However, a lot of my colleagues get shafted.
3) Feel free to hit me up on PM to discuss options. I'll walk you through absolutely everything, everything on what you need to know about exactly what it's like to be at IBM.
If I had to choose between my current career and Parthenon, I'd choose exactly what I'm doing now (I really created a lot of my own opportunities). However, I got the extremely high scale of the experience, so for the average new-hire, probably would go with Parthenon.
Hi Xepa, I'm deciding between Deloitte and IBM Cbd program. Could you tell me more about what the pros and cons are working at IBM? Thanks!
Would highly recommend taking Xepa's words with a grain of salt. Seems he's at least a little biased. I respect IBM's brand, but I have numerous friends who either interned in IBM's cbd program and didn't go back full-time or worked there full-time and left because they found the work to be incredibly monotonous. Like Accenture, IBM's consulting division primarily does software implementation work. It's not strategy consulting in any sense, and while I have no firsthand experience doing that type of work, I haven't heard good things.
Compared to Deloitte, it really depends on what you'd be doing at Deloitte. Is it S&O or their tech consulting practice.
Parthenon by far. IBM hardly does any strategy consulting as per my knowledge.
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