LEK Consulting or PwC Strategy&?

Hi all, I have been very fortunate to receive Associate offers from LEK Consulting and PwC Strategy&. Now, I am having a hard time deciding which one to accept! 

Here are some details:

  • both are for their generalist tracks 

  • London office 

  • both sponsor MBAs for Associates who meet certain requirements 

  • S& have guaranteed a Spring 2021 start date, but LEK cannot guarantee a start date earlier than Autumn 2021 although they have said it is possible 

  • LEK’s salary offer appears to be 20% higher, but S& are offering better/more benefits which might balance out the comp ?

  • S& Associates appear to progress to consultant / manager faster than at LEK - so depending on what salary increase is like at each promotion, the overall salary difference may not be so big? 

  • Way less travel with LEK than with S&

  • PwC is a more globally recognised brand so joining S& may make it easier for me to move back to my home country in ~5 years, whereas I don’t think LEK is as well-known in my country 

  • S& have been very engaged through the recruitment process, and have been proactive with events, helping us network and get to know office culture etc.; LEK’s outreach hasn’t been as coordinated and the “buddies” who reached out for chats have been very flakey (e.g. calling 40min later than expected, cancelling calls last minute, telling me one thing and then emailing later to say they’d made a mistake). Not sure if this is just a reflection on their recruitment team, or something I should look at as a reflection of the team overall 

Let me know which company you would go for, and anything else you think I should consider when making my decision! 


 

Honestly, it seems like you have a good grasp of the pros and cons. While I generally think that comp difference is overrated at the junior level, 20% does seem like a lot. Generally though, you should go for what firm you think you will enjoy the people. You will be working long hours and (eventually) travelling with these people, don't want to have any doubt that you like them

 

Thanks for this! The big difference comes from LEK giving both a sign on and a profit-share bonus from the first year. From what I understand, S& doesn’t give performance bonuses until after your first year, so I think it balances out after that. 
You’re right about making sure you like the people - I thought people seemed nice at both firms while going through interviews, but like I mentioned in the last point of my post, the outreach post-offer from S& has warmed me up much more than LEK... so I’m taking that as an indication of culture, too.

 

Oh if this is the case, ignore that comp difference. Assuming you are a new grad, end of year will be 1-5 months from your start date so it doesnt really matter.

That's a fair point about them doing more outreach. 

I would put some stock into the actual case differences though. If you aren't part of S& Deals, you will probably get the more classic management consulting experience of strategy/ops cases. LEK is, from my understanding, mainly DDs and some pharma with less options outside of that. If one fits your preference better, that's a concrete data point to help make the decision.

I might be wrong on the exact types of work as I don't work at either of these places so double check that.

 
Most Helpful

You know most of the ins and outs of each firm. I would like to make you aware of two things since I'm in the space in the same city:

  1. I've seen A LOT more people move around (including to my firm) from LEK than S&. Tenure is generally longer at S& than LEK
  2. LEK is an absolute sweatshop for consulting standards. Typical days will have you working from 09:00-22:00/23:00 with 01:00/02:00 pushes not being uncommon and the occasional 04:00/all-nighter. Being CDD-focused you often end up having IB-like hours with nowhere near the same pay

I would take S&. Remember, the difference in compensation is not that big as you go up the ranks in these two firms and benefits really do set firms apart.

 

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