Hi all, I am currently in the first year of my course studying global commerce in National University of Ireland, Galway. Our programme is partnered with Deloitte who give grants to students studying abroad and also offer work placements to students in their Dublin and Galway offices. Very often they offer students jobs after their work placement upon completing the course and occasionally a masters/mba which they also pay for.
I would be confident of securing a job through my good grades and also contacts in Deloitte as my father has friends on the board and also knows the CEO of Deloitte Ireland personally. I would like to work in management consulting but my problem is that the salaries they offer in Ireland to consultants is no where near what they offer in the US and other offices around the globe (most Irish employees would start on roughly 35,000 euro per year).
Unfortunately it is very hard to live off that in Ireland, particularly in Dublin where the cost of living is ridiculously high. I was wondering how easy would it be to secure a job in a US or higher paying European office and is it much more competitive in those places ? Would my contacts be any use for securing a job elsewhere ? Any feedback would be highly appreciated !
In the US salaries are much higher than Europe but you have VISA issues as no one sponsors. In Europe I could only think of London being another option for you but the starting salary at a Big4 compared to living costs won't be great. Since Big4s have multiple UK offices you could try cities where the balance is better like Manchester or Liverpool. The best of the best in Europe remains Germany but I'm assuming you don't speak German.
Hrs Irish - he ain’t going to London like.
The Scandi offices should be at least on par with the German offices. COL might be a little higher in Stockholm or Copenhagen (a lot higher in Oslo) but hours are also better.
For salaries yes but the bang for buck you get in Scandinavia is only a bit better than London
Having lived both places I would have to disagree (whilst not fully understanding what you mean with 'bang for the buck')
Copenhagen is 13% cheaper than London, Stockholm is 25% cheaper and Oslo is 2% cheaper.
Meaning that Copenhagen is equivalent to Chicago and Stockholm is equivalent to Portland whilst London is equivalent to New York.
There's a pretty big difference in COL in Portland and NYC
By 'bang for buck' I mean the value you get for money. As a student I lived in both places and in London I averaged £900/month in expenses (going out etc) whilst in Denmark I averaged 8500 DKK which is about £1000 per month. Sure, rent is cheaper in Denmark (by quite a bit) but everything else is more expensive - even a local beer is about £4 whilst in London a pint of local lager is about £2.50. Same applies for restaurants. The WSO database shows 1st year analyst consultant salaries at Deloitte in London at £36,000 which is about 300,000 DKK. I can't find salary info for Deloitte Denmark but assuming it's similar to other Big4s, EY has their Copenhagen BA salary between 374,000 and 408,000 DKK as a BASE. What i'm saying with this is that whilst salaries are higher in Denmark, the higher CoL for everything except rent makes Copenhagen only slightly more attractive than London in terms of how far a dollar gets you. Also, whilst rent may be cheaper in Copenhagen vs London things like bills e.t.c will be higher (the UK has about 60% of its electricity from Nuclear whilst in Denmark this is below 5%) and it adds a big cost to electricity bills.
TL;DR - you can stretch your money only SLIGHTLY more in Copenhagen vs London simply because London rent is astronomical.
This makes sense.
If you like midlands or north UK, you'll get MUCH better value for money in cities like Birmingham or Manchester. Don't consider London at a grad/junior level for Big 4. They know people love the London hype, so they don't actually pay that much more in London. Quite frankly, I do not know how you would make ends meet in London on a Big 4 grad salary. Sure, you can live in Zone 5 and always stay in, but then what's the use of moving to London?
The continent might be a better option. In terms of salary/COL, I would say the following are interesting options: Netherlands, Scandi, Belgium. Germany can be OK, but you have to make up your mind on German culture (it's quite different from Ireland...).
And at junior level both Belgium and The Netherlands require the local language so we're left with Scandinavia.
Having a mother from London and a father from Manchester I’ve spent a bit of time in both cities and although not as glamorous, I much prefer Mcr. People seem to be friendlier and the some of the suburbs in Cheshire are lovely places to live. Also wouldn’t have to pay for accommodation as my dad already owns a house over there.
Funnily enough I do actually. Not fluent or anything but spent time in Germany and got a H2 (A- in US terms) in my leaving cert which is kinda the equivalent to UK A levels. Never thought I’d ever use it though
If you can get it up to business proficient then the whole DACH region is yours for the taking and QoL is much better there!
Are we talking about 35000 as 2900 per month or 35000 as pre-tax income?
35k before tax mate
Dubliner here, 35k is definitely liveable. Don't expect lobster and champagne for lunch, you can find a decent place here for around 650/month (South side).
I think the Big 4 is an ok place to work depending on the path you want to take, its safe. I would always consider them as a back up option if things don't workout with other high paying firms.
What would be more prestigious Dublin firms and are they particularly hard to get into ?
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