Deloitte Federal S&O vs. ZS Associates
Hi all! Currently deciding between summer internship offers at Deloitte S&O in their federal practice and ZS Associates. I have a slight topical interest in healthcare, but doing public sector work for the summer seems appealing as well. Some questions that I have:
-How do these firms compare in terms of reputation/pay/exit ops/quality of life?
-What are the differences between commercial and federal for Deloitte? I know the pay is slightly lower (which I'm fine with), but what about across other dimensions? The partner I interviewed with made a point of emphasizing that they are trying to "bring down the walls" and encourage greater fluidity between the two practices, but I'd like to hear some other opinions as well.
I know a bit about each firm from friends so here are my two cents.
My understanding is that Deloitte Federal is going to be a lot less prestigious than commercial Deloitte. It seems like Deloitte Federal pays a bit less, and I imagine the exit opportunities are going to be pretty limited to the federal space, and also B-school placement will be worse. However, I believe the hours tend to be better on average in Federal consulting. That being said, Deloitte are a top player in Federal consulting, so if you feel like Federal consulting is where you want to be Deloitte makes sense for you. Of course, the Deloitte brand is also pretty well known.
ZS is not quite the same brand as Deloitte, but it's really growing and I think it could reach undisputed T2 status in the near future. They're very specialized in the Healthcare/Pharma space (esp. Marketing/Sales) and are very good at what they do. That being said, they are expanding rapidly, and are looking to move into other sectors without losing their expertise. I have a couple of friends who joined ZS without any prior interest in Healthcare. B-school placement is pretty great especially into Kellogg. Obviously not like MBB, but pretty reasonable MBA business schools">M7 placement. Exit opps are best in pharma/Healthcare, but also any Marketing & Sales roles, for example at big tech companies. I also think ZS has a great culture with great people that are easily to get along with. ZS is still relatively small and intimate, so people generally know each other pretty well. This can be very different from a massive firm like Deloitte, esp given there are so many other branches besides S&O that may be in the same office as you.
In short, to me this is a no brainer for ZS, but I also have no interest whatsoever in Federal consulting. If you feel convinced that you want to enter Federal consulting, than Deloitte is one of the best in the space.
From what I observed in the market and talking to colleagues in other firms, I think this is a spot on assessment. In my opinion, you will enjoy working at ZS much more and you will have a greater control over your career trajectory. Projects should be shorter and more strategic as opposed to longer public services transformation programmes.
Thanks this is super helpful. I was originally leaning Deloitte as I don’t want to rule out the possibility of policy/gov work in the future, but I will definitely have to think harder about it.
Not to sound like a prick but I go to a target top 5 ugrad (HYPSM), and Deloitte S&O ONLY recruits for Federal on our campus (ie can’t do commercial). A bit confused as to why they would do that if it really is that much less prestigious.
Federal consulting is not necessarily less presitigious but it is different than the rest of "commercial" consulting. I can imagine Kennedy school grads wanting to delivery high-impact transformative projects. The pace and lenght of government projects is very different, the strategic imperatives are not always easily transferable to the commercial world, however at the same time the impact of federal projects can sometimes be much much bigger.
As for why S&O doesn't reqcuit for commercial roles on your campus - has it been the case in the past? Maybe this is driven by market dynamics this year (e.g. lower project pipeline, overrecruitment in the past months or high conversion rates for interns)? Or maybe by their recruitment policy where they focus on regional candidates and your campus is not directly linked to any big commercial offices?
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