Deloitte S&O Brand
Undergrad considering full time offers one of which being Deloitte S&O in a non-top choice city (think Atlanta, Dallas, Houston). Is S&O truly the next best thing after MBB? What has given this firm such a high reputation? Does the Deloitte brand create that much better opportunities in terms of exit opps/bschool placement compared to ATK and Accenture Strategy offers in my top choice city of NYC ? I understand that consulting involves a lot of travel, but I could spend a lot more time with close family in friends on Fridays and weekends living in NYC.
Considering this offer strongly would love to hear some thoughts. Thanks in advance!
No. It is one of the best things after MBB, but certainly not the clear #1 by any means.
Regarding all of the tier 2 strategy firms, each have their unique pros and cons which should be weighed in your decision. Oliver Wyman probably leads the group, but Strategy&/ATK/Deloitte S&O/LEK/Parthenon/ACN strategy and maybe someone else I'm forgetting are all roughly on the same playing field. I'm defining this group based on prestige, corporate exit opportunities, b school placement, amount of strategy work that you will actually do, etc.
Now with regards to your decision - yes, Deloitte S&O is probably the most prestigious of the group. By that I mean that you can walk up to a girl/guy at the bar and say, "I'm a consultant for Deloitte" and you will be more likely to go home with them than if you tell someone outside of consulting or finance that "I work for ATK/LEK/Parthenon/Strategy&". But who gives a damn what those people think. Practically everyone you interact with in your field of work will know that ATK and ACN Strategy are great groups to be a part of, and you will be on a level playing field with your peers at Deloitte in the job market. Deloitte may have a slight advantage there due to larger alumni base though.
In my opinion, your decision should factor in three criteria: 1) city 2) type of work 3) culture.
1) You seem to be skiddish about joining Deloitte in a suboptimal location - I would weigh this fairly heavily. Though you will be traveling plenty, it would suck to spend your 3-4 days at home each week alone and without any friends/family. This early on in your career I think it's important to optimize based on where you will be happiest. Don't take this for granted.
2) ACN Strategy will have a strong technology focus to their strategy work, but are regarded as industry leaders in the space. At ATK you will work on a lot of supply chain projects among other strategy work. At Deloitte you will probably be exposed to the greatest breadth of projects, though you may find it challenging to land those pure strategy gigs. Figure out which of these appeal to you most.
3) Culture is tough to tease out, but if you strongly liked or disliked a certain group I would factor that in as well.
But congrats on all your offers - it's great to have so many options to choose from. Good luck.
This is probably one of the best, most level-headed Tier 2 breakdowns I've seen on this forum - Hopefully people will get linked to this the next million times someone asks "WHICH IS MORE PRESTIGIOUS PARTHENON OR DELOITTE S&O?"
Upvote. Would definitely suggest deloitte. While Accenture branding is good, they are very heavy on tech implementation work and they are primarily famous for thay above everything else they do. I personally find it horrible. As a fresh grad don't pigeon hole yourself just yet. Deloitte will give you sufficient exposure to really learn the ropes and familiarize yourself with what you want to do later on.
Although I agree that Accenture's overall brand is more tech oriented than the other Tier 2s, this whole Accenture Strategy does tech implementation work is one of the most nonsensical myths that is repeatedly peddled on WSO.
Why would the client pay premium rates for Accenture Strategy to do tech implementation when they could have armies of much more qualified resources from Accenture MC or Tech do the same for much less money?
Accenture Strategy is a separate P&L from the rest of Accenture and it was very clear during my four years at Accenture that strategists were expected to work on real strategy work - otherwise it'd reflect in your performance reviews.
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Deloitte upped its analyst salaries this year to 80K+12.5K signing for not expensive cities and 85K+12.5K signing for NYC and etc, I don't think its that much lower than MBB and other places
No one will have sex with you because you work at deloitte.
Agreed with the above. However, you will travel mon-thurs so does city really matter? Especially since COL will be way higher in NY. I couldn't justify spending 2k on a shitty 50 sq foot apt with 8 roomates when i'm only there for 2.5 days a week.
Food for thought.
Very true - CoL is no joke. At the same time, I would rather live with my 6 best friends in a closet in NYC rather than trading equities in Dallas alone. If I didn't have some of my best friends to hang out with on the weekends I swear I would go nuts. That said, I probably value my social life more than many people on WSO :)
They dont call you The Nightman for nothing I suppose
Go with Drip Capital
Most of analyst pay for consulting isn't that great as compared to IB. At MBB you'll end up with maybe 90-100k.
IMO, Parthenon, LEK and OW are better than S&O for exit opps, PE, etc. Do some research about possible exits.
Deloitte S&O is not regarded, among those in the general finance/consulting industry, as head and shoulders above ATK or Accenture Strategy. Deloitte in general does have larger brand recognition among people outside of the industry, but is is generally just thought of as a Big 4 accounting firm as very few people even know what strategy consulting entails. Accenture Strategy is not the sub-group of Accenture only doing repetitive tech implementation projects.
All of this aside, is there a reason that Deloitte S&O struck you personally as head and shoulders above the other two options, to the extent that you'd chose a sub-optimal city just to be with the Deloitte brand? Did they come off as that much more on-point than the other groups you spoke with during your interview? Was the culture a better fit? It sounds like they managed to beguile you during your time with them (which is something Big 4 firms do really, really, really well).
Bottom Line: I'm not gonna be the guy that tells you "Don't chose a job based on prestige", because you should know that. But at the end of the day, Deloitte S&O isn't leaps and bounds more prestigious than Accenture/ATK Strategy, so if you don't have an intrinsic affinity for Deloitte, you might as well take one of the NYC offers.
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