I've got an interview with the aforementioned consulting firm this week and I was curious to know if anyone had any information on interviewing, culture, salary, etc. about this firm. The interview was highly unexpected after a casual conversation with a woman who turned out to be a recruiter for the firm. I am in the IB industry by current trade, but I always keep my options open.
Any related information to prepare or just "good to know" information is appreciated. Thanks.
bump
did you ever get any more info about SSA - either through WSO or by progressing through the interview process? If so I'm looking for the same info you asked for above. Thanks
Has anyone heard of SSA & Company? (Originally Posted: 10/25/2015)
Hi all,
Anyone heard of SSA & Company? It's a boutique management consulting firm based in New York. They're a spin off of the Six Sigma Academy, but not too familiar with that is/was. Any insight about their reputation, job nature, compensation or even first hand experience would be much appreciated.
Thanks! George
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I interviewed there a few years ago after being contacted by a recruiter. A few thoughts:
Culture seemed great. A lot of ex-IB'ers who burned out or were let go in the wake of the financial crisis (or maybe that's just who I spoke to). Everyone I spoke to seemed really friendly and laid back. Another perk is that after a certain point (and it wasn't a very high title), you are allowed to live anywhere you want so long as it's within x miles of an airport (I can't remember exactly what x was but it was a generous distance). Other firms have this option as well but are generally not as forthcoming about it.
As you might expect from a company that used to be called "Six Sigma Academy," they do a lot of Six Sigma and operational/process improvement work. Some people like this and some people don't so figure out if it's the type of stuff you like to do. I severely doubt they do much strategy work - they're way more in the weeds. You will probably be encouraged to pursue Six Sigma certification. As for industries, Six Sigma is most frequently used in manufacturing and logistics which are sometimes seen as "boring" industries so keep that in mind.
Step one is a phone call with HR, step two is a phone call with a consultant, in step three they ask you to make a deck about one of their clients, so it's about dissecting a 10-k and putting it to paper, and step four is in-person interviews. Full disclosure by the time I made it to step three they had already filled the position so I stopped after step there. Be prepared with answers to the typical questions: why SSA, why consulting, why that type of work, and know a basic case framework (the case questions were REALLY easy).
While I never had a full compensation discussion, I got the feeling that pay wasn't great but wasn't terrible either. This is offset by the lifestyle - I got the feeling that hours weren't brutal. Overall I would think pay is definitely less that Big Four/Accenture/other Tier-2 and obviously well below MBB. As for prestige and exit opps, the limiting factor would be the small size of the company; I think they only have ~100 consultants so not too many people know them. As a result, B-School placement is probably just OK (no brand name recognition, lack of "sexy" consulting work that competitors offer, adcoms probably won't have a sense of the caliber of consultant since they just don't see many people from there) - MBA business schools ">M7 would be doable but is by no means a guarantee. OUtside of b-school, you'd probably go in-house to a continuous improvement role at a client.
Thanks a lot, this is extremely helpful. Definitely will need to consider the part about being very focused in Six Sigma. I will have to try to do more research on if they do do strategy work much or if at all.
any insight on the case study?
@gonegirl, it was very easy and high-level - barely even a case. It was a couple of years ago so I don't remember the details but it was around how fluctuating revenue (from both price and quantity increases) and costs affect per-item margin and overall profitability. If you've taken corporate finance 101 or ever worked in a business setting you should have no problem with it.
Ive been told the second round is a phone interview with the consultant - half case interview half just typical behavioral. did u get a case interview with the consultant? if not, i guess the process has changed since they seem to be hiring aggressively right now. if so, do you rmbr what it was?
im assuming your explanation on the case study is the actual deck you build, not a case interview u may have had with the consultant in the 2nd round.
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