Hey all,
2nd year analyst at non-MBB firm taking questions - I know that my firm just gave out offers, and I imagine that similar tier 2's did as well. If anybody has any questions before accepting/rejecting their offers, post away and i'll be checking back here pretty often.
| +26 | Nervous about MBB - incoming BA | 18 | 6h | |
| +17 | Switching from studying medicine to healthcare consulting. | 8 | 4d | |
| +9 | Chances at MBB - Reality Check | 1 | 3s | |
| +6 | How much do your MDs make? | 1 | 3d | |
| +5 | Restructuring market | 4 | 11h | |
| +1 | Business | 3 | 5h | |
| +1 | Portfolio Operations Group--DFW area | 2 | 9h |
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Accenture and Deloitte tier 2 - you crack me up.
I want to be like PorcineAviation when i grow up.
Wow, you guys are ridiculously rude. Thanks for offering your help OP... hopefully you'll those who have questions will post soon.
Wow, you guys are dicks. If you care about lifestyle, want to do solely government work, or heaven forbid, find something other than strategy interesting, Booz seems like a pretty sweet place to be, and I imagine Accenture and Deloitte would be similar.
And for all you monkeys who primarily care about $, it's not like you make significantly less there at a junior level, and your hours can be significantly better.
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Accenture, Deloitte and Booz pays more than MBB! http://www.consultingmag.com/article/ART647748
Tier and reputation is another question.
abacab, that's really interesting...I'm pre-MBA so I'm more familiar with those numbers, but great find!
Nothin but haters in here haha... I've gotta say, I have a position at one of the firms listed and 1) I work a lot less hours than people I know with MBB 2) I get paid damn near as much 3) I have no complaints about the work, the people, or anything else. I almost want to say I'm happy I didnt get my 90hr work week death wish?
Sorry didn't check back here as much as I wanted to.
2x2, unfortunately not at Booz and co - so i guess that narrows it down :-)
I have a friend who is at BAH and he really enjoys it...not as much travel as some of the other firms if you are based in DC, and there is a lot of flexibility there for various types of projects.
I did get some PM's from people on the topic, and I think one of them was really interesting, so i'll post this here for others...
The question was whether or not a person is getting pigeon holed by going into an "industry" group at a consulting firm rather than coming in as a "generalist".
Frankly, I have seen and heard of a great deal of people who have gotten a broad range of industry experiences, but then are just mediocre at a bunch of things and not an expert in any. I think that it is quite valuable for somebody to come into an industry group, learn the ins and outs of it, and then transfer that skill to their next job (whether its after bschool or not) - there are far too many people that come out of consulting as just "high level thinkers" and are only good at making powerpoint decks and building some tables.
MissingNo - seems like you're in a pretty similar boat to me, would you agree that there are some great exit opportunities for people who become specialized in one industry rather than going through a rotation of industries?
FWIW, i also agree with you on your comments about firm, culture, and pay (although sometimes I am pushing 90 hour weeks - that's just the nature of the beast)
Thanks for taking the time to post this! Other than the asshats who seem intent on keeping people from helping other forum members out, we really appreciate this!
I'm not looking at getting into the industry necessarily, more just learning about it, so I've got a couple of questions for you:
1) People talk about how MC hours are generally better than I-banking, but you said you find yourself hitting the 90 hour mark pretty often. Would you mind telling us what a typical day would look like for you (or preferably a couple of different days would look like)?
2) I've seen a lot of debate about whether or not MC is actually adding value to companies, in your experience and from what you've heard has it?
Thanks!
1) For the most part, the hours are a lot less intense - but of course it really depends on the project/week/partner/(insert other factors here).
There have been projects that are just (not including travel time) 8-6 Monday through Thursday, then Friday "work from home"
Other projects are 7-7 at the client, then go grab dinner at the hotel, then work in the hotel until 12 or 1 AM - then work all weekend too.
For the most part, my firm is pretty good about allowing people to come home on thursdays and work from either home or the office on fridays. Of course if you are on a project that is only 3 weeks long, you are going to be working with tighter deadlines and your weekends will most likely be occupied by work. If you are on a 6-month engagement, things tend to slow down a little bit more as there is probably some cushion.
typical week on a really intense project (on a travel project): 60-70ish...of course there are ones that are going to be 90, but this more the exception rather than the norm.
Monday: flight will depart anywhere from 6am to 7:30am (really depends on where you're going) - usually at the client site by 10am. Working lunch, and work through about 7-8 pm at the client site (sometimes your badge gets turned off at a certain time so you have to leave) 8-9pm check into the hotel and grab dinner with the team 9-12ish do more work for your 9am meeting
Tuesday - Thursday: 7:30-8pm at the client site...dinner 8-9...work from the hotel 9-12ish
Friday: Catch a flight anywhere from 4-7 and head home. Usually Friday nights will be pretty free.
Saturday: Catch up meeting at 10 am to decide what needs to be done for the weekend - depending on that, work intermittently (while watching college football) until 5ish - it's pretty laid back and usually no fire drill required. Another catch up meeting at 5.
Saturday nights are usually free granted that your afternoon meeting didnt require an absurd number of edits.
Sunday: probably put in 5 or so hours of work throughout the day - again, pretty laid back.
Typical week on a laid back project:
Monday: Same thing, catch your morning flight and head to the client site. We'll usually work at the client site until about 6 or so, grab food, and then figure out if work needs to be done from the hotel (usually there is, but not until 12)
Tuesday - Wednesday: 8-6 at the client site, dinner, figure out if work needs to be done from the hotel
Thursday: 8-4, then go catch a flight home (sometimes I'll have to do some more work for a friday phone in once I get home)
Friday: If I need to go for an event or to catch up with friends, I'll go into the office around 9am...it's a pretty laid back day with some extracurricular office events/meeting, and work sprinkled in between. Its very common that I leave before 5, and I have the weekend free (maybe 1-2 hours total to check some emails, etc.)
So as you can tell, it really depends on the project that you're on.
2) Simply put, yes - there is definitely a lot of value add that Consultants provide to companies. For starters, there are some companies that are working very lean, and just don't have the time and/or resources to pull for doing certain analysis and restructuring. What some people also don't realize is the cost of bringing on a new full time employee - most of the time, consultants end up being cheaper in the long term. Finally, the biggest value that is added is the industry/product expertise. Almost every single project that I have been on has been won based on the expertise that my company has in that field, and the broad network of resources that is available to us.
hope that answered your questions
Thanks, that helped a lot!
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Thanks for posting this indeed.
I have been a consultant at a Big 4 (not Deloitte) firm in London (our targets are top universities Oxford, Cambridge, Warwick, LSE, UCL, Edinburgh) for just under a year and have an offer from Deloitte in Strategy but it would involve starting again as a business analyst, basically starting from scratch. Is the variety of work, B-schools opportunities and the prestige worth the restart?
Any other thoughts?
Depends on what your long term goals are - I'm not sure what Deloitte London is like, but if your other Big 4 firm competes with them for projects and recruits at the same places (which it seams like it does), then there is really no reason to switch. If you want to go to grad school, you will be able to have pretty much the same opportunities whether you are at Deloitte or PwC. You have to ask yourself if there is a proper network and system in place at your firm that really promotes the analysts to go to top bschools - i would imagine that the answer is yes (just like at my firm, and just like the firms you mentioned).
More importantly, talk to people at the grad programs that you are interested in attending, and ask them if there are people from your firm there - that will give you a pretty good indicator on whether you have a chance. If none, then ask about Deloitte, and maybe consider making the switch.
Last thing - don't forget that if you only started a year ago, bschools will question why you are leaving so quickly and you will need a pretty good story.
Hope that helps, PM me if you want a little more detail, etc.
Excellent posts! Thanks a lot for that great day-in-the-life - never seen one with a typical intense project vs typical laid back project comparison.
I was wondering, do consultants have to travel heavily their entire career? I imagine if I had a wife and kids, I would hate to be away Monday-Thursday every single week. Do project leaders, directors/principals, and partners do as much traveling as analysts and associates?
Thanks.
In my experience, travel may get a little better, but it's still a job with lots of travel at a senior level.
PLs/EMs/Case team leaders travel as much as analysts and associates. They're in the team room, and working pretty closely with analysts and associates.
(Associate) Principals/Managers may be away from home as much, but have more actual travel to do because they're involved with selling additional work to other clients in addition to their current case, and thus could have meetings in multiple cities in a given week.
Partners may travel slightly fewer because they're not working closely with the analysts/associates in the team room, but they definitely are traveling to multiple clients in many weeks to conduct meetings.
does any one know the policy on Accenture? Will they hire me with a dui which was 2 years ago?
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