Consulting Discussions
Utilization Rate

Lowkey confused, I joined the firm in July and both my standard & adjusted utilization are at 50%. Is this good?

Im interested if TAS practices across various firms rely on cross utilized audit staff during non busy season times. Is this successful or not? Any commentary/thoughts are appreciated.

Agency leaders my question for you is simple, what’s yo target metric for utilization of talent at your org? Talent being designer / developers / creatives.

New to consulting. What is utilization exactly and how does it impact your development, path within firm etc? Give examples? Thank you :)

What if our company paid us a nice bonus now if we are >100% utilized, then had a clause that we would have to pay it back if we left within 1 - 3 years. Something like this may resolve the retention issue.

What would you do if you have way less clients than your peers? Do you wait until you are assigned more clients or speak up? I'm a high performer but not utilized to my fullest capacity.

Why are audit associates evaluated based on utilization but audit engagements are evaluated based on “profitability” even though the engagements are a fixed fee? There seems to be a direct conflict of incentives between associates and the rest of management.

My boutique’s utilization firm wide is at 94%. What’s yours at?

How hard is it to get laid off in federal consulting? Assuming you are fully utilized and the bench is slim
- Deloitte , Booz Allen, Accenture , et al -

Thoughts on making the jump to Guidehouse (Federal Health sector). Salary is higher but day to day responsibilities are basically the same. Tired of all the BD/firm initiatives work but seems the expectations/utilization goals are the same. How do other benefits/exit opps compare?

Has anyone utilized WF brokerage account? Looking for an account where I could do both Mf/ETF as well as stocks and this seems to be a good option with low fees.

Hi all, I’m looking to move in a mid size audit firm (RSM, GT other..). I am promoted to S2 in Big4. How are the hours in audit financial services ? Is it slightly better ? I’m utilized > 100% all year, averaging 60hr.

Hey managers and above - do you get to take all of your vacation time? Does vacation still kill utilization? And do you get to be actually off on your days off, or is it just working from some place nicer?

Anybody utilized Udemy course by Ranga Karanam for GCP Professional Cloud Architect certification? Is it good to study and pass the certification exam?

How do investment firms originate deals? Any specific tools or vendors more often utilized vs. others? Bankers in my experience seem to be the most often origin. Why not tools like Axial or Captarget?

Anyone have constructive feedback for tier 4 rating eg improvements, conversations to have, topics to discuss, etc.? I moved to PwC as a manager after practicing tax law for a few years. I’m new to M&A and started at the beg of pandemic so given the learning curve and perhaps wfh, my utilization was very low (50%). I continuously asked partners for projects but they barely put me on projects, a year later im on PIP. I’m furious. Not sure if I should start looking for another gig or not.

How hard should you actually work in consulting? Obviously we have utilization requirements so we work long hours but I’m tired of giving 100% of my brain power. Is there any benefit of working harder? IMO there’s an incentive to work slower

Hey guys, how much can I draw as take home from 25lac fixed ctc?

I have maxed out 80C(1.5lac),
Utilized 80CCD(1B) (NPS) - 50k
Health insurance corporate premium - 12000/- per year.

How lenient are you with billing? Just saw a presentation showing the average utilization was over 95% at my mid sized consultancy and I swear I know so many people that barely have work. Like literally during the staffing calls everyone says they’re only 50% billable and are looking to take on more work.

How do I reset my expectations and ensure I work harder? I was expecting a promotion to manager this year (3 years as a SC, post MBA) because I’ve led an engagement, sold some work in previous fiscal years, had high utilization, and have made an impact internally within my practice and home office. I didn’t get the promotion to manager and I want to make sure I don’t have expectations that things will get handed to me in the future.

Does anyone know what utilization rates look like at Salesforce CSG? Also any idea of whether PTO impacts utilization?

My dad is turning 65 soon and yesterday he told me he’s super unhappy at his job bc he’s not getting promoted. He feels like his talents are not being utilized. I feel for him but he’s so close to retirement and he’s the sole breadwinner for him and my mom (brother and I offered support but they decline). Has anyone been in a similar situation? I feel like he will get discouraged with his job search if he doesn’t hear back from places and will be even more unhappy. Anyone have any leads on (con)

Need job opportunity feedback.

Current gig - FDD M2 - will get promoted this year. In a really good group with great people and partner. Pay sucks.

Potential opps:
-ACN M&A strat - Manager - base is at market and substantial pay raise (50+%) with nice sign on bonus. Perf Bonus is likely 10-13%. Currently have offer

-A&M PEPI CFO Services - way smaller base than ACN but crazy TC upside with utilization bonus. Still in interview process. WLB will take a big hit.

What would you choose?

How do I tell my coach that my depression and crying half the day is why my utilization is lower than expected :( she set up a meeting for tomorrow and I have anxiety

I’m currently a pentester and eventually looking to exit consulting. I don’t like the constant pressure of utilization. are there any good exit opportunities i should start to explore now and get ready for? i’d like to try and make a plan.

PwC - for CRTs, do they look at your utilization for the FY or performance year? I.e., is June a lost month as far as utilization goes?

Hi there, please evaluate my non-FAANG offer vs how much Google would pay in equivalent role. I'm curious if pre-sales is among the better paid non-tech roles or I just got a great offer

L4 pre-sales remote role, TX
$165k base
25% bonus paid quarterly (6.25% each quarter) if meeting utilization
$80k RSUs in total over 4 years
$12K signing bonus
About $226k TC
4 YOE

What do travel, utilization requirements (billable hours?), and work-life look like for those of you working in the Cloud space?

So PwC has $1k for care if reg care not available per fiscal period. Has anyone utilized? How much max per day? What support do you need to provide?

Am I understanding utilization rate correctly? It’s chargeable time over total time? Charged 40 hours and had 10 hours non-charge so my utilization is 80%? If so, wouldn’t it benefit me to understate non-charge hours so my utilization is higher since they only really care about chargeable time anyways? Charge 40 hours still but only put 5 hours non-charge for utilization to be 89% instead of 80%? Or am I misunderstanding how utilization works?

Am I understanding utilization rate correctly? It’s chargeable time over total time? Charged 40 hours and had 10 hours non-charge so my utilization is 80%? If so, wouldn’t it benefit me to understate non-charge hours so my utilization is higher since they only really care about chargeable time anyways? Charge 40 hours still but only put 5 hours non-charge for utilization to be 89% instead of 80%? Or am I misunderstanding how utilization works?

Am I understanding utilization rate correctly? It’s chargeable time over total time? Charged 40 hours and had 10 hours non-charge so my utilization is 80%? If so, wouldn’t it benefit me to understate non-charge hours so my utilization is higher since they only really care about chargeable time anyways? Charge 40 hours still but only put 5 hours non-charge for utilization to be 89% instead of 80%? Or am I misunderstanding how utilization works?

Currently staffed on a non client-chargeable work (but still billable and accountable for utilization). So my project wants to "reserve" me for a future role in a few months. But the work is so not interesting and I am not making impacts. Can I work with other projects in the meantime and roll-off?

Do staff get any say in drawing boundaries for the sake of mental health?
Context: Sr. Consultant up for promotion for second year in a row. My utilization is 140% plus non billable work. And I'm on the hook for delivery of 3 projects. A director who reports to the practice lead informed to my surprise that their team wants me to lead another project.
I spoke to him, his managers twice and told him 3 times that I cannot commit to it.
I get an email on Friday night that the engagement contd.

How many believe strategy consultants are worth the money they are paid ? If your answer is no, do comment the reason why the industry continues to grow with ever increasing fees and utilization rates