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I left for a boutique from Deloitte. Realized a 20% raise in base, and shadow stock. It was a lateral title move. Remote work / work from home and much better WLB - avg 40 hours a week, limited travel. Public sector consulting. 90% health insurance premiums covered, 6% match. All in so much better. We’re looking to expand!
PM me for name. We’re a 50 person shop and a former colleague informed me of the group. I had domain exp in the accounts and functional exp in the skills desired. It is true that we don’t have cash flow for a bench, but I never felt that Deloitte had much runway for the bench either. We’re at 50 person headcount now, likely growing to 150 or so in the next two years. I’m hopeful that I can aspire to a VP level role during that time.
Worked at a boutique strategy firm well respected in its space during grad school, prior to Deloitte. Culture is generally better — due to the size there’s more vetting for fit within the firm. So you get generally less of the insecure colleagues or those with something to prove, etc. The projects were more interesting (we did strategy for public and commercial sector), and hours were less demanding. Pay: depending on your level, but bonuses and stability of work were far more volatile. One year no one got a bonus, another year bonuses were like 25%-50% of base. All just my experience with my particular boutique though. Far less options for projects (sort of like a startup, you had to make the projects happen), and less structure in mentoring/career growth
Based on my experience, the benefits like health insurance typically aren't as good with a small firm, but much better WLB and a less regimented review process means better odds for good raises. Another downside is that a boutique can't typically afford much of a bench, so there is a higher chance of layoffs when business is down.
My starting salary was a little lower, but not enough to matter compared to the better work opportunities
Some benefits aren’t as good but some are better. My small boutique firm had a better 401k match than I’m getting now.
Salary-wise, it depends (shocker, right?). If you're doing strategy or occupy a high-value technology or vertical niche, there are some boutiques that match or beat MBB salary bands for that level of experience. And then there are plenty of others where you'd be taking a significant haircut compared to the big 4. Hard to generalize given all the variables, but I'd bet that the medians net out to be pretty similar.
(For reference, the last time I faced this choice head to head, one boutique offered 10-15% less than my big 4 offer, the other at least that much more.)
Either way, not sure that salary should be the main factor in the choice (although it's definitely a major one!). Rule of thumb, especially early in your career, boutiques are going to offer more responsibility and opportunity to grow, but less variety of work, supporting resources, etc. As others have mentioned, small often means a better working culture (and definitely a more important one), but make sure that it's a good fit: some of those cultures turn out to be very toxic. All in all, it can be a great way to learn and accelerate your career-but make sure you do due diligence.
M1 I appreciate the breakdown. Salary of course is not the main factor but I feel like recruiters in general vet a candidate out based on salary range expectation so understanding your experience definitely helps!
Personally, I think core values, work culture, career path of a firm matter more as those are good indicators of whether someone will want to stay long-term.
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Higher salary, better community, less bs admin stuff.