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How's the job market now? Any better???
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What will be the monthly inhand salary for this.
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What are exit opportunities from big 4 ITDD??
Six figures really ain’t that much nowadays…
Mentor
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Mentor
I’ve thought about it. The biggest benefit is to the resume. I think it depends what your long term goals are. If you’re interested in IB, PE, etc it can make sense.
For me, Big 4 would be a lot more hours and maybe a small comp increase? The resume benefit of B4 doesn’t do me any good for my future plans.
I’m getting too old to trade my limited free time for a few grand a year.
Mentor
I think in the current market you may struggle a bit to get in IB from MM if you are directly competing against B4 candidates without leveraging your network.
You’ll likely get varied answers based on people’s backgrounds and where they currently are in terms of firm and career. For me, agree with the poster above about the resume benefits. However disagree about the hours. Going to big 4 doesn’t automatically mean more hours. It can, but it depends on the office, deal load, level of resources, etc. I’ve had a very reasonable level of hours, with peaks and valleys. Part of that is just the deal market.
The difference in compensation also isn’t a “small comp increase”. Big 4, and currently PwC, generally pay a lot more as you move up the pay scale. Seniors and below, the pay can be similar, but heavy managers, directors and MDs/Ps are making a respectable amount more due to the increased availability of managed revenue.
The biggest difference and in my mind, advantage, is the exposure to best and brightest in terms of resources (people) and information. That’s not to say there aren’t incredibly smart people at MM firms, however they’re are generally just more of them at the big 4. I also enjoy having a wide variety of industries and specializations (corporate vs PE clients) whereas there is less to pick from in MM firms (e.g., the poor soul who was on dental deals for 2 years straight). I’m not trying to come off a certain way here, you can have an incredibly successful career by staying in the MM level, it just depends on what you want. Generally exit opportunities come easier at the big 4 level (faster and typically more prevalent access to IB, corp dev, etc opportunities)
Mentor
Agree with a lot of this - pay at MD/partner is certainly higher at B4, but I have no interest in doing FDD that long.
I’d agree that on average, B4 personnel are a bit sharper too.
I think I disagree about industry variety. It depends entirely on firm & location. I know guys in the Midwest at B4 that do strictly M&D work and people at MM that are working on a new industry every month. I don’t think firm size necessarily correlates there.