How are the Tier 2 Consulting firms ranked?
Kearney vs ZS vs Slalom vs OW vs etc. Does anyone has any insights? How do they treat ex Big4 folks?

likefunnyhelpful
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Congrats on the Slalom offer, OP, but they don’t fall on the Tier 2 list you speak of.

likefunny

This is the same thing that happens with every tier post. No one agrees and the tier idea becomes unusable.

You have MBB:
Prestigious and generally focused on strategy.

You have big general (usually big 4) firms:
Big resources or frameworks or tools that can be applied across clients and industries and projects. Great breadth, general salaries, but maybe sometimes with a big enough hammer, many problems are treated like nails.

You have boutiques/specialized shops:
These compete by focusing in one area. Often, they are THE leader in that single space or industry. They have less name recognition outside of their industry and are usually smaller companies, but pay can be high. Exit ops tend to be more narrow, and due to specialization, they often don't chase broad work.

After MBB, these are apples and oranges. Asking about tiers will never reach consensus, except about MBB and maybe McBee.

likefunnyhelpful
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Is Slalom really comparable to those other 3? Lmao

likefunny

Big 4

Why do these posts always turn into peepee measuring contests

likefunny

https://joinfishbowl.com/post_a0je2c

likeuplifting

2 things:

1) Tiers are relative to the type of consulting; it doesn’t make sense to compare McK to Slalom, both are good firms but they do completely different work

2) All you’re doing is getting a small sample size of consultant opinions; if you’re going that route, you may as well look up the Vault Rankings which are consultant polled and sorted for you by function as well

likesmart

Lol ZS and Slalom are not Tier 2. Know your place (it is with the rest of us in Tier 3/4)

likefunny

Oy vay. Anyone else having greek life flashbacks they would rather forget?

likefunny

Depends on how you rank, difficult to objectively say. Though for LS alone, ZS will top this list. Otherwise, middle of the pack

likefunny

ZS is not tier 2.

Tier 2:
OW
LEK
Kearney
Strategy&

like

Zs/slalom arent t2.

like

I think your view of what is what tier is way off

likesmart

Very interesting insights everyone. I was very curious how these firms are looked at in the consulting industry. Overall, we can classify al of these as boutique consulting rather than Tier 2.
I think MBB are their own industry and same for Big4. Accenture, IBM, Cap, Cognizant are your big West owned IT shops while you have Indian IT consulting shops on the other side.
I have realized ultimately the experience of working at each brand can be different for everyone in terms of money, prestige, and exit opportunities.

like

To better answer your original question, the most known specialties of these are:
Kearney - operations
ZS - life sciences
Slalom - tech (and work life balance)
OW - financial services

Of course, all of these have grown enough to dabble in other areas, and I don't think any of them would thumb their nose at a former big 4.

And don't quote me on this but from what I've read on this app, I also believe pay is fairly comparable among these at least at junior levels (might be a few thousand, give or take, depending on location and service area, but not going to live a drastically different lifestyle), although I think Slalom is a bit lower - but also giving you fewer working hours so potentially that's even more pay per hour worked.

like

Where does LEK fit in this?

SC1 has it right. Looking at post-MBA pay alone, you have MBB then T2 (LEK, S&, EYP, OW, and Kearney)

likesmart

Where does EY-Parthenon fit into this?

What are the T2 schools? M7 or Ivy league only?

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LEK or EYP?

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