How is the career growth moving from a Big 4 firm to AlixPartners at the SVP level?
What are some of the benefits/challenges of moving to a smaller consulting organization?
Also based on research, AP seems to be a top heavy business model. What impacts does that have on work life balance, teaming, culture, etc.?
Any advice is deeply appreciated. Thanks!
I’ve loved my move from B4 to AP as an SVP. For me, it allowed me to reset and get back to serving clients, as opposed to B4 where business development, managing teams, and helping develop junior resources took 90% of my time. Which is all fine, but I just wanted to get back to driving value. A Distinction to be made is “top-heavy” at AP means senior leaders and experts focused on delivery..not sales like at B4. The move also elevated my stakeholders to consistently be the C-Suite or PE.
How does all this impact me?
Teaming - Small, senior teams that move very quickly and iteratively with client leadership. Everyone knows consulting, knows their subject area, and has points of view; it never feels like a crap-shoot for resourcing based on availability.
Culture: Straight-forward, collegial, pragmatic. There is No Up-or-Out culture here, which is pretty fascinating considering how well you will be comp’d with consistent CAGR.
WLB: Much better. I generally work 50 a week, with a couple 80 hour weeks mixed in BUT the work is usually focused on tangible client outcomes…e.g. Not working on a RFP response that you have a 1% chance of winning.
Career growth: Too early to tell, but I’m 2 years removed from B4, and was put into the Director promo process. Not likely to happen, but the process is in place to give you a glide path with direct feedback and action items. All this is far more reasonable and less political then B4 promotion process.
Also want to add that unlike B4, you can genuinely progress your career and development within your level. You absolutely do not need to focus on the next title and what it takes to get there. Rather, you can expect to be compensated well while building your personal brand and platform. You’ll own C-Suite relationships, workstreams, and engagements. Moreover you’ll be surrounded with team members with decades of experience - everyone learns from everyone……Also, did I mention no independence training or work papers ? :)
Pro
We prefer “senior teams” vs “top heavy” 🙄
Career growth can be very fast; you’re working on small teams with a lot of senior exposure - you’re not buried in analysis land.
Happy to talk more if you want :)
Fast paced projects (that translates to much longer work hours) and lean staffing (that translates to even longer working hours and wearing multiple hats on 1 project).
I agree with this. My hours were significantly worse at big 4 due to lack of prioritization and the amount of time spent training/ supporting junior resources
OP contemplating the same!
Having moved from B4 to AP as well. Just want to manage ur expectations and add that some team definitely promote slower than others.