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Couldn’t have been happier I picked ZS. The only negative is fractional staffing - since we’re local, you’re always doing multiple projects at once. Accelerates expertise, team management, and client relationships like crazy, but when the projects all spike at the same time, you’re working insane hours.
And don’t mind the village idiot who says you’re drawing maps. They’re talking about designing sales rep territories, and as long as you’re not doing more than 1-2 a year, they can be interesting and kind of fun
Disclaimer:YMMV
Your industry and client knowledge and exposure is exponentially deeper when you’re close by. You’re there on Mondays and Fridays, touching different parts of the business and building real, unique value. We don’t just drop off our strategy decks to VP marketing - we then do commercial analytics with their data leads, build brand plans with their brand leads, design plans for their sales reps with sales leads, etc. when leaders meet with us and ask us questions, we’re not driveling BS strategy answers from b-school; we actually know, understand, and can advise on their business
Unlike two of my colleagues above, I’m very happy at S&. The work is great; the ability to use PwC for the stuff that you don’t want to do is amazing. And PwC/S& has supported my personal projects (pro bono engagement for my non-profit).
Compensation is solid; fully expect us to match BCG given that leadership announced that SA offer base comp will be $165k. Bonuses are pretty solid (33% at the SA level). And the brand is very strong in the market. Healthcare and 401(k) could be better. And our internal tools could be better.
Both firms are solid, but I’ve been really happy with S&z
It’s the high-end!
Alternate Opinion - the S& name is more reputable with some circles (e.g., certain consulting-focused headhunters) and the pay will be greater. Many exit opps will base their salary offer on what you currently make, so don’t underestimate the value of being at a greater salary level.
I’ve quite enjoyed my time at S&. We certainly aren’t perfect but I have found the work to be more strategy-focused and the people to be both incredibly talented and down to earth.
I think specifically for healthcare ZS. And more so if that’s the are you’d like to stay in.
You can’t go wrong either ways.
One point to note: we have a local model and most of the people travel very less.
Can confirm 50-60 in ZS Europe, with rare spikes to 70-80 (once every 2-3 months) and very rare madness (90-100 hours 1-2 weeks per year on a crazy client). I heard people in the US have even lower averages. However I could easily slash 5 hours average if I was a bit more efficient and not distracted by fishbowl...
Compensation and culture is a consideration . I’ve seen on other posts that Strategy& pays more (unofficially matched MBB but officially unconfirmed) but has a lot of red tape due to the merger.
Do either firms have access to expert interviews? Not asking for “experts” within the firms but paying external experts (ie current and former industry leaders) for insights. I know MBB does this but not sure if ZS and Strategy& do.
I thought all companies use services like GLG and etc...
Thank you for the replies! Another question for you: how have your hours been? I’ve heard about 50-60 per week for ZS and 60-70 for Strategy&. Obviously it’ll differ from project to project and week to week, but I wanted to add a few data points based YOUR averages.
I joined post-bschool and averaged 53 hours over my first 2 years. But I slept in my bed every night and wasn’t exhausted on weekends. I traveled for work pre-bschool so the appeal of being on the road wasn’t there for me personally.
ZS Associates has almost no position in Europe, if you want to work for a global firm then rather pick S&.