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Awesome to hear all the fireworks going off 💥 🧨
Is Canarsie in Brooklyn a safe area to live in?
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Rising Star
Beautiful day to fight for my life in excel, cheers
Rising Star
Rising Star
Do all consulting firms give out work phones?
Which do you fear more: covid or recession?
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Success in the firm is about relationships more than just work ethic and skill
1) This job is better for extroverts who love socializing, being "on" and networking. Introduce yourself to leadership and be known in a good way.
2) This isn't for thin skinned folks or those that don't like "team work" or have a hard time hearing constructive criticism.
3) Don't apply to these places if you don't feel comfortable upselling yourself and your abilities. If you do apply, push for a higher salary than they offered.
4) These roles aren't for the meek, be bold, assert yourself, speak confidently or prepare to be bulldozed.
5) This isn't your typical 9 to 5 desk job. Expect chaos and chasing/ running from deadlines. Expect variations in your work week and stress levels.
6) Expect to feel much dumber than you are but remember to believe in yourself and your skill set.
7) Be honest about who you are, what you are willing to do and what you want to gain from your experiences.
NOTE: You might feel this contradicts bullet 3 above and it does. You need to learn how to walk that fine line.
8) Keep learning so you can keep growing. Take advantage of their free training and resources to position yourself for better projects or exit opportunities. Learn the company's culture and unique way of doing things. Ask for help when you need it so you don't drown.
9) Advocate for yourself! No one is your truer friend when it comes to Work Life Balance, mental health or promotions/ higher pay
10) Stop trying to turn 8 hours into 16. Burning the candle from both ends does nothing but consume all your energy leaving you empty and useless to yourself, the project, team, client and company.
NOTE: refer to bullet 9)
I can probably go on but I think that's more than enough. These are the top thoughts that popped in my head when I saw your post.
@RI 1 - everything D5 laid out is spot on. I understand and appreciate your apprehension given the cons. I guess knowing all of this now you have to ask what do you ultimately want from a career.
A lot of things that D5 has pointed out is what makes consultants powerful / effective leaders in the industry later on - like being assertive, advocating for oneself, managing chaos around the client, staff, and leaders.
If you are looking to be a leader in a corporation you still need to cope and develop a lot of these skills. Or if you ultimately want to earn $1M a year as a partner, that’s another reason to stick around for the long haul.
But if you are looking to have a decent job, $200k max, content on mid-senior level with a Corp industry, then definitely I wouldn’t recommend going through the grind
Deloitte is #1 :-). The rest is tier 4.
Someone said "De-loitted to meet you" once during MBA recruiting - I crossed them off my list afterwards
How off balance the gender ratio is at senior levels, severely disfavoring women
This is not about the odds of being promoted once you get there (I’d assume they are better just to address the gender imbalance) - but about always being the only woman in the room, constantly, and not really belonging. That is discouraging, tiring, and difficult.
1. If you are not assigned to a good team/project, you won’t get any benefit. One of my manager in Deloitte was a bully, it was long ago but I am still shaking.
2. Medium-Small companies (and companies of any size in the industry) will be reluctant to hire you. They won’t pickup your resume thinking you will ask for huge pay and won’t stick around.
@D5, this doesn’t sound that bad
Chief
Being a generalist and finding it difficult to translate my consulting experience to industry, tech, etc
Having two jobs for the pay of one job: full time on client engagements + constant business development and internal initiatives
Here we go again
I wish I knew my value instead of taking a lower title and salary. I ended up being talked to like a 12 year old, paid like an intern and expected to perform as if I had 20 years of experience
The post was asking about things I wish I knew and my reply was a direct response to that.
Work with managers who were once analysts
Pro
Facts. I find post MBA managers to be not as good in my experience.
I hate the term networking now. Also, being a project & sales guy: 8-5 project & 5-9 proposals, internal initiatives..
D2, I stopped all of that extra stuff once they said it was no longer required but encouraged. I'm firm with a polite sorry but I don't have the bandwidth at this time".
I focus my efforts instead on a few CED hours I want a month and people initiatives that I enjoy (mentoring, DEI, etc) and keep my coach updated so that it doesn't affect my merit bonus/raise.
If you get on a bad team early at McK, it can ruin your career
Sounds like a nightmare if thats true
Chief
Consulting is an incredibly insular community and "prestige" doesn't matter at all for 95% of the exit opportunities out there, and 99.9% of the non-B school/non-consulting people out there.
Rising Star
Booz Allen is a nightmare for salary and progression. Good WLB since we are mostly staff aug and slotted against contract reqs rather than hired as consultants.
This was the main takeaway from BAH folks I met in San Diego. I'll be forever thankful for their lessons and insight - that's just the way govt consulting works
Your work is same or higher quality than MBB (otherwise you get kicked out) but the broader market won't recognise that - only the people at the client(s) who you work with more closely.
Rapid promotion leading to some pretty poor leadership at SM/EM level.
Deloitte 1, OP asked for "things they wished they knew" (paraphrasing) and their question was pretty much directed at all consulting firms
It will take its toll on your life… health (mental and physical) and family relationships can suffer
KPMG in shambles
There's a reason they're the brunt of most consulting memes