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Be happy you don’t have to bill 50-60 hours to the client and do the same amount of commute time, training time, and socializing time...
Are you new to Slalom, or new to consulting altogether? That might change the advice you get here... if it’s the former, Slalom should be a much better W/L balance than your previous employer(s). If it’s the latter, YMMV based on your previous employment experience. If it’s you first full time job, it may take some time for you to get used to the expectations in client services.
Sorry, the “Slalom is work life balance nirvana” mantra is really only for the pre-hire recruiting team’s use. You might want to refer to the Slalom New Hire Guide:
As one Slalomite to another...here's how this goes. Training is training. No way around that.
But all that aside, your brand is your brand. Try to get back to the office one Friday a month, at least. Focus more of your energy at killing it at the client site, learning a ton about your specialization, practice & other complimentary technologies or practices. From my experience, setting up lunches with senior peeps who actually do work that interests you...AND foremost, delivering awesome results on projects...THAT is how you build a sustainable reputation you can be proud of.
Do what feels natural to you. If you're not a whiskey person, don't bother with the whiskey. Being genuine and having big kid priorities goes a long way to establish yourself. Further than you might realize. You'll be fine, just be yourself & don't forget the Slalom secret (we're in business to make money :)
Also just as an add on, if you’re new I would suggest doing as much “socializing” / networking as possible for the first few months. You can use that as an excuse to start to build your brand at your employer and use the “hey I’m new around here” card (which you won’t be able to do as much later). As you get more engrained into the company, you can reel back or forego altogether
Really good advice for when you come up for staffing. Way more likely to get staffed by people who know you
@Manager 1 I've yet to meet a "Big 4 reject." So far I've worked with highly accomplished people from industry, military, PhD and MBA programs. I would say Slalom isn't perfect, but by and large it's composed of intelligent people who are smart enough to know what does or doesn't work for the life they want to cultivate. Don't see an issue with that. Personally, I'm proud to work with people who are committed to the community, clients and advancing. It's about more than a dollar - for most of us. Sorry to say, but Big 4 is no longer the holy grail. Life is short, don't see the point in exhausting myself just to end in industry with the exact prospects or even better (because I've actually had time to cultivate a professional network that benefits me & not just the firm M-TH). Just saying...
I would ask SC2 the same question about market. I have been extremely impressed with the leaders in the DC market.
There is no such thing as a work life balance. Only work life choices. Also, 40+ some firm commitments is incredibly late. Most people would say 50+ those commitments are pretty balanced.
As a former slalom employee I can assure you the work life balance can be better than big 4. For me this wasn’t true so I left.
Slalom is for Big 4 rejects and burnouts. Lots of people stay long enough to recover before leaving. Others stay and coast because expectations aren’t that high. Work-life balance is usually better because there is minimal expectation for travel. Literally the easiest consulting job you will ever have.
Deloitte has that model from the Senior Consultant level and above with the Specialist track. It’s not all sunshine and roses, but it does allow you to slow down or stop the promotions if that is what you want.
I don’t know how PwC Consulting is post IBM sale, but before that, they also had done away with the up or out, where you self-rated your promotion readiness as the first step in the process, and it was perfectly fine to stay at that level as long as you wanted to.
I'm new to consulting. Previously worked 60 per week in industry and got burned out.
Avenade 1: can't say, afraid it would out me, but thanks for the comments.
I think the onboarding / training stuff will likely taper off and as you make connections with your team and others, socializing and networking will feel more enjoyable and less of an obligation. Starting a new job is stressful but most Slalom folks I’ve met have great things to say about the WL balance. So I guess my advice is to wait and see but also recognize that some of what you are feeling is just new job pains and will go away soon.
I don’t prescribe to “socializing”. I set up calls here and there and connect with people through an occasional firm event that I chose to attend. I also limit myself to one team dinner a week. It’s kept me in consulting for 4 years now. I have a great work/life balance. I’m also not afraid to say no to every week traveling and I put my PTO in well in advance with a very direct do not try to contact me messaging. It’s all about boundaries, but your work ultimately has to speak to your abilities.
The most interesting thing in this thread is “SLALOMITE” do you guys really call yourselves that?
If socializing isn’t your thing then I would say you don’t have to do it. I have been there for 11 years. I go to my family and kids first but if I am in the mood to get out for a bit and blow off a little steam with friends or meet a few new people to find out what’s going on with other clients, I head to an event. When I had a brand new baby of course not. You didn’t see me.
On the training I would say don’t do it if you feel out of balance. It’s for you, your skill development and your career growth so it is in your control.
But yeah in the end if you want to be highly skilled and connected it’ll take effort/ time. I’ve slowed down my career growth path many times over the last decade to make sure other priorities are taken care of and I have never regretted doing that. The reason I am still at slalom is because they let me control those levers more than I was able to during my tenure at the big five.
How do Slalomites manage work/life balance? Do Slalom stuff while billing the client? Skip the Slalom stuff? Only do Slalom stuff while on the bench?
If it’s not part of your personality to really enjoy the ”slalom stuff” just skip it or you have to learn to play the consulting game (smoke and mirrors of looking like you’re doing a lot of something while not really trying). Same for your billable work.
At the end of the day the bonuses are not all that high and your salary won’t go up much without BD or being visible at the kool aid functions.
Do a great job for your clients, be likable and a team player. you’ll be fine.
How much socilaizing are you doing? At most I'd expect a couple events a month for a couple hours each. Call that and hour a week on average.
Do expect commute time to come out of your 40?
Welcome to consulting. You'll also have weeks where there's essentially nothing to do
You can JUST work your 40 and do your required training, no one will care. You won’t get your full bonus and you certainly won’t be promoted.
Yes best of luck... once you get accustomed to the pace, it will be alright, normally here is like 40-45 hours billing 5-15 hours training, or socializing (you control this time, you can pop in for an hour or hang for 3+ at any event, drink or not drink, it is really more bonding than anything) but normally you have every weekend, I have had to work 2 weekends in the last 26 months and that was like a Saturday do 6-7 hours
I did a bit of time at Slalom too, and it’s certainly one of the easier gigs in the consulting industry - if you choose it to be. Regardless of the firm, don’t stress it too much right now, just get stuck in and then start figuring out what works best for you.