What are people’s thoughts on going from Big 4 management consulting to a boutique consulting firm to gain more management experience as an engagement manager?

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Don't.
Stay at the big firm.
It's hard to go back up, easier to go down.

Pay is probably comparable. Ie lower firm with higher title ~= higher firm, lower title.

Source: personal exp

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Sure.
Going to bed. May respond tmrw

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It could be go experience to have, especially if you wished to boomerang back to Big4. Imagine staying the however many years to be a manager to realize you don’t like it...

Also, I feel as though this would look good for MBA admissions to a certain extent, as well, but I also would have questions

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What kind of questions? All great points for sure that you’re making. I hear it’s hard to go boutique back to big 4 or bigger firm

I did it when I left D as a SC in 2015.

I went to a tiny firm of <50 people. For the brief time I was there (long story, the TL;DR is that the firm was administratively a mess and I was laid off after a couple of months as a result), it was definitely a growth opportunity for me. Came with a ~50% pay bump from what I'd been making at D.

After I got laid off, I talked to D about going back, but they would only bring me back at the same level/comp I left at, so I moved on.

Provided you don't go to such a terribly mismanaged boutique as I did, I'd say go for it. Lots of my compatriots at D and the other large firms I've worked for did the same. Pay can often be higher at the smaller boutiques with less overhead than B4 and responsibilities are generally higher at each level due to needing to wear more hats. I know quite a few who leveraged the pay and responsibilities bump to boomerang back at a higher level/comp than would've been possible if they'd stayed in place.

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You're welcome! Happy to provide more detail via DM if you'd like.

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It’s great to go to a midsize or boutique, to start with good pay coming from Big 4 and have a clearer path upward. You can use that experience to lead teams and work with the same great clients (+ some exclusive clients that don’t go for Big 4). While most Big 4 deserters stay a long time, you can also use it as a growth and upgrade episode and then move on, too.

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