T2 Consulting or Big4 Strategy Specialization Unit

Hi there,

Congratulations on the offers! In terms of your question:

Q: Should I defy the brand and start at a Big4 consultancy and pursue my passion? Or start with Big4 Strategy and switch later for the "brand"?

It depends on how much you value the brand of the Tier 2 in terms of your goals.

In general, to decide between offers I would consider the following:

• Where do you want to be in 5-10 years? Try to identify the company that can help you to achieve that goal faster. You can check LinkedIn for that (see below).
• If you consider the average person you talked to in each company, which one would you rather be? You will spend a lot of time with your colleagues in the next years - be sure you choose a company where the people are close to the person you want to become.
• If money and prestige were not a consideration, which company would you choose? This could help you to identify additional elements to weigh you have not considered yet.

In terms of future exits, you can check them as follows:

1. Look for alumni of the two companies on LinkedIn.
2. Check how many moved to your preferred exits in your target region.
3. Normalize for the size of the companies in the region.

If you want to do extra due diligence, you can contact Alumni of your university (not current consultants) who worked for the possible alternatives (bonus if they worked for both). Most likely, you will learn more in a 30-minute call with them than with any online research you might do.

Good luck!

Francesco

Hmmm sorry why is T2 automatically the better brand?

It depends on which T2 and which Big4 and it depends on their status in your specific country/region (France/Europe I presume)

We don't really have enough info here (your exact goals now and into the future, your values, the offer/compensation, etc. etc.).

However, in general, trust your gut. Also, in general, go where you will enjoy the work/people and feel supported.

Finally, I do often advise people to take the job they want NOT the job that eventually maybe possibly leads to the job I want. Why go round-about when you can skip and go direct to what you want to do (e.g. Big4 “passion” in this case)

^again, this advice is hard to give with full confidence without knowing you better and having a full, detailed discussion with you!

Hi there,

First of all, congratulations on the offers!

I would be happy to share my thoughts on your question:

I would highly advise you to opt for the option that better aligns with your professional (and maybe even personal) mid- to long-term goals. In order to make an informed decision, I would advise you to do the following:

• Weigh the different criteria that are meaningful to you independently of the current options (e.g., prestige, culture, international exposure, compensation, location). After that, score the two options based on your criteria and their weighting, resulting in two scores. This way, you have covered the left-brain perspective.
• Critically assess your initial reaction to the outcome of the scores. For instance, if you feel the urge to tweak the numbers, this is a solid indicator that you do not want this decision to become reality. This way, you have covered the right-brain perspective.
• By doing so, you will be able to integrate both parts of the brain into the decision-making, guaranteeing a higher chance that you will still be happy with it years later.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to address your specific situation, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

You can find the consulting salaries report 2024 here!

I really like your approach here- look at where you want to end up and see what companies those firms hire from. Even limited data is usually more than enough to give you a good sense of which option to pick.

Another thing I strongly encourage you to do is to find people whose careers you want to emulate, reach out to them for a 15 min chat and ask their opinion of what you should do. That will give you a great sense of how people in those companies think about your options from a hiring perspective.

Many congratulations on your offers and wish you a very successful career ahead!

You're going to make it easier for yourself to answer this question if you just reflect on the long-term goal. 

Do you want to be know for your expertise in a specific topic? Then go to the Big4 that provides you with the opportunities for this. 

Or do you want to have a big brand on your CV? Perhaps move to an even bigger brand a couple of years? Then take the T2 offer. 

There's no better between the two. It's rather than one or the other is better IN RELATION to whatever your objective / goal is. 

Congrats on the offers btw! That's amazing. 

Here are a couple of resources that should help with your first year in consulting:

• Expert Guide: How to Become A Distinctive Consultant
• Expert Guide: How to Manage for Lifestyle in Consulting

Best,
Cristian

Hi there,

This is a very personal decision you can only evaluate. I would consider the following criteria to frame the decision:

• Alignment with your long term goals
• Learning curve and type of projects / topics
• Working environment and culture
• Lifestyle (hours, travel, etc.)
• Compensation

Try to order them based on your priorities and make a pros / cons list of each option.

Best,

Alberto

—

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Hi there,

Congrats on the offers!

The best approach would be to look at it backward. Find people on LinkedIn who work in your target careers and see their career paths. If you have identified what gets you to this quicker with a higher chance, go for it.

Lastly, careers are not linear. I believe both T2 and B4 allow you to reach whatever goal you have if you approach it well (e.g., think about networking along the way).

All the best,

Florian

You are approaching this in the wrong way! Don't try to answer this using an “outside-in” generic approach.

You have no guarantees that any of those Big 4 (or Tier 2) is has that type of work in their portfolio of services (in that office) nor that they will allow you to work in that type of service.

You have to reach out to them, ask about that offering, and understand how likely you are to work in that field.

Only then you will be able to make an informed decision.