KPMG/Deloitte/EY/PWC/etc. federal advisory/consulting work life balance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Likely open for a SME role. Coming in as senior manager is difficult because you are expected to be leading sales work and have a developed following of people to deliver the work. Hard to do that as a new hire. But as a specialist SME you come in and add value with your knowledge, so easier to do straight away.

OP here - what company is this? I think Deloitte has something called specialists - is this the equivalent of senior manager?

Deloitte has a specialist track for SMEs, which align to the Senior Consultant/Manager/Senior Manager levels.

SMEs are for experts in a certain field (think, lots of PhDs or former high-level government officials with a fat rolodex of contacts and great reputation that allows them entry into the Agency they left). I have not seen an accountant as a SME. Most accountants go into the Advisory practice, which, from what I saw, was a very traditional consulting track without a SME track. The SMEs provide quality control/technical expertise on client engagements, and do the heavy lifting on proposal writing. On top of having to be billable.

At the Senior Manager SME level you're too expensive to be profitable, so you have to cobble together coverage across multiple projects who don't want to give you as much time as is required for the work you are expected to deliver, and lead way too junior people to do something that is over their heads. That is your day job. Your night and weekend job is an endless crushing treadmill of proposals.

Think minimum 60 hour work weeks, that go as high as 100 hours a week when lots of things are due at once.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looks like I have time still. The question is how are they open to diversity hiring someone in mid 40s with good credentials and who can work without a break for childbearing etc.

In my experience, they are not open at all. Not even a little bit. Like I would bet every dollar I have you would never make partner and Sr.Manager/Director is iffy.

Partners groom future partners and they like to do that with young people to mold them in their image. They don't even know how to handle a 40-something associate and don't view them as partner track in the least. A lot of them don't even view experienced hires as partner track and prefer their homegrowns that have spent their whole careers with the firm. The exception to a 40-something making partner would be someone who was a high level fed or something like a junior partner at a law firm who comes in with a big, fat book of potential clients and becomes a rainmaker.

I honestly can't imagine a less appealing white collar job than being a 40-something at the associate level at a Big4. Horrific hours, all the other associates are 22 and think you're a weirdo loser, partners your age who just don't know how to deal with a peer who is so low on the totem pole, etc. I always felt bad for these people, but they just seemed totally lost. I can't imagine opting into this if I didn't seriously need the money (not even that much) or had no other options.

^^^^THIS.

I found those being groomed as future partners are among the most distasteful colleagues. Prioritize everything partners want, and leave everyone else hanging by either not coming through because they are too busy serving partners, or doing a super sh*tty job. Fake sincerity. Over-enthusiastic about all of the extracurricular stuff, when everyone else hates being around them. Those types are the future of the companies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Likely open for a SME role. Coming in as senior manager is difficult because you are expected to be leading sales work and have a developed following of people to deliver the work. Hard to do that as a new hire. But as a specialist SME you come in and add value with your knowledge, so easier to do straight away.

OP here - what company is this? I think Deloitte has something called specialists - is this the equivalent of senior manager?

Deloitte has a specialist track for SMEs, which align to the Senior Consultant/Manager/Senior Manager levels.

SMEs are for experts in a certain field (think, lots of PhDs or former high-level government officials with a fat rolodex of contacts and great reputation that allows them entry into the Agency they left). I have not seen an accountant as a SME. Most accountants go into the Advisory practice, which, from what I saw, was a very traditional consulting track without a SME track. The SMEs provide quality control/technical expertise on client engagements, and do the heavy lifting on proposal writing. On top of having to be billable.

At the Senior Manager SME level you're too expensive to be profitable, so you have to cobble together coverage across multiple projects who don't want to give you as much time as is required for the work you are expected to deliver, and lead way too junior people to do something that is over their heads. That is your day job. Your night and weekend job is an endless crushing treadmill of proposals.

Think minimum 60 hour work weeks, that go as high as 100 hours a week when lots of things are due at once.

THIS! OP if they're considering hiring you as an entry level associate you are not in this category. I seriously question your interest in this field and the fact your OP post was about "work life balance" is a red flag. There is no work life balance and you're not a college senior who is going to do it for 2 years as a resume builder. Seriously, seek elsewhere. It's not even rewarding work.

[Anonymous]

Spouse is at PWC. Or that's what he told me the last time I saw him, sometime in the last few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Likely open for a SME role. Coming in as senior manager is difficult because you are expected to be leading sales work and have a developed following of people to deliver the work. Hard to do that as a new hire. But as a specialist SME you come in and add value with your knowledge, so easier to do straight away.

OP here - what company is this? I think Deloitte has something called specialists - is this the equivalent of senior manager?

Deloitte has a specialist track for SMEs, which align to the Senior Consultant/Manager/Senior Manager levels.

SMEs are for experts in a certain field (think, lots of PhDs or former high-level government officials with a fat rolodex of contacts and great reputation that allows them entry into the Agency they left). I have not seen an accountant as a SME. Most accountants go into the Advisory practice, which, from what I saw, was a very traditional consulting track without a SME track. The SMEs provide quality control/technical expertise on client engagements, and do the heavy lifting on proposal writing. On top of having to be billable.

At the Senior Manager SME level you're too expensive to be profitable, so you have to cobble together coverage across multiple projects who don't want to give you as much time as is required for the work you are expected to deliver, and lead way too junior people to do something that is over their heads. That is your day job. Your night and weekend job is an endless crushing treadmill of proposals.

Think minimum 60 hour work weeks, that go as high as 100 hours a week when lots of things are due at once.

OP here, I am not an accountant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Likely open for a SME role. Coming in as senior manager is difficult because you are expected to be leading sales work and have a developed following of people to deliver the work. Hard to do that as a new hire. But as a specialist SME you come in and add value with your knowledge, so easier to do straight away.

OP here - what company is this? I think Deloitte has something called specialists - is this the equivalent of senior manager?

Deloitte has a specialist track for SMEs, which align to the Senior Consultant/Manager/Senior Manager levels.

SMEs are for experts in a certain field (think, lots of PhDs or former high-level government officials with a fat rolodex of contacts and great reputation that allows them entry into the Agency they left). I have not seen an accountant as a SME. Most accountants go into the Advisory practice, which, from what I saw, was a very traditional consulting track without a SME track. The SMEs provide quality control/technical expertise on client engagements, and do the heavy lifting on proposal writing. On top of having to be billable.

At the Senior Manager SME level you're too expensive to be profitable, so you have to cobble together coverage across multiple projects who don't want to give you as much time as is required for the work you are expected to deliver, and lead way too junior people to do something that is over their heads. That is your day job. Your night and weekend job is an endless crushing treadmill of proposals.

Think minimum 60 hour work weeks, that go as high as 100 hours a week when lots of things are due at once.

THIS! OP if they're considering hiring you as an entry level associate you are not in this category. I seriously question your interest in this field and the fact your OP post was about "work life balance" is a red flag. There is no work life balance and you're not a college senior who is going to do it for 2 years as a resume builder. Seriously, seek elsewhere. It's not even rewarding work.

No, someone has hijacked my thread. I am absolutely not being interviewed for entry level positions. I'm being interviewed for manager/senior manager positions (different companies have different names for the same level of seniority, but I have 15+ years of experience and a good network, which is why so many companies are interested) in the federal practices of several of these companies, which I am told is no travel and better hours. I'm not concerned about billable hours by the way, I asked a specific question about the networking/outside of work hours events.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Likely open for a SME role. Coming in as senior manager is difficult because you are expected to be leading sales work and have a developed following of people to deliver the work. Hard to do that as a new hire. But as a specialist SME you come in and add value with your knowledge, so easier to do straight away.

OP here - what company is this? I think Deloitte has something called specialists - is this the equivalent of senior manager?

Deloitte has a specialist track for SMEs, which align to the Senior Consultant/Manager/Senior Manager levels.

SMEs are for experts in a certain field (think, lots of PhDs or former high-level government officials with a fat rolodex of contacts and great reputation that allows them entry into the Agency they left). I have not seen an accountant as a SME. Most accountants go into the Advisory practice, which, from what I saw, was a very traditional consulting track without a SME track. The SMEs provide quality control/technical expertise on client engagements, and do the heavy lifting on proposal writing. On top of having to be billable.

At the Senior Manager SME level you're too expensive to be profitable, so you have to cobble together coverage across multiple projects who don't want to give you as much time as is required for the work you are expected to deliver, and lead way too junior people to do something that is over their heads. That is your day job. Your night and weekend job is an endless crushing treadmill of proposals.

Think minimum 60 hour work weeks, that go as high as 100 hours a week when lots of things are due at once.

THIS! OP if they're considering hiring you as an entry level associate you are not in this category. I seriously question your interest in this field and the fact your OP post was about "work life balance" is a red flag. There is no work life balance and you're not a college senior who is going to do it for 2 years as a resume builder. Seriously, seek elsewhere. It's not even rewarding work.

No, someone has hijacked my thread. I am absolutely not being interviewed for entry level positions. I'm being interviewed for manager/senior manager positions (different companies have different names for the same level of seniority, but I have 15+ years of experience and a good network, which is why so many companies are interested) in the federal practices of several of these companies, which I am told is no travel and better hours. I'm not concerned about billable hours by the way, I asked a specific question about the networking/outside of work hours events.

Are you a man with a SAHM wife and preferably a nanny? Proceed. Other than that, be very cautious.

[Anonymous]

EY GPS employee here. The 'extras' are what get me. I don't want to go to endless happy hours and team events, just let me do my job and go home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:EY GPS employee here. The 'extras' are what get me. I don't want to go to endless happy hours and team events, just let me do my job and go home.

Are the extras back again?

[Anonymous]

NP here. Are the “young person” positions (22-25 year olds I guess) at the big 4 consulting firms like what is being described above? My child will be interning at one of those firms this summer.

[Anonymous]

Can anyone give a sense of salary range at Deloitte for a senior manager - in healthcare? Say you’d come in with ~10-12 yrs experience. Also is senior manager an up or out role or can you sit in that role if MD/partner etc aren’t your goals?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here. Are the “young person” positions (22-25 year olds I guess) at the big 4 consulting firms like what is being described above? My child will be interning at one of those firms this summer.

They will treat the interns with kid gloves because they want them to join, but once they do and start full time, it's game on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looks like I have time still. The question is how are they open to diversity hiring someone in mid 40s with good credentials and who can work without a break for childbearing etc.

In my experience, they are not open at all. Not even a little bit. Like I would bet every dollar I have you would never make partner and Sr.Manager/Director is iffy.

Partners groom future partners and they like to do that with young people to mold them in their image. They don't even know how to handle a 40-something associate and don't view them as partner track in the least. A lot of them don't even view experienced hires as partner track and prefer their homegrowns that have spent their whole careers with the firm. The exception to a 40-something making partner would be someone who was a high level fed or something like a junior partner at a law firm who comes in with a big, fat book of potential clients and becomes a rainmaker.

I honestly can't imagine a less appealing white collar job than being a 40-something at the associate level at a Big4. Horrific hours, all the other associates are 22 and think you're a weirdo loser, partners your age who just don't know how to deal with a peer who is so low on the totem pole, etc. I always felt bad for these people, but they just seemed totally lost. I can't imagine opting into this if I didn't seriously need the money (not even that much) or had no other options.

^^^^THIS.

I found those being groomed as future partners are among the most distasteful colleagues. Prioritize everything partners want, and leave everyone else hanging by either not coming through because they are too busy serving partners, or doing a super sh*tty job. Fake sincerity. Over-enthusiastic about all of the extracurricular stuff, when everyone else hates being around them. Those types are the future of the companies.

Accurate. By and large, the favorites are truly awful people.

[Anonymous]

Current fed practice sr mgr. they are telling you no travel now - but once the restrictions ease up it will be back to travel again. A lot of things are client dependent but yeah I mean there are nuggets of truth in the thread. The work life balance is abysmal especially in busy times. You will be managing too few staff who are as others have said in over their heads. Which leaves you to work nights and weekends to pick up slack for deliverables. If you are looking for work life balance - big 4 ain’t it

[Anonymous]

THIS above ^^
DC is a home grown. And brother was a homegrown. Stayed at firm until retirement.
DC is being “molded to the company” and works 90+ hours/ weekends nights. Not the same as OP but answering the off soot of the thread. I don’t know if it’s a good thing for DC but they are the yes sir yes sir type. 24 yo.