10 Reasons To Work For Deloitte – And 6 Reasons Not To

Considering a career with Deloitte? Today, we’ve got 10 reasons to work for Deloitte… and 6 reasons not to.

We have a guest post from Maria at BusinessBecause. Before we launch into the pros and cons of working at Deloitte, however, we wanted to say a few words about Deloitte and what we’re referring to when we talk about the firm. We broke it down in the firm profile, but it’s worth reiterating here for those of you just joining us.

Deloitte Business Units

What we’re calling “Big Daddy Deloitte” refers to the parent company that encompasses the firm’s entire global operation – all 150+ offices. Big Daddy Deloitte is one of the Big Four professional services firms that own the market on tax, audit, and advisory services.

Within Big Daddy Deloitte, there are 4 business units – Tax, Audit, Financial Advisory, and Consulting. Each of these is a separate legal entity owned and managed by a partner group. Deloitte Consulting is further broken down into 3 sectors – Human Capital, Technology, and Strategy & Analytics. This last one, Deloitte SSA, is where the rubber meets the road for management consultants.

Hint for your job search – if you’re looking for management consulting job postings on Deloitte’s U.S. Careers site, use the system’s filter to select “Management Consulting” under “Choose a job type or service.”

Okay, now that we’ve cracked the code for Deloitte, let’s launch into Maria’s findings. Enjoy!

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Deloitte London

Earlier this year, I spoke with a manager at Deloitte’s London office and got some really juicy detail on what it’s like to work for the second largest professional services firm in the world (by revenue). Here’s what I gathered during a conversation with a London-based manager in Deloitte’s Consulting practice.

First, some background. Interestingly, Deloitte is actually a network of firms covering different countries and regions rather than one big firm. You’ll even find cross-ownership within Deloitte. For instance, the UK firm owns or part-owns the businesses in Switzerland, the Middle East, India, China, Russia, and Africa. Deloitte is one of the members of the Big 4 – Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC), Ernst & Young, and KPMG. All of the giants have corporate offices worldwide and recruit in large numbers on college campuses and MBA doorsteps.

Why Work For Deloitte Consulting? The Pros

1. Working with big clients, and doing critical work for the biggest companies in the world. For example, Deloitte is helping its banks implement the Basel 3 regulations for the industry.
2. An incredible network. Deloitte has 193,000 employees worldwide providing audit, tax, consulting, enterprise risk and financial advisory services.
3. If you show that you’re good at selling, you’ll get a great career push forward, and be rewarded! This is perhaps in contrast to firms like Bain, who recently told us they’re not looking for sales people.
4. An unstuffy atmosphere compared to firms like McKinsey. At Deloitte, there are fewer people who went to private school!
5. Meritocracy and professionalism. There are clear structures for pay and promotion. Compared to the other Big Four firms, Deloitte has a reputation for being meritocratic.
6. Diversity. At the firm’s London office you will meet people from all over the world, and there’s a lot of religious diversity too, e.g. women wearing hijab and men wearing kippah. There are networks for employees from different religions, ethnic backgrounds, LGBT, etc.
7. After a recent increase in employer contributions, Deloitte now has one of the most generous pension schemes of the Big Four. They also offer a generous benefits package.
8. There is plenty of training available for people who are willing to go for it.
9. International growth. Developed markets are growing slowly so more growth needs to come from emerging markets. The UK business is plugged into a lot of the emerging markets and employees have the opportunity to go on exchange programs to other offices. In particular, if you speak the language of any of these markets you’ll be a great asset to the firm.
10. Women. Deloitte in the U.S. is famous for supporting its female employees. The UK firm is following suit with a leadership program for women and other initiatives.

6 Cons of Working for Deloitte Consulting

1. It’s a partnership, which means it’s sometimes tough to be entrepreneurial. One partner needs oversight of everything that’s going on with their client so if you want to do something different there will be lead time before it happens.
2. As Deloitte is an audit firm as well as a consulting firm, there are a lot of compliance issues in terms of the way information is shared, and the way people with work with clients in the same industry. Pure strategy firms like MBB are a lot more lax about this.
3. Lack of space! The firm is growing very fast and there’s very little space in the London office, especially after the recent acquisition of Monitor. Hot-desking can affect teamwork. If you’re the kind of person who likes to print out files and have stuff on your desk, it can be frustrating.
4. Food. The canteen and coffee leaves a lot to be desired!
5. Not as “intellectual” as the strategy houses. Deloitte employs thousands of programmers and systems engineers who can get things done!
6. You’re definitely a “number” in the big corporate machine. SAP software recently informed our source that his vacation time had been overbooked by two hours! Talk about strict!

Maria Ahmed is a co-founder of BusinessBecause.com, a professional networking and news site for the business school world. Visit the site to find out what makes a good consultant and info on MBA jobs and MBA rankings!

Additional Reading:

• How to Land a Summer Internship with Deloitte Consulting S&O
• Accenture vs Deloitte
• Deloitte Case Interview
• Case Interview: Complete Prep Guide