Beware: Dread and existential unhappiness lie ahead
Pros
- Looking purely at a salary perspective, the pay isn't bad right out of college - There is a lot to learn for a newcomer and plenty of different clients and industries to be exposed to
Cons
- Corporate culture is flawed. You are seen as a number on an engagement and not as a person. You are judged based on your chargable time to the clients and not the quality of the work you deliver. Did you run out of work to do at 4:00pm on a Friday? Well that's too bad because you better message everyone in your network asking for more work or else you will be put on a naughty list and be messeged by a director or partner about your missing time. - Salary is actually awful when you combine your wages with the hours you are REQUIRED to put into the firm. We end up making less money than interns and would be better off working at Costco based on hours alone. - Management shrugs off work because they have "already been through the ringer" and feel like they have earned their break. Because of this, associates get stuck doing all of the grunt work (and managers have no issues acknowledging this) - As everyone says, there is no work-life balance. You will say goodbye to your friends and family for roughly 6 months of the year because of the busy season and you will likely stop doing the things you love to do in life, such as going to the gym, sleeping, and doing laundry. - If there isn't enough work to do in your market, you will get shipped off to another market Monday - Friday and be forced to book a hotel and be lonely for months at a time. - People tend to act like they are nice and polite and care about you but I can't shake the feeling that everyone is just being "fake nice" only saying that because they feel like they need to in this professional environment. People are not genuine and will kick you to the curb in a second if it would help them advance in their careers. You will know what I mean about a week into working here... - People are promoted not based on merit, but based on how long they work for the firm. Because of this, many people in positions of power should not have been placed in a leadership position and have no people skills. They are just accounting machines. The firm will not care to listen to you about your frustrations with the firm because they are of the mindset "we all had to do it.. you'll get through it" instead of actively trying to make changes to make their employees happy. - Everyone complains about everything. Like I am doing with this post right now. This is the normal attitude within the firm. People have "connectivity sessions" just to trash talk the firm and the people and your co-workers and likely you the second you leave the room. Get used to it.