2 Situations

Question

Hi All!

Just received two offers - one from Deloitte Middle East (Business Operations) as a Consultant and one from Simon-Kucher Dubai as a Consultant II. I am currently unsure of which one to go.

I know is the pay is higher at SKP, SKP's projects are more private-sector oriented, SKP is more strategy-oriented hence opening doors to move into other strategy firms. In long term, MBA could be an option or even transitioning into other strategy firms.

I will appreciate any replies regarding how I can interpret these options from multiple angles. THANK YOU!!!

Answer 1

Hi there,

Congratulations on the offers!

In terms of the choice, I would consider the following:

Where do you want to be in 5-10 years? Look at the company that can help you to achieve that goal faster. You can check LinkedIn for that.
If you consider the average consultant/partner you talked to in each company, which one would you rather be? Quoting Jim Rohn, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. 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.
What is your gut feeling telling you? Our gut feeling is able to catch elements we cannot initially rationalize. You may “feel” a company is better, but don’t know exactly why. Try to find out why you feel that way, do some research on that and try to understand if that point is valid.

If you want to do extra due diligence, contact Alumni of your university (not current consultants) that worked in that office (bonus if they worked for both companies). You will learn more in a 30min call with them than with any online research you may do.

Best,

Francesco

Answer 2

Congrats! Have a look at this article I have written specifically to answer this question. Plenty of tips & guidance here- https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/how-do-i-know-which-career-is-right-for-me

Good luck choosing.

Answer 3

Hi there,

Ultimately we can't make this decision for you, but my strong advice is to think through your values and what you want. Try and narrow it down to 2 things (i.e. prestige, money, culture, colleagues, type of work, etc.) and pick from there.

Ultimately Deloitte is a larger global brand name with more opportunities and would likely help you rise up and move around faster. That said, that's not all that matters!

Answer 4

SKP is more of a specific practice in pricing, and they are alledgedly really good at it. So this will make you a valuable professional in this area, and it can help you in getting later on in other consulting firms.

At Deloitte you will be more of a generalist, and public sector work, is not always perceived as being the one most helpful to learn a lot or having transferrable skills/knowledge.