Choosing between 2 internship offers

Accenture Advisory Asia Business consultant Ernst & Young internship KPMG management consulting strategy consulting tier 2 consulting
New answer on Oct 30, 2023
5 Answers
1.2 k Views
Anonymous A asked on Apr 05, 2022

Hi there,

I am grateful and lucky to receive 3 internship offers in my home country in Asia but I am unsure which to pick.

Context:

1. I am in my 2nd year of a 4-year engineering course aiming for a tier 2 strategy consulting firm in London ( Strategy&, EYP, Monitor Deloitte etc).

2. I would want to strike a balance between branding (to pass the screening stage and leverage this to get a tier 2 offer in London next summer) and personal development (learn core consulting skillsets)

Offers received:

1. KPMG (Strategy & Operations) - From what I understand, this s more of a management consulting/ advisory role and more IT-related? Role description: 

  • Assist in projects covering IT Strategic planning & implementation, governance, structure, project management, information protection, system assurance, and others.
  • Bridge communication gaps between the business executives and IT professionals by managing and improving the performance of their business systems as well as to avoid misunderstandings and misaligned expectations.

2. Accenture (Change Management) - I am already tasked with a project with a fairly large national utility company which is quite exciting. However, I am aware that this is a management consulting role rather than a strategy consulting one.

3. EY (Business Consulting - Transformation Architecture) - I was told by the recruiters that this role is the closest to a strategy consulting role. However, I am also aware of the differences between strategy consulting and business consulting wherein business consulting, deals more with business processes. Here is the brief role description, 

  • Growth Strategy
  • Strategic Planning
  • Enterprise cost reduction and operating model design
  • Value driver-based decision support

Essentially, I hope to leverage my upcoming internship for an internship in a tier 2 strategy consulting firm in London. Appreciate your help and advice. Thank you!

Overview of answers

Upvotes
  • Upvotes
  • Date ascending
  • Date descending
Best answer
Matteo
Expert
replied on Apr 05, 2022
McKinsey & Company | Currently offering 1 free coaching session| Happy to PARTNER with you to get an offer from MBB

Hello, 

thanks a lot for the question. :) 

First of all congratulations for the 3 offers! Good job! 

Generally speaking they are all good opportunities that can add value to your profile. They seem to be quite similar, being all related to business consulting roles. 

In order to best help you, I would suggest to take into considerations the following 4 criteria for your choice

  • Preferred Tier 2 strategy consulting firm → Consider if you have a specific target firm and go for the offer that gives you the highest possibility to meet potential “future colleagues”. For instance, if you are targeting EY - Parthenon, go for EY. Even if they are 2 different jobs, this will increase the chance to do networking with people working in EYP
  • People of your team → Consider the people (e.g., manager) with whom you spoke during the recruiting process and prioritise the offer that gives you the possibility to work with the best colleagues (e.g., in terms of things to learn, good empathy) 
  • Feedback → Ask the feedback from students that have already done an internship there (e.g., try to understand as much as possible what the role would be about) 
  • International assignment → Try to understand which firm will give you the possibility to do an international project, if applicable. Since you are going to London, this could add extremely good value

I would like to add a note. If you do not have the possibility to do directly an internship in strategic consulting, an experience in a strategic role in corporate or scale-up would be more relevant compared to a business consulting role. Please take this into account if you are not time constrained. 

To conclude, all 3 offers are similar in type and come from very well established consulting firm. Use the previous considerations, in order to understand which one best suits to you. 

Do not hesitate to reach out me in case of further questions! I am currently offering a free coaching session.  

Good luck!

Matteo

Was this answer helpful?
Cristian
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Apr 06, 2022
#1 rated MBB & McKinsey Coach

Hi there, 

My recommendation would be to decide on two factors. 

1. What is most aligned with your long-term goals

2. What most excites you

1 is important because it will help you develop knowledge in skills in something that you are keen on pursuing long-term. Basically, it's an investment in yourself. 

2 is important because being excited about the content of the work will make you better at your job (not to mention that life is too short to be doing something you're not that interested in).

Was this answer helpful?
Hagen
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Oct 30, 2023
#1 Bain coach | >95% success rate | interviewer for 8+ years | mentor and coach for 7+ years

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

Was this answer helpful?
Ian
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Apr 05, 2022
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

Hi there,

While I generally advise people to really think about their values, how well they connect with the firm and whether they think they'll be mentored well, 1) You've already (narrowly) defined your goals and 2) It's an internship.

As such, personally I would eliminate Accenture (lower level brand).

I would pick either KPMG or EY and that would depend on 1) The exact roles and responsibilities I expect to have (you need to ask them very directly) and 2) Reputation/ranking within your country (check online ranking AND ask around through your network). Generally EY has the better brand but it does depend…and I like KPMG's role/title more.

Good luck!

Was this answer helpful?
Udayan
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Apr 06, 2022
Top rated Case & PEI coach/Multiple real offers/McKinsey EM in New York /6 years McKinsey recruiting experience

You have some great advice here on how to choose.

Based on guiding people with similar choices in the past, I think the best thing you can do at this stage is to set up coffee chats with people in the teams to get a good feel for the work they do. At this stage, it does not look like you have a full understanding of this based on your question and it is difficult to make a decision based on what HR says because they are incentivized to sell the role to you. Once you set up the coffee chats, I would focus on the following questions.

  • Questions on sample projects they have done recently (do not be swayed by people that say this project was ‘not typical’ that is a standard response, all projects are typical)
  • Details on the tasks and responsibilities expected by you
  • Any details on what past team members have gone on to do post the role
  • What they love about their job
  • What they wish they could change

With that you will be able to make a more informed decision on next steps.

Best,

Udayan

Was this answer helpful?
Matteo gave the best answer

Matteo

CoachingPlus Expert
Premium + Coaching Expert
McKinsey & Company | Currently offering 1 free coaching session| Happy to PARTNER with you to get an offer from MBB
4
Meetings
320
Q&A Upvotes
1
Award
5.0
1 Review
How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or fellow student?
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
0 = Not likely
10 = Very likely