Consulting career options : Accenture Or Cognizant

Hi Imane,

Please don't choose 1 job over the other just because it pays 700 Euro more per year!

For this decision, you need to figure out what you care about.

We cannot tell you what to do here.

You have to decide what you value, then figure out which company meets those values (my advice is focus on what you like doing)

If you want to invest in 1 session with a career/case coach, they can help you decide on which one fits best with your values/goals (You can get one for ⅓ or ½ of the difference in just those salaries!).

Why not make the investment when it literally affects the rest of your future? And when the “cost” is 2 nights out for dinner, an iphone 7, or a used couch :P

Congrats on two offers and good luck with your decision!

Hi Imane,

I would be happy to share my thoughts on it:

• I would highly advise you to opt for the company that better aligns with your professional (and maybe even personal) mid- to long-term goals.
• In order to make an informed decision about it, 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 depending 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 your feelings and facts (and thus both parts of the brain) into the decision-making, guaranteeing a higher chance 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

Hi Imane,

Congratulations on the offers. In terms of your question:

Q: I received two consulting job offers, Functional analyst at Accenture Benelux, Business analyst in Insurance industry at Cognizant Belgium. Both are Associate level, and Cognizant is paying 700 euros more.

I would not consider the difference in salary as it is minimal.

As general criteria, 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 (see below).
• If you consider the average consultant/partner you talked to in each company, which one would you rather be? 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.
• If money and prestige were not a consideration, which company would you choose? This could help you to identify additional elements to weigh you have not considered yet.

In terms of exits (for most people they are a very important factor to join a consulting company), you can check them as follows:

1. Look for alumni of the two companies on LinkedIn
2. Check how many moved to your preferred exits in your target region
3. Normalize for the size of the companies in the region

If you want to do extra due diligence, contact Alumni of your university (not current consultants) that worked in your target 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

Hi Imane, 

Congrats on the two offers! It's always great when you have a choice. 

I would do 3 things:

1. Reflect on where you want to be in 5-10 years time in terms of role, work type, lifestyle, finances, etc? Then try and understand which of the two offers is more aligned with your goals. 
2. Ask yourself which of the two is more aligned with your skillset and the things that you are naturally good at? From your description the role at Accenture require skills that you don't know or seem very fond of acquiring.
3. Network with a few of the people who work in that office for that role. Have a short and genuine conversation with them to understand what to expect. You can read this ARTICLE to understand how to lead the discussion with them effectively. 

Best,

Cristian

Hi Imane,

I wrote this article to answer exactly this question- https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/how-do-i-know-which-career-is-right-for-me

Good luck choosing!

Congrats on the offers.