{"id":501,"date":"2020-02-24T21:12:42","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T21:12:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/?p=501"},"modified":"2020-02-24T21:12:44","modified_gmt":"2020-02-24T21:12:44","slug":"the-difference-between-different-consulting-company-sizes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/2020\/02\/24\/the-difference-between-different-consulting-company-sizes\/","title":{"rendered":"The difference between different consulting company sizes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Big Firm<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You will occasionally hear the term \u201cthe big 5\u201d, which is a leftover\nterm from the earlier days. Today, there are many players in the large\nconsulting space. These firms span the globe with offices in most major cities\nand employ hundreds of thousands of folks. These companies recruit heavily out\nof college and you can probably find one of their recruitment booths at a school\u2019s\ncareer fair if you attend any major university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Companies like these can be good choices for first-time\nconsultants, as their onboarding and ramp up is geared toward low experienced hires.\nAt a larger firm, you join the workforce alongside a series of your peers of a similar\nage, experience and mindset which can be a nice support structure as you learn\nthe ropes. It is a good way to get a reputable name on your resume and is a\ngreat launching point for the rest of your career. This does not mean all hires\ncome in through the college recruiting pipeline. Experienced hires are made at\nall levels of the organization to fill gaps or facilitate growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, going to work at a big firm does come at a cost. Many\nbig firms have the reputation of working their new hires long and hard hours.\nAs an entry-level consultant, you are a high margin resource after all! If you\nare staffed, you are easily paying back the investment the firm has placed in\nyou by helping to generate a significant revenue for the company. It is not\nunheard of to be working 50-70 hours a week at some of these firms. Many\nexperienced employees will tell you that this is called \u201cputting in your time\u201d.\nBe wary of being pushed too hard and too often and that you are not being taken\nadvantage of or doing something you are uncomfortable with. If in doubt, reach\nout to your mentor or HR representative to discuss your concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Large firms usually lead to and create an up or out culture.\nA healthy organization is shaped like a pyramid where the base is made up primarily\nof less experienced, cheaper and high margin resources, and as you go up\nthrough the organizational chart, the number of folk\u2019s decreases until you\nreach the C-level suite which is held by just a handful of employees. This is\nby design as it lines up with how to create the most effective and profitable\ntype of company as higher experienced resources also cost more money to employ.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what does this mean for you? Are you on the chopping\nblock every passing year? The answer for the most part is no. Natural attrition\ndue to better pay, better roles and a thousand other reasons lead to most of\nthe younger hires leaving the company for greener pastures. This is expected,\nso never feel bad about leaving if you have gotten your experience under your\nbelt and have found a better opportunity. For the other half, many people enjoy\nworking at these firms, the security they provide alignment to their personal\ncareer aspirations. For these folks, hitting your KPIs and making sure you\nnetwork with your managers allows you to move higher in the organization\ntowards that C-level suite. If you are good at what you do, you will usually\nsee paths open up for you every two to three review cycles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Small Firm<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Small firms are also known as the boutique firm. There are hundreds\nof thousands of these small businesses which range from two employees to about a\nhundred. Working for the smaller firm has many pros and cons. Let\u2019s investigate\nsome of the benefits first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you wish to work somewhere where your visibility and\nexposure to the client and your peers is high, then the small firm is the place\nto be. Everything you do will be seen by someone and it is a lot harder to hide\nbehind your peers. Hopefully, this does not seem like a deterrent. This is\nactually a great place to be seen and recognized for your accomplishments much\nsooner as compared to a larger firm. Due to the size and volatility of the type\nof projects a small firm will be contracted to deliver, you will be required to\nlearn and utilize a huge array of skills over a short period of time. Being\nearly on in your career, this allows you to get first-hand experiences on a wide\nrange of different projects and processes, letting you hone in on what you\nwould really like to do going forward and naturally figure out your strengths\nand weaknesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The downside to working at the small firm all correlate to\nthe positives we just mentioned. Since there is nowhere to hide, you are\nexpected to perform at a higher level and learn a lot faster with less coaching\nand usually less training. Due to this, many people agree that working at a\nsmall firm can be significantly more stressful. These companies also come with\na higher rate of employment risk. When large projects come to a close and cash\nflow dries up, there is not as much cushion to cover a bench. The smaller firm also\nmay not have a dedicated sales team. As part of a small company, you may need\nto play the role of the sales person which means your core responsibilities could\nchange day to day and that can be pretty scary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, the best type of company for you is the one that\nwill align more with your personality and work style. If you like structure,\nwell-planned direction and more security in your work, then bigger is better.\nIf you like faster pace, more rounded experience and the ability to have more\ncontrol of your career, then small is a better fit. If you\u2019re not sure and fall\nsomewhere in between, then do not worry, there are plenty of middle-sized firms\nthat have traits of both big and small and can vary depending on the style of\nthe leadership and firms management. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\nAre you interested in starting a career in consulting? Be sure do read the full book Jack of all Trades Master of Some; An Introduction to Consulting<\/a> available on Amazon.\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Big Firm You will occasionally hear the term \u201cthe big 5\u201d, which is a leftover term from the earlier days. Today, there are many players in the large consulting space. These firms span the globe with offices in most major cities and employ hundreds of thousands of folks. These companies recruit heavily out of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":603,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book","category-consulting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":502,"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501\/revisions\/502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}