| Topic Name: |
Accenture vs. strategy boutique |
| Message Name: |
Boutique |
| Date Posted: |
01/02/2003 |
| In Reply To: |
I am currently working as an analyst at Accenture (in Paris) and have received an offer from a small strategy consulting boutique.
The work and clients at this firm is definitely very interesting: pure strategy work with major French blue-chip companies and US/French Private Equity firms. And from talking to a former consultant, the learning experience is tremendous, the level of responsablity is high and there is true value added to your business knowledge.
Obviously, the content is much more appealing to the crappy work I am doing now on my Accenture project. Nonetheless, the blatant downside is that this boutique does not have Accenture's name recognition.
It feel I should go to the smaller firm as I am actually interested in learning business skills that I could leverage later. Moreover, this would better fit my goals of getting a top US MBA and getting into the PE industry. Also, I fell I do not need a new brand name on my resume since I've got a Master from a top Boston-based University and some well-known companies on my resume already.
Do I miss something here? Does anyone have any suggestion/advice about whether accepting the offer? |
| Message: |
I agree with the above posts. Take the boutique, given the caveats below:
1.) What is the work environment like at the smaller firm? The culture at smaller firms vary from excellent to intolerable. Check to make sure that the smaller firm does not have a high turnover rate - an important danger sign. As a follow up, talk to former employees of the firm to see why they left.
2.) Does the firm offer opportunities for promotion without an MBA? This can be very positive if you think you might want to make a career out of consulting.
3.) What is the firm's track record for sending employees to top-tier MBAs? This isn't necessarily a deal breaker, but know what your odds will be beforehand.
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