Pros
- for entry-level consultants, work-life balance is wonderful, almost never worked more than 40 hours. Often took 1.5-2 hour lunch breaks. Rarely stressed. Life was leisurely. - projects are low stress, lets just say it isn't rocket-science, a lot of mind-less paper (email) pushing. - traveling is fun, as long as your project manager and travel city is also good. lots of airline miles, fancy dinners, mostly great hotels. (if you're young and single, this can be a lot of fun - if not, this can get old quickly) - young and fun people, large percentage of females for a financial services firm, which creates favorable inter-office dating scene for males. very social. - everyone is super friendly, down to earth, nobody takes themselves too seriously. everyone realizes this is just a job - lots of drinking, especially if you're traveling on the road. (this can be a pro or con depending on age) I drank and partied more at this job than at college. - at junior levels, pay is slightly lower than big-4 (5-10%), but lifestyle and stress are way way lower, so I consider this a pro!
Cons
- everyone gets pigeon-holed into one speciality, not much variation in projects. - taking on extra initiative, working harder...will not get you faster promotions or higher pay. doing the bare minimum while be friendly and amicable is the best strategy here. - your happiness will be dependent on your project & project manager - if these aren't good, essentially all the "pro's" don't apply or won't matter. you will be miserable. changing projects can be impossible or take forever. - company is very REACTIVE, they chase short-term money & projects. - company will always be the "budget" option in comparison to big-4, we'll always be tier-2. - if you travel, maintaining friends/significant other at home can be REALLY difficult, most turnover is due to this or money, see next bullet... - pay gap between Big-4 becomes very dramatic as you move up ranks, manager & higher. - travel, air miles, fancy dinners, drinking every night...it can get really old and exhausting after about 2 years. - benefits are not that great, 401k, healthcare, dental plans are simply adequate, nothing wonderful. - Protiviti does a horrible job at integrating experienced hires, they often try to match salaries from people who come from industry, this results in people more junior than you earning far higher salaries...yet these new hires still require significant training before than can "get it" and understand how consulting works. this causes a lot of frustration for dedicated long-timers. - racial diversity in senior leadership/MDs is almost non-existent, basically all white males, with a few exceptions.