Company: KPMG
Date: 2013-05-30
Overall rating: 4/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Senior

Great place to work if you're young and ambitious
Pros: Obsessive focus on clients and business problems. A great way to learn about businesses across a number of industries. Work you like a dog but you learn a lot. KPMG hires smart and energetic people so you will be surrounded by interesting and stimulating co-workers who challenge you to come up with ever more creative solutions to clients' issues. Perhaps the most entrepreneurial culture of any Big Four firm. Great place to build a career if you are a self-starter.
Cons: Hard work and long hours, especially for management-level folks who do the proposal writing and backstop delivery. Occasional bait-and-switch with bonuses. Partners are stretched so thin that they are unavailable for important meetings. Lots of travel (could be a pro for some). Career paths are not well-defined (especially for those with superior technical skills) and it takes a lot of determination to get the guidance and training needed to advance and keep skills sharp. Budgets for external training are poorly defined and approvals are completely discretionary, which makes it difficult for staff-level personnel to get anything other than internal training.