Company: Deloitte
Date: 2009-04-16
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: former

Nice Place to Start but Better Opportunities Exist Elsewhere
Pros: Deloitte is a good place to start your career (particularly for those just out of undergrad).  You get exposure to a number of different industries and functions, and you learn problem solving and critical analysis skills.  
- Compensation is very good initially (although see cons)
- Very strong focus on personal development
- Good training programs
- Great place to grow professional skills (communication, presentation skills etc).
- Typically, the people are very fun to work and travel with - which helps.
- Deloitte does a lot in the community, so it is a company to be proud of in that respect.
Cons: The two biggest downsides are compensation and politics.
1) Compensation: While the company does offer high initial compensation (and a good signing bonus), it vastly underpays its employees over the life of their contract.  Plus, with no option for variable compensation at its more junior levels, you are entirely dependent upon your year end evaluation.

2) Politics: The firm subjectively evaluates its employees twice a year (although it only matters at year end).  This process is frought with politics, with those who have worked with senior partners receiving the benefit of the doubt.  If you worked with a junior partner or someone outside of your office, then good luck receiving a top rating.  This then combines with problem #1 in putting many people behind the curve in terms of compensation.

Other problems include:
- Project Experience: Your experience at Deloitte is entirely dependent upon the projects in which you are staffed.  Since Deloitte has interesting and non-interesting projects, you have to be incredibly proactive to work in the area you want to work in, which can result in unneeded stress.
- It is a what have you done for me lately type of environment