Company: KPMG
Date: 2010-11-10
Overall rating: 3/5
Employment status: current

Its not what you know, it's who you know
Pros: - Really good people to work with
- Prestigeous firm
- They will pay market value, but sometimes your need to make them know that you're undervalued
- Good T&E policy
- Adequate personal time and benefits
Cons: - My biggest problem with the firm is that there is a somewhat rigorous bi-annual review (both a self assessment and by management), as well as interim/project reviews.  However, it is well understood that all decisions on salaries/promotions are made by partners that you may/may not know very well, and most likely have very little insight into you actual work performance.  So how do they decide?

First, the management within your group will join the partners on a conference call, and basically plead the cases of those that they think are "ready."  If you have had the misfortune of being staffed on engagements either a) outside of your functional group, b) run by a team from a different region, or c) loan staff (worst case scenario), you will have a more difficult time garnering this support, at at the end of the day, you don't have a lot of control over where/how you are staffed.

Now if you are lucky enough to have good exposure to management, and have proven your worth to them on engagements, you have a better chance.  That said, it is very simple.  The partners decide, and they have "favorites."  And if there are 4 open manager slots, and and 2-3 favorites, well, the more political management is going to know that going in, and that is going to affect how hard they push for those who they think have earned it on merit.

So at the end of the day, you have to know your competition quite well, you have to market yourself agressively, and you have to let them know your expectations about a year in advance so that you can have a defined case made for you.

Oh, and at the end of the day, you still have to play the game of the review process, even though it is completely meaningless.


- Staffing is really done on a "who is available" basis.  I understand this, as timing is obviously very important.  However, my philosophy is match skills to projects, and while I recognize the idealistic nature of this, I just don't think it is really considered very much.

- Health insurance costs seem higher than other firms (but maybe that's just a function of the market)