Company: Deloitte
Date: 2019-05-01
Overall rating: 2/5
Employment status: current
Experience level: Junior

Know what you're signing up for!
Pros: Great time-off. Great health care options. Ability to work from home. Opportunity to travel all over the country, racking up hotel points and airline miles. Exposure to many different client and opportunities.
Cons: I always pose a question to people that are considering working for any division of Deloitte (RFA, Tax, Audit, Consulting): why do you think the benefits and pay are so good? ... ... It's because working at Deloitte often can completely consume every aspect of your life. 

I work in Risk and Financial Advisory (RFA). Think of RFA as the cousin to Deloitte Consulting: we do very similar consulting work, but are very niched into a specific industry, sector, specialty; we're often called subject matter experts (SMEs). 

The cornerstone for both RFA and Consulting is traveling: waking up around 3am every Monday, flying to the client site, working 9-12 hour days Monday-Thursday, and then fly back home on Thursday night (should your flight not get canceled that is). Hours spent in the airport. Hours spent commuting in an Uber/Lyft. Living out of a suitcase in a different hotel room every week. No ability to cook your own dinners. Add on top of that sitting in traffic, going through TSA every week, and bouncing around in the sky on turbulent flights. 

If you grow weary of traveling and wish to stay local, know that the firm will not have your back. You will face pressure to travel, and if you choose to sit without a project and wait for a local opportunity, your performance and pay raise/bonus will suffer. In a down market, sitting on the bench like this for a long period of time greatly increases the odds of getting laid-off.  

Remember this: do your homework before applying to any consulting job - I mean REALLY do your actual homework. Talk to current employees, former employees, professors, recruiters, etc.  Know the game you are getting yourself into. Consulting for a few years is a doable endeavor by most people, but beyond that, consulting requires a very specific personality type and someone who defines themselves by their career.  If you choose to stay in the game long-term know that your life will probably click away very quickly, and you may look back at all that time lost with family and friends  with regret. 

Know that if this comes to pass, Deloitte will not blink an eye or give you any sympathy.