I wonder if anyone can share any experiences from moving into consulting from industry?I have had good progression to date in a large blue chip company for 6 years - started as grad qualified with CIMA and now at manager level. I would really like to experience working in different industries and working with variety of clients with ulitmate goal to progress to senior level or become an FD. A director referred me to Deloitte audit advisory team and after going through recruitment I have succesfully received an offer for Manager level. I am very excited by Deloitte and the team however the starting salary is lower than my current and whilst my main driver is development opportunities and future earnings I don't want to join if not comfortable with rate to begin with.Any advice would be much appreciated!

What kind of difference are we talking about? And how does your current and the offer compare when you stack up all the components?

Its marginal £3k delta overall for base and additional combined although I'm on a db pension scheme which is quite rare so have to factor it all in.

Account,To be fair to the guys here, there are lots and lots of threads in relation to this subject, some of them quite new.Rather than rewriting what has been said before, propose you do a search for "Industry and Consuting", a fair few of the threads will show you the differences.Its all the usual stuff - in an MC you get to see a wider range of work etcBelow is an old response of mine to this question a while back (copied and pasted):---------------------------------------------- Yes, in Consulting, you will be doing more travelling with some at little to no notice. The client is paying £1k+ a day, so if he says jump - you say how high and when(PS some people do love it, saves you a bucket load of money re expenses and you do get to see some really nice places... annnnnnd some not so nice places) - You get paid more and bigger bonuses if you stay in industry - Your work in Consulting is more varied. We moan about being PowerPoint monkeys, but sometimes you do get some interesting stuff that in industry just doesn't come up that often- Your Consulting colleagues will in general challenge you more, in a good way. They are in general well educated and do not have a "I have been here for 25 years and this is how I do it" attitude. - But the Politics in Consulting is lethal, if you are not great at networking and "playing the game", understand you will be going absolutely nowhere very very fast in your career if you are delivery focused but not also a network guy - and so on, you know the basics. If I were you? Industry job offering more money, good perks and more importantly a place that you enjoy working? I would probably stay and continue enjoying myself. However, if you have a fairly international background re family or is thinking of living in another country in the future... then Consulting at ACN would not be a bad idea at all Please do meet with a friend of a friend who is a consultant, tell him to stop the BS and really tell you what its like. Nothing like hearing it face2 face ---------------------------------------------

accountantagree,I think you should consider what your prospects look like in your current role and link that to your route from Deloitte. For example, say in 3-5 years time you could expect to be in a senior finance role in your business. Plot a route that will get you at least there (including somewhere that's currently unachievable) after spending 2-5 years in the Deloitte role. If taking the role doesn't accelerate your career, I'd be tempted to reconsider, or at least understand the investment you'd be making. You should also understand the salary bands in your current role. I'd imagine the manager band is likely to go up to about 65-68k. If you're being offered well below that (including benefits) then negotiate harder.In short, I'd argue it's better to take a longer term view of these things at this stage of your career.

SenorMick,Thanks very much for your insight. Logically plotting out the next 3-5 years helps to make the best decision now. I see merits on both sides however I am far more familiar with industry progression routes into FC, head of audit etc. My rational was that I wanted more exposure of selling my services and working within different industries which are currently gaps on my resume so that in 3-5 years I could move either back into industry at higher level or look at setting up a local practice. Also the salary offered was much lower than the band you mentioned.

Anon MCsThanks for your feedback - I agree it is worth setting up a common thread as there are lots of similar questions arising on this career move.