I'd be interested to know which are your thoughts on this topic... If you are branded as a consultant and in fact you are a consultant in a big 4... you decide to move to Industry...Do you believe you have more chances for better jobs with more responsibility over other industry applicants? What an industry big boss think about acn for example?

....assumes you are a SM debating if you should stay and go for partner or change to industry job. Which option is better financially?

I'd be very interested in this too. I'm at such a company and a few folk i work with think they can stay til sm and walk into nice senior industry jobs but from what i can gather, the whole business of jumping the career ladder for aspiring MD's and executives tends to be reserved for top tier consulting employees.

Sorry your wrong, if you think the 'cut of your jib' will land you the job by moving across big 4's then your about to be in for a shock.Its all about how you handle yourself under pressure, and case work and HR tests these days pander to the foofy english schoolboy wobbly bottom lip gibbering classes.This means your sentenced to a life with your peers in their circles and belive that this is where 'it all is'. Trust me your way wrong.You may be able to quote a 6 figure salary, but I could do that if I moved back to Enterprise IT Architecture. Supply and demand, there are those who can do a job and there are those who can draw powerpoints, talk about verticals and integrations, positioning and strategy.BIG BIG Difference :)

Hi TaxMan,I do not understand your logic and argument. Sorry. Can you explain further in simple words?

Your measured on what YOU personally delivered, not what consultancy employed you to churn out powerpoints.Irrespective of the consultancy 'Brand'Put simply:Lets say I developed, scoped and implemented a tax efficiency scheme that saved Client A 17% of Gross.I then leveraged this to implement a better underwriting scheme which in turn saved 5%.Etc....As opposed to I was part of a team at Cap Gem who gavce advice to the public sector body A on street lighting and carbon efficiency. Which then took 4'000 years to recover the costs of, a scheme so bad that putting the money under a mattress would have been more efficient.The above is TRUE, thats the sad part :/

Taxman, I think you've missed a trick. Both are good projects from the firm's perspective -- and the second one probably earned shedloads more fees than the first. No doubt the 'streetlight' partner made a killing selling ice to the Eskimos.It never ceases to amaze me how little quality of delivery matters in advancing your career as a consultant.

Hello VI, well if we all wanted quality of delivery over costs then India would still be mending shoes.It dissapoints me too, but its the truth today, hopefully that will change....soon.

Any other thoughts? - I still disagree with Taxman

Unless you have a strong industry specific skillset, dont expect something great from industry. I have seens senior managers taking 30% cuts in their current salaries to join industry. I think consulting helps to develop good cross functional and analytical skills. But it does not prepare to take long term responsibility of actions, leadership skills etc.

Thanks Tar, I like your thinking..so a couple of questions for you....1) Does industry prepare better than consulting? 2) which is the perception of the industry leaders on consultants? I think what you have just said could be what a consultant thinks....his/her view of the world from the inside...

Hello. I recently left ACN (manager level) and went into industry and haven't looked back since. I am on the same money as ACN (though the make up of the package is different) and the lifestyle now is fantastic compared to consulting. OK so I won't move up the career ladder as fast but the opportunities are still there. Besides, my consulting background has given me a lot of credibility in industry (I had been in a particular sector in consulting which did translate to my role now). In fact, when I have told some people at my current place where I came from and what I did, their response has been 'why are you working here now? Must have been a come down for you', which isn't how I see it at all.

Some time ago I posted a thread re MC --> industry. The bottom line was that, unless you have specific knowledge, you won't get any meaningful position in the industry. Business Development or Internal Startegy or so. The broad business skills which consulting gives are good for junior levels (when you know nothing, learn your job and you are expected to be open minded) and very senior levels (CEO, etc - when you are not expected to do any operational job, but just lead & give direction). However, once you are leaving the consultancy obviously you won't accept junior job, but still won't get CEO position. So you'll be somewhere in the grey area I guess.For example let's take Coca-Cola. They might need couple of strategy guys at HQ, but daily business is marketing, finance, production. After consultancy job you might know something about merketing but too little to become Brand Manager (and manage the brand), you know financial modeling but not enough to become Finance Manager as you have no idea about daily finance (reporting, planing, budgeting, capex, spend effectiveness, etc), and production you've seen once or twice during your consultancy project (hence - no Operations Manager as well). As said you can still get Business Development Manager or Strategy Manager, but - as I said in this previous thread - these are not the roles in the industry that are 'tier 1'. Tier 1 would be marketing, finance, operations. Therefore your career progress would be restricted as I doubt you'll be given (even after few years in the industry) Managing Director role, since you lack experience in core business areas.

Alison...Ok I understand. It seems that you have my view of the world so far. What if you are a project manager? surely you can fit in industry. Do Consulting generally pay more than industry? What is the difference between acn and your job today? Is it less stressful? Would you not change for a payrise?

I took a 15k drop in base salary to go into industry but the benefits more than outweigh that. For example, I am now on a much better pension and my bonus (including guaranteed bonus) is way higher. The hours are great (roughly 8.30 to 6 and I could do shorter hours if I wanted - its not frowned on), I am much closer to home so my relationships with partner and friends has improved loads and I no longer get so exhausted I can't do the things I enjoy. Wierdly enough I seem to have more money in my pocket and more time to spend it. If you want to be a PM and have good strong PM experience as a consultant you can definitely go into PMing in industry and your varied experience will be welcome. I might be in the minority but I think there are superb opportunities in industry. OK so they won't be at CEO level but frankly many consultants have a highly inflated view of themselves if they think they should be walking into those sorts of positions after say 10 years in consulting. A very senior partner might get that sort of role in industry but no-one else.

And no, I would not change for a pay rise because I would not give up either my quality of life or the intellectual challenges of working in industry. I get headhunted on a regular basis for senior manager roles at consultancies on more base salary but I have no interest in it any more.