Hi guysJust looking for some general insight into HSBC's internal consulting team based in the UK. Apparently it is a relatively new business service and I'll be interviewing for it very soon as a Senior Consultant.My background - I'm coming from Consulting in the Big 4, so any comparative views on:- Type of work (more strategic or more Project Managementy)- Pay/benefits- Growth/promotion opportunities- Culture (of the team and HSBC generally)- Work/life expectations (versus Big 4)- Overall pros/cons of the roleWill obv try to gather as much info as I can in the interviews, but at the moment have only got the usual sales spiel from a Recruitment Consultant so a more objective view will be greatly appreciated.Was slightly concerned that this was more of sideways step (SC to SC), but recruiter is (naturally) selling this as being a very high profile role, where I'd report directly into the European Head of Consulting (also a concern that there is no middle management as such, so promotions may be difficult).Given I've also never worked in "industry" (always been a consultant), I'm hoping there may be some benefit to learn a business inside-out to really gain some insight to the inner operations/strategy, as well as improvement in work-life balance of course. Apparently most of the team are ex-Deloitte so I will not be alone!Cheers for any help!

HSBC should ensure a better work life balance with less travel which of course is a bonus. I do however speak to lots of guys in this team and when you've come from a leading consulting firm generally people will find things quite 'slow' and as one person described to me recently, 'quite political'. It depends on what your key drivers to move are. If you want to be based in London with little or no travel then it's a great move. If you want to learn and get challenging work and work in a high calibre environment there are better consulting firms out there doing more strategic work for HSBC (one of my clients is a tier-1 supplier to HSBC for corporate strategy projects for example).Pay wise banks are quite good at throwing an solid base salary to you up front in order to attract consultants but you'll find that's offset over the next 2-3 years with slower pay increases. I know the head of recruitment for Credit Suisse for example and she always said that banks' do this to attract the talent initially without distorting their pay scales longer term.I hope you make the right decision for you. Personally if I had a small family I would choose industry for 3-4 years. You can always come back to consulting in the longer term!

[quote]HSBC should ensure a better work life balance with less travel which of course is a bonus. I do however speak to lots of guys in this team and when you've come from a leading consulting firm generally people will find things quite 'slow' and as one person described to me recently, 'quite political'. It depends on what your key drivers to move are. If you want to be based in London with little or no travel then it's a great move. If you want to learn and get challenging work and work in a high calibre environment there are better consulting firms out there doing more strategic work for HSBC (one of my clients is a tier-1 supplier to HSBC for corporate strategy projects for example).Pay wise banks are quite good at throwing an solid base salary to you up front in order to attract consultants but you'll find that's offset over the next 2-3 years with slower pay increases. I know the head of recruitment for Credit Suisse for example and she always said that banks' do this to attract the talent initially without distorting their pay scales longer term.I hope you make the right decision for you. Personally if I had a small family I would choose industry for 3-4 years. You can always come back to consulting in the longer term![/quote]Thanks for the advice, really appreciate the views.Still not interviewed yet, but I figure I'll at least go through the process before deciding either way. Reduced travel is def a bonus, but I would like to continue working on interesting/challenging projects so perhaps I should stay put a while longer...

Also got a call from a recruiter (AM) about this recently with a broadly similar pitch, seems like they're pushing this quite hard!

Hi All - seems like an interesting role. Could you share the recruiter please? Would be good to see if I'm suitable.Seem to be at this point where the world of consultancy has changed so much it's not for me.Internal Consultant or Contract! Decisions decisions...

Hi FSconsultant, How did you find the recruitment process? Did you have your case study interview? I was wondering if you would be happy to share your experience during the case study interview? How long was it? I am having the case study interview next week and I was wondering what to expect. Thanks.