I've just been offered a Senior Associate position with a division within Consulting in PwC. I have a few questions:-How easy is it to move to different offices once within the organisation?-How easy is it to transfer to alternative types of consulting after I've made a bit of an impact in the organisation? (I would love to consider Strategy&, etc.)-My role is likely to be heavily travel based. What sort of hotels, airlines etc do PwC tend to prefer?Thanks!

[quote]-How easy is it to transfer to alternative types of consulting after I've made a bit of an impact in the organisation? (I would love to consider Strategy&, etc.)[/quote]I wonder what is going through the mind of all those ultra high-achieving Booz staff with MBAs from places like Harvard, now that they're part of the giant PWC and a lot of PWC staff (many of whom might have less prestigious qualifications and may not have made it through the selection process when Booz was a separate company) may see this as a potential avenue to "get into strategy consulting"?

It's a valid question. Although, sadly a question that is not relevant to me.I've got a Ph.D and Master's degree from Russell Group universities. Therefore, I'm comfortable in that space, and can hold my own. Also, not a particularly helpful response given my original line of inquiry. I chose to apply to PwC. Not anywhere else because I like them the best. In accepting this position I am leaving my current job a smaller, niche consultancy. I have also rejected 2 alternative offers. One from another consultancy and one from a FTSE 30 company.

I have a couple of friends there, what I understand from them is:- Move office: some of them managed to get seconded after 3 to 5 years at their local office, in some cases even somewhere quite glamorous. I understand it might get quite political as you need somebody senior helping you to push for it and, clearly, the fancier the destination the harder it is to get it. All in all, a quite realistic option I think, provided that you are willing / have the language skills to compromise on the destination- Transfer department: I believe the concept is similar, as you would essentially be seconded to another part of the business. I believe the point made by BEP is not completely out of place, as I can see how the ex Booz gang might look down on "pure pwc" staff. I am not trying to understate the value of your education, but I do not think that the sudden realization that pwc consultants have degrees/phd too is what it will take to integrate the two firms.More importantly, your latest reply seems to somewhat contradicts what you stated in your first post. You say you chose pwc but that at the same time you would love Strategy& or similar. If your aim is a top tier strategy house and, as you say, you have the profile to get there, then I am not sure the pwc route is the right one. Why only applying to pwc as you say you did instead of applying to tier1/tier2 strategy house firms directly? Also, I would personally not start a job if I knew already that I would be more interest to work in a different unit, but this is just me...- Hotels / airlines: this is very hard to tell, as it will depend on the project/partner/expenses arrangements. As a general rule, as in many cases expenses are linked to fees, I would expect more Ibis than Hilton given my (limited) level of knowledge of a typical Big 4 day rate. Having said that, despite the short lived feeling of personal fulfilment that having access to the executive floor of the Hilton gives you, what it really matters is that the beds are comfortable, room service is decent and the client is close by, hence I would not worry about this point too muchGood luck with the new role

Hi Phil,Thanks for the input!I'm certainly not considering moving to a different arm of the consulting division anytime soon. Indeed, I'm very excited about starting in the department that I have secured a job in. I'm not taking the job just to get access to a lateral move. I was just wondering if anyone had any experience of how these types of moves work if it is something that I want to do at some stage. I'm certainly not banking on moving to another dept. (esp. one as competitive as strategy&). One of my offers was from a tier 2 strat house and PwC simply ticked more boxes in terms of opportunities, cultural fit, career progression, locations, etc.

[quote]I chose to apply to PwC. Not anywhere else because I like them the best.... I have also rejected 2 alternative offers.[/quote]So you applied for just one company but coincidentally had 2 other unsolicited offers come out of the blue at the same time?Not impossible I guess but frankly almost everything you've said so far has been riddled with inconsistencies and muddled thinking and is worded in a way which indicates a degree of immaturity on your part... Also you may find that your Russell group PHD (by which I wouldn't be surprised if you mean you did geography at Newcastle or Birmingham or Sheffield or somewhere like that) still wouldn't have been good enough...

A yes, apologies, I didn't mean to write apply. I meant pursue. I chose to pursue the job at PwC above the others. I would of course love to be in a position that I am receiving unsolicited offers from such prestigious companies.I certainly found that my Ph.D (not in Geography but in Statistics, or at any of those universities (Master's from Birmingham though)) was good enough for an offer at a Tier 2.Sorry to come across as immature in my wording, although I'm not quite sure what you mean by that.

+1 to BEP ... And you beat me to I.Russell Group is only ever used by those who went to lower ranked Universities - it's a mixture of the great and the tosh quite frankly. Assume here OP is of the tosh end of the spectrum.Also "after I've made a bit of an impact" seems either awfully naive or highly pretentious to think you can do anything of real impact to PwC at Senior Associate level. Let's assume OP is pretentious.And to answer BEPs question. I'm sure PwC will snap OPs hand off for Strategy&... Pretentious, unambitious and writes like Rain Man...As for travel, PwC prefers, like any employer, airlines and hotels that provide minimum comfort for minimum price. I guess you could call these "Russell group" travel options.Something to think about when you're being greeted by the Ibis staff by name after 6 months of "Consulting"... But keep at it, it pays the PhD loan ;)

Hi Arby,Thanks for weighing in.You've made a lot of (incorrect) assumptions in your commentary, but of course you are entitled to do so. As noted previously I was merely asking the question about internal transfers and simply used Strategy& as an example. I'm not plotting a move as soon as I can. This assumption seems to fuel most of your others. So to state plainly: I AM PERFECTLY HAPPY WITH THE POSITION AND DEPARTMENT THAT I HAVE BEEN OFFERED. I was merely asking some exploratory questions.Certainly don't think I'm naive in terms of what impact I'll be able to make as a SA - again though it's an assumption on your part that I'm seeking to move as quickly as possible. This is not the case. However, I like to think that over the course of a career I'll be able to make something of an impact. Idealistic? Perhaps, but I'm OK with that.Lastly, the firms that offered me positions seemed quite happy with my university career to date. As noted my Master's was from UoB and Ph.D institutions matter much less than the Ph.D supervisor (which you would know if you had one) and my Ph.D supervisor was very well respected.Anyway, enjoy middle management and being negative.

let's not start slinging mud. from my time reading this forum i can see that the people who go out of their way to provide advice generally know what they're talking about. maybe this is a lesson in Consulting - be extremely clear about your objectives from the beginning and avoid having your pretty Powerpoint torn to shreds by the C-suite.anyway, are you joining in London or one of the regional offices? what area of consulting are you in?

Let's not fight... This forum is about love, not war.I apologise for my message last night, I was just in such a negative place as I saw my middle management career stretching out in front of me.Bit of advice, Dr Floopy PhD. Some of the personal characteristics you need to succeed in professional services is to have a sense of humour, not to take yourself too seriously and - really - not to come across as an @rse. So telling BEP that his comments are "not helpful" - you sounded like an @rse. When you get a bit of push back, everything you said, sounded like the comments of an @rse. When we wind you up a bit more, it was @rse town, next stop...People sit on @rses. They don't want to work under them, they don't want to promote them, they don't want to go to the pub with them, they don't want to socialize with them. You can have the best PhD, the best MsC from wherever you like - but if you act like you write and react like you did, this is your biggest potential failing.For what it's worth, I apologise for winding you up!

Group hug people. Everyone empty their pockets first though, don't want to get stabbed with a pen or something.

Haha. You're right! Upon reviewing I did come across like a complete @rse. Sorry about this (genuinely!). Apologies for my response. I do appreciate the insight, irrespective of whether or not I agree with it! I just got the impression that people were assuming I was wanting to make a jump to Booz 2.0 in after a month of being a SA.

I think I also you a bit of an apology for coming across as a bit of an @rse when you offered your opinion! Truly sorry if I came across like a tool!

Oooh, that's a 360 degrees appraisal right there.

All, not entirely sure why you don't just answer the question, or keep quiet if you don't have anything useful to say...-How easy is it to move to different offices once within the organisation? Obviously varies, but almost entirely determined by the Partner that runs your service line. Moves abroad can be harder still and the process is onerous. In my experience, you'd usually require very strong support at home and abroad to make it work smoothly.-How easy is it to transfer to alternative types of consulting after I've made a bit of an impact in the organisation? (I would love to consider Strategy&, etc.) As above, depends on a few factors including your performance and resourcing needs. However, it's possibly easier to negotiate if you have it in your objectives from day 1 and have your Partner agree that it's something they'll support. It's worked for a couple of the people i people managed.-My role is likely to be heavily travel based. What sort of hotels, airlines etc do PwC tend to prefer? PwC has a deal with Hilton to get gold status after 4 stays. Hilton gold is the best mid-tier hotel status anywhere, so you should definitely sign-up for that. I would also recommend getting the BA Premium plus AMEX (£150/yr fee) - it's better to use this for expenses. Airlines vary. I would say consider where you like to travel and choose the scheme that suits you best. I used BA as it has great global coverage, good alliance, premium plus card spend helped me earn loads of avios and BA perks outweigh Virgin. Hope that helps (also, excuse any typos).

[quote]+1 to BEP ... And you beat me to I.Russell Group is only ever used by those who went to lower ranked Universities - it's a mixture of the great and the tosh quite frankly. Assume here OP is of the tosh end of the spectrum.Also "after I've made a bit of an impact" seems either awfully naive or highly pretentious to think you can do anything of real impact to PwC at Senior Associate level. Let's assume OP is pretentious.And to answer BEPs question. I'm sure PwC will snap OPs hand off for Strategy&... Pretentious, unambitious and writes like Rain Man...As for travel, PwC prefers, like any employer, airlines and hotels that provide minimum comfort for minimum price. I guess you could call these "Russell group" travel options.Something to think about when you're being greeted by the Ibis staff by name after 6 months of "Consulting"... But keep at it, it pays the PhD loan ;)[/quote]I know the apologies have come and gone, but man, I loved this post. Comparing my RG Uni with Ibis hurt! But the laughs did make it worth it :)P.S +1 for BEP's initial reply. And even the best RG universities (best being subjective of course - and yes that includes Oxbridge) don't come close to the likes of LBS, Harvard, Wharton etc for postgraduate education - sadly.

I should probably note that I was referring to MBA's with my blanket 'postgraduate education' point.

[quote]People sit on @rses[/quote]Have you discovered twitter, AtM?