I am director level at a Big 4, and want to move to a smaller more entrepreneurial company that adds real value to clients.A friend told me that PA Consulting might be a good option. Has anyone had any experience of them?

Did you honestly post this thinking it was funny?

yawn

PA are one of the greatest consulting firms to work for. They are ambitious, have a large and growing funnel, recruit great people from industry (real skills to give to clients rather than typical MC clones). I really need to understand what you can offer as a 'Director' to be better able to answer your query and whether you'd make the grade at PA.

If you are a Director at a Big 4 then PA could be worth considering at Partner entry level - the grades are roughly equivalent.The Partner model at PA is pretty profitable so certainly worth considering. If you have FS experience then go for it - that is currently a weak area for PA but something they are looking to grow.

So a Director at a big4 hasnt had experience of PA? Doesnt know what they're about? Been stuck on internal projects by any chance? Or just dreaming/

If you are looking to finish your career somewhere then PA would be the ideal place in all senses of the word "finish".

Come and work at PA. There is lots of room. With the new Director level there are more opportunities for those of you who want to do work and not sell; although how that grows the business I've not yet worked out ... but I'm sure it'll come to me

Yes - PA is excellent. Look how we have grown over the past 10 years. No one will ever catch us up

They have opened a new grade at Director level, I understand, which probably equates to Senior Manager at one of the Big 4. Quality of clients for PA is far poorer than for the Big 4. Their most publicised big win was some cost reduction work for the guide dogs charity: http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/news/Article/1016821/Guide-Dogs-hires-consultants-payment-results-basis/. Why a chief exec of an unreformed charity needs external help to take a measly 5% out of his cost base is beyond me.Despite claims to the contrary, PA are still heavily reliant on the declining public sector, and have had a number of very well publicised screw ups (Terminal 5 baggage handling, and lost memory sticks being just two), along with one of their flagship projects on ID cards being canned. As they have little or no credibility in the private sector, their focus is obviously now on the charity sector. I really hope they don’t milk the charity sector as hard as they did the public sector.

PA PA BlacksheepHave you any work?No sir no sir 3 bench fullNone from the doctorNo one to blameNone from the chancellor who lives down the lane

PA Director have you any work?No sir, no sir I don't have any work.None from the government, none from the financial services industry...None from the retail sector and none from the large utilities organisations....

As usual the "expert" industry insiders are posting their usual guff on here. I'm sure most firms would be pretty pleased to have landed the recent UKTI contracts which dwarf most private sector client contracts likely to be awarded this year.

So have PA Consulting finally given up on the private sector to focus on Guide Dogs and public sector Quangos? In the current economic climate, I am sure you will do very well indeed, and continue the growth trajectory of the past 3 years

Depsite not wanting to stretch this nonsense any further, the continuous negative comment on PA really surprises me. I've worked at PA (no longer there at the moment) and two other consultancies (one niche one one Big 4) - and frankly they're much of a much-ness. PA has good points it has down points - as does everywhere else. Those still at PA and who feel compelled to moan - leave and go to the Big 4 - they're recruiting huge numbers and whatever people here might think it's not that difficult to get into (lots of PA people already have). In my personal experience the grass is no greener (in fact less so) - the consulting business model is what it is and people are people - some good to work for some less so. It's more about luck (some of which one makes themself) rather than a particular company. Consulting is consulting - it's very similar whereever you're. People (which is what makes a consulting firm) don't suddenly turn bad or good to work for just because they join a particular firm. When it comes to the further nonsense about PA clients and growth and private sector and so on - who cares - they're a private company and they make money - quite a lot of it - if you don't like it **** off frankly. The world of business is about making money and PA are pretty good it. There revenue is in the 100's of millions, all of which is competitive against other consultancies, if they were as terrible as made out here, they wouldn't last long. A general rant in conclusion if you don't like it leave, there are plently of exit opportunities.

"if you don't like it **** off frankly"Pretty much sums up PA Consulting's people management strategy.

E-mail, text, Twitter and the internet make it tempting, and easy, to express an opinion, pass judgment and critique your employer in public. Everyone will have felt the urge to have their say when the boss has done something silly. Leaders need to recognise it is impossible – and undesirable – to keep a lid on employee opinion.To avoid painful and embarrassing public challenges such as this, companies need to create trust and transparency inside their businesses. Leaders should share their thoughts with staff, solicit intelligent questions, encourage debate and dialogue and, hardest of all, learn to tolerate dissent. That will go some way towards reducing the temptation of using the letters page to tell the boss what you think.

For anyone who didn't get the 'subtle' dig:http://www.paconsulting.com/introducing-pas-media-site/highlighting-pas-expertise-in-the-media/opinion-pieces-by-pas-experts/financial-times-should-companies-rebuke-employees-for-public-criticism-22-september-2010/

Hilarious !! Boss Hogg lecturing others on their communication style. A certain irony there.

That is beyond parody. How does Hogg sleep at night?Absolutely unbelievable. They have no shame.

Every consultancy's staff has an equal oportunity to bemoan their employer on this site. The fact that PAers and ex-PAers choose to do so in such numbers and vitriolic terms here suggests to me that PA really does stink a hell of a lot more than the consulting industry average. In fact I know for a fact it does, having worked for and with other consultancies than PA. Their culture is a blot on the industry landscape that needs to be cured by takeover and ruthless culling of those senior people responsible for creating and maintaining it.

That piece by Jonathan Hogg is a reasonable answer but PA could not behave more differently.I remember the CEO publicly berating staff a couple of years ago for contributing to discussions on internet forums.To echo the sentiments above if PA were to practise what it preached it would fare a lot better in these types of debates and its reputation would benefit enormously.

"I remember the CEO publicly berating staff a couple of years ago for contributing to discussions on internet forums. "Yip - I remember that too, which makes Boss Hogg's letter all the more risible

@Big4 -- don't do it mate...PA are tier 2 (at best) depending upon industry.

Nope, they are rubbish.

So much whinging about PA. It's not that bad, been there 10 years and there have been a few bumpy moments (August 2009 being an example). Work is interesting, colleagues are great, management style is directive and I love my red necklace. So what, that everyone is leaving, more bonus for those of us who stay. I hear Deloitte is going to recruit 250,000 new staff in next 5 years. Lots of room to go and disappear amongst the masses

"It ain't that bad" ...hmm this reminds me of the German tourist board's recent advertising: come to Germany "if you can spare the time".... not exactly a ringing endorsement....

What happened to the PA strategy thread? It made for interesting reading.

Is the missing thread another example of paid for censorship?

No, looks like they killed it because I was using a crappy wifi connection that keeped dropping and resending the submission and they thought I was spamming. Actual post was to my mind pretty uncontroversial for anyone who knows PA.

disappear amongst the masses? I feel more part of my new company post PA, one of the big 4, than I ever did at PA. PA was a horrendous mess, and from what I see the only people left there are the directionless unambitious people who are too lazy to find other work, or have had PA suck out all their self-esteem so they think they can't get far superior better paying jobs elsewhere.