Hi everyone,After going through long recruitment processes, Ernst & Young and Deloitte have both offered me a contract (this is for a manager position in their IT Advisory practices).They seem quite similar to me, even though Deloitte is bigger and more structured (they never sold their consulting practice unlike the other Big 4s). On the other hand, one could argue that Ernst & Young is growing rapidly in that space, so that leaves more room for development potentially;What are your opinions regarding the differences between EY and Deloitte? Which one would you choose and what grounds?Many thanks in advance for your feedback

have recruited from both. Deloitte - more structured (more reference/model material, organisationally tighter silos of specialism), tougher culture, good pipeline, far better brand. E&Y - ex Capgem leadership, have overhired at times and carried allegedy large bench, harder for them to build pipeline, however much less silo'd (good or bad thing depending on your bodyshop v specialist preference), easier going culture, less expectation of ultimate 'polish'. personally I'd go Deloitte every time - been more impressed with the people and the brand counts for a lot

The 'easy going culture' you mention about E&Y sounds very appealing

Billum, thanks for the feedback. I'd tend to say I wouldn't want to be put in a silo and then never be able to move or see beyond it. But in the different interviews I had with Deloitte, there was a lot of work involving intensive integration with the other practices. Whether that was interview clap-trap or not, difficult to tell...When you say tougher culture in Deloitte, do you mean pressure and overworking people or very high 'polish' standards (or both...)?People don't seem to talk so much about E&Y, so it's difficult to know what's going on inside. Anyone who's been (or still) working for them?ps: the second 'Try' post is not mine

When you say tougher culture in Deloitte, do you mean pressure and overworking people or very high 'polish' standards (or both...)? I would be interested to know this also. Don't wanna work for a sweatshop.

first: 'easy' and 'tough' are relative terms in this industry - everyone is going to work long hours, travel, be under pressure to deliver on multiple activities etc. a hard-driven culture might feel tough day to day but remember that it also tends to result in more work coming in the door, which is essential for your development and indeed survival. the calibre of candidate I saw from Deloitte was generally higher - more articulate, presentation more polished, and more content. I did however interview several people who said they felt it easier to move out than into an different area internally; maybe that related to their specific partner. the EY IT advisory people I met have included one I was surprised to see in a prof firm at all (poor academics, sloppy presentation), and generally had less content depth than the Deloitties. I have counselled out two people at manager level who turned up at EY, but lost one good person to Deloitte. the style at EY is much more 'facilitative' and the people tend to be more 'nice'/ less hard-bitten, hence comment about culture

Having worked at one of them, and have experience with the other, I would recommend you go where you think you would 'fit' the most.I would also add that Deloitte may give you better work, as they tend to have more projects due to the size of their practice.

I have heard that EY relies heavily on public sector... Given the tone of the Budget, it doesn't look like at area of growth. Could anyone confirm in which sectors EY and Deloitte are most active?Additionally, do they have lots of projects in London or is travel extensively required (still talking about IT advisory assignments)?

The EY IT focus is 80%+ Government and a small number of assignments. Most of top guys focused on Private Sector have left to join other firms. So if you want a smaller practice focused on Government EY is fine but if you want variety and progression go for a smaller firm or one of the big 2.

EY positives:Little / no weekend workingSupportive relxaed culture - virtually unheard of for poor performers to be exitedSlightly higher base salary that competitors - due to no bonusEY negs:No bonusGo on hiring and firing bingesStrategically questionable decisions over the years - eg bought up much of ACN's and IBM's top team in Finance Transformation about 7 / 8 years ago and then promptly fired themDeloittes positivesStrongest brand of the Big4Very well structured training and methodologiesTend to pay top of the tableNegativesVery cut throat, up or out cultureThose that get ahead tend to be white middle class ex-public school malesPartners have a rep for being "friendly" with the junior female staff...although I do know one Sth African girl who left IBM to join EY a few years ago because she was giving her IBM partner that extra bit of delivery too, so its not just something that happens in Deloittes.

Deloitte, one of the worse BIG4 consulting companies I ever worked with!They do not do any consulting, just body selling!!

Never read so much rubbish in my life - seems like half the Deloitte recruitment team have been cruising the discussion board for want of something to do... so lets balance this up a bit;Talk to anyone about Deloittes culture and the same two phrases come up "backstabbing" and "harsh", most say too many acquisitions, and no identifiable values, and there is still a lot of confusion about direction since unwin left. EYs has achieved strong organic growth and is growing fast in private sector markets. Havent experienced the same difference in quality and there are a number of highly rated Deloitte consultants now at EY..

Unfortunately EY IT Advisory are non existent in the private sector. IT has been taken over in the Business Consulting so if you want IT Advisory choose a different firm as you will either be body shopping on a government job or working long hours being ordered around by MBA types with no real capability apart from the ability to bullshit

I think you have your answer. Don't go for EY IT Advisory. Doesn't sound like its core business for them anyhow. After all of the restructuring they have gone through with people leaving it might not even be there to join.

James; Its all to easy to make snide vague comments about restructuring and leavers - what are you actually referring to? Most consulting firms have restructured to some degree and everyone has had leavers...I work in ITA in EY and have seen the team grow by 50% in the last year and win a number of large private sector engagements all of which proper consulting not bodyshopping. ITA is absolutely part of our core business and is being invested in.James' comment sounds like the kind of garbage you hear from recruitment agents who are trying to get you to leave by slagging of your current company.

Being a EY Advisory consultant, I'm obviously bias. But having friends who have worked with both Deloitte and EY, its consistently clear that EY has better people (meaning more easy-going, flexible to work with, happier, lighter hours). You can argue that better people means better culture, which may outweigh brand alone to you, so in that case I'd pick EY. We're all in the same top 10 overall rankings for consultancies, and at the end of the day, we receive 9/10 of the same exit opportunities as x-deloitte conusltants (if not more, when you consider EY is not as siloed as Deloitte, which makes us more marketable). Lastly, EY is growing fast and likely to outpace Deloitte at some point in the future As far as "ranking" is concerned - it's better to ride the growth curve at EY than be stuck in a hyper-competitive culture where your extra efforts to shine are seen as marginal in comparison to your peers. Besides, I've switched practices in EY fairly easily and find that quality of EY to be my favorite because they want to retain their employees - not burn them out. Hope this helps give you more insight!

hmm, well this EY person does sound happy so they must be doing something right there!I once went to a career fair and the Deloitte people were basically referring prospective applicants to their website if they wanted to know more (they were basically handing out impersonal cards with a URL on it). Some of those folk had travelled a very long way to attend the event, just to be told to look at the website. I wasn't impressed

Absolutely definitely Deloitte. EY quality of people is various with more factory-style engagements.