What do you foresee yourself doing, or want to do?

Are you happy with doing 'low level' work? If so, go to a small firm that has a boss who's willing to take you in on a profit-sharing basis in a couple years time. I have some friends pulling in pretty good remuneration doing man-in-the-street work in small firms.

If you want to do sexier work, apply to the bigger firms. You may get docked one or two years though, especially the Big 4s, but in the grander scheme of things this should be palatable.

The most important thing is not to stay in crap firms that are exploitative. Say what you want about the merciless hours of Big 4s/large firms, at least your experience and exit options are rather valuable.

The worst are the firms that work you to the bone, pay you like crap, and leave you with a very unmarketable profile for which no recruiter will even DM you on LinkedIn. Unfortunately, and most predictably, these are the small-mid sized firms, run by boomers like your typical SME.