Fresh Grad Advice: Local Big 4 Strategy vs Hong Kong Transaction Banking

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Consultants at Strategy& and Parthenon don’t follow your usual Big 4 pay grades (A1, A2, S1...etc) like their Advisory counterparts btw.

What type of exit opps you’re looking for? If it’s to land a job at MBB then yes, Strategy& and Parthenon is gonna boost your chances compared to transaction banking.

If you’re comparing traditional Big 4 advisory and transactional banking, neither will get you close to MBB unless you decide to do your postgrad at a target MBA program and join their graduate associate schemes.

Can you share what are the target biz schools in SG for MBB?

Can only think of INSEAD...

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Can you share what are the target biz schools in SG for MBB?

Can only think of INSEAD...

Try to avoid INSEAD or ESSEC if you don’t have industry experience. The reason why their MBA programmes overstate “prestige” is because their candidates are mostly already employed consultants on a sabbatical. It’s a good place to brush shoulders with MBB guys but getting into a graduate scheme fresh out of the boat will be an uphill task.

Do a quick LinkedIn search and you will find that fresh postgrad (with no consulting experience) in MBB oftentimes hail from the likes of Wharton, Judge, Said, Tuck, and etc.

In SG, the only MBA that comes close would be NUS’ MBA/EMBA though I have yet to encounter a graduate that breaks into MBB fresh however their programme brochure boasts alumni at C-suite level.

Originally Posted by trutem

Yup the offer is from Parthenon. Not sure if they are following the same scale as the usual big 4 pay grade as the starting pay is ~3.8k which seems pretty low, perhaps the post integration resulted in lower payscale.
Do you know the pay progression within Parthenon?

I guess I am looking at exit opportunities within corporate strategy/business development etc. Not really MBB as I don't think I can take the consulting life for long.

Big 4 A1s start at $3,000 (take home salary $2,400) with a guaranteed (sort of) promotion yearly.

Is yours $3,800 after CPF deduction? If it is then $4,750 for a fresh associate is the industry average. Can’t comment on Parthenon’s increment but in my firm (non MBB), baseline pay won’t increase but we get higher performance bonus every year.

[trutem]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Big 4 A1s start at $3,000 (take home salary $2,400) with a guaranteed (sort of) promotion yearly.

Is yours $3,800 after CPF deduction? If it is then $4,750 for a fresh associate is the industry average. Can’t comment on Parthenon’s increment but in my firm (non MBB), baseline pay won’t increase but we get higher performance bonus every year.

Sadly, its before CPF deduction. So I feel its really low and might not be worth it in comparison.
Your firm sounds great, thanks for sharing!

Originally Posted by trutem

Yup the offer is from Parthenon. Not sure if they are following the same scale as the usual big 4 pay grade as the starting pay is ~3.8k which seems pretty low, perhaps the post integration resulted in lower payscale.
Do you know the pay progression within Parthenon?

I guess I am looking at exit opportunities within corporate strategy/business development etc. Not really MBB as I don't think I can take the consulting life for long.

I expected 4.5k honestly. You can try to negotiate.

Personally, I'd take the Parthenon job over banking, but that's due to personal preference.

Is the salary difference huge? I'm guessing the banking role would be around 5k SGD a month.

dont mean to hijack this thread but i kinda wanna ask a similar question, CPF MA or marsh grad program?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

dont mean to hijack this thread but i kinda wanna ask a similar question, CPF MA or marsh grad program?

whats the salary for both

start yr own freaking thread

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I expected 4.5k honestly. You can try to negotiate.

Personally, I'd take the Parthenon job over banking, but that's due to personal preference.

Is the salary difference huge? I'm guessing the banking role would be around 5k SGD a month.

Yeah i tried, but no room for negotiation
That's true as the banking role is in HKD there are fluctuations in the difference from 1.2k to 1.6k sgd, think its quite substantial.

Starting lower would also make it harder to negotiate for a higher pay in the future.

Nonethless, thanks for sharing your perspective! Cheers!

[trutem]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I expected 4.5k honestly. You can try to negotiate.

Personally, I'd take the Parthenon job over banking, but that's due to personal preference.

Is the salary difference huge? I'm guessing the banking role would be around 5k SGD a month.

I tired to but they wouldnt budge. The salary difference works out to be around 1.2k to 1.6k sgd/month due to currency fluctuation as I will be paid in HKD, I think its pretty huge?