Pros
As my first job out of college, PCG gave me excellent exposure to all aspects of the consulting industry. Below were my favorite aspects of the job: 1. Work for the public sector clients. At PCG, you will get exposure to working with government agencies. In the end of the day, this is good work. For your benefit, a senior consultant and a consultant will give you the opportunity to conduct research, present a stakeholder meetings, perform financial analysis, prepare monthly and annual reports just to name a few. 2. You will have the best co-workers. Most people at PCG are genuinely smart, hard-workers and good people in general. They do whatever it takes to get the job done. People at PCG and in consulting in general, have the ability to "figure out" things. They will not be holding your hands but they will be there, by your side, working hard to get things done. You will always have company for social activities and most people are young. Most importantly, you will make great friends at this company. 3. Travel! I had the great opportunity to travel while at PCG. I traveled, on average, only 1-2 times a month to a fun state. It is a great opportunity because you get to see different parts of the country. When work is done, you have the opportunity to explore and take tons of cool pictures. You will also get the perks of airline and hotel points. I have not paid for hotel stays or flights for my personal trips thanks to all of my points! On the flip side, there are people who travel every week and don't enjoy it as much. However, if you are a recent graduate, then this should be fun. Other pros: Location: PCG is at the heart of the financial district in BOSTON. Holiday parties: Top-notch. The latest party was on an island and we ate lobster! Bonus: Generous bonus check. I will talk about salary soon but year end bonus and Christmas bonus are very good. Training: PCG is working to improve training. The ChIP program is helping and it will keep improving. Opportunity to grow: PCG is growing at a very fast rate. There are many new projects and people are having the opportunity to move up quickly if you work very hard. There were several people on my team that work at PCG since college!
Cons
1. Work-Life Balance You will work on average 50 hours+ per week; sometimes more. If you commute from far, then hours can take a even bigger toll on you. PCG is not for everyone. You need to stay positive and look at the bright side of everything because otherwise you will be miserable. The hours are long due to a combination of factors: - Consulting industry (mercy of clients, more work than time to do it) - Steep Learning curve. You will get tons of responsibilities and your consultant and senior consultant will rely on you to "figure it out" and "get it done" since they are even more busier than you. -Not enough staff in my opinion. Sometimes you will be working alone on tasks/ deliverables when in an ideal world there should be 2-3 people working on it. 2. Compensation: Compensation is below market average. Although it can reach market level if you factor in the experience that you are getting, airline/hotel perks, health reimbursement (if you are in someone else's insurance plan), year end bonus, Christmas bonus and referral bonus. I left for another company and I saw a 20% increase my salary not including any benefits or bonus! 3. Benefits PCG does not offer exceptional benefits. A good benefit would be transit reimbursement. There are many commuters at the company and this would be a great benefit to offer, even for those who live in the boston area and use the subway!