Deloitte

"Deloitte is a huge firm, and that has its pros and cons. I work in the Consulting arm, which is an extremely diverse practice in and of itself driven by many factors - one's career track, position/level, alignment (public sector vs. commercial), offering/offering portfolio, etc. On the good side, it's a place where one can truly grow professionally by being exposed to a wide breadth of projects, and the firm encourages people to bring their authentic selves to work. On the challenging side, a lot of your experience will depend on your team, leadership, and supporting network - which is a recipe for very different experiences across the same organization. Without a doubt, it's also a place where each person is expected to advocate for themselves, so people who come to Deloitte with an expectation that their work will speak for itself, or that people will make correct assumptions without your communicating up front, or who come with a sense of entitlement based on their background/experiences will probably have a hard time. I have been at the firm for nearly 8 years and have had an extremely positive experience (across many different types of clients and projects). I have been challenged, given opportunities to grow, received constructive feedback throughout the years -- and anecdotally speaking, no, I have never been on the receiving end of discrimination, microaggressions, or bias even though I am a Hispanic woman in what is a cutthroat and white male-dominated industry. I have benefited from generous parental leave (firm policy) and accommodations for new life circumstances (because I have asked for them and proven that I can make it work). I am a huge advocate of the firm, but understand it is not a fit for all. Again, many times, there is a disconnect between the firm culture and an individual's project experience. Nevertheless, I do think that Deloitte tries very hard -- more so than many other equally enormous firms -- to be progressive, embrace diversity in all senses of the word, and be a place where talented and hard-working people can make a difference. "

"Ask more questions than I did about the talent models. I didn’t know there were 7 different models until I onboarded and I didn’t know what a huge difference that meant in terms of benefits and growth opportunities."

"Be sure to advocate for yourself when first coming in. The salary you negotiate will set the bar for all compensation moving forward. They don't change your salary even if you change roles once inside the company. It has a very structured pay and promotion scale that is basically non-negotiable. "

"Find the right partner sponsors. Be careful of words and not actions culture that exists. "

"If you don’t know what you’re worth, they’re not going to tell you. Deloitte is notorious for starting people off on a lower level than they deserve. This makes it exceedingly difficult to course correct later on. They don’t proactive compare men to women or do marker adjustments without you making a fuss and showing them data. You are absolutely going to get paid less than your male peers. Don’t fool yourself."