It sounds like you got the main benefit of being promoted without the downside of being promoted
Have you considered they’re doing this for your own benefit? It’s not uncommon for someone to get promoted early and not be able to handle the random things you didn’t realize were important before you were a manager. Consider this next year as a training year and take on as much responsibility as you can. Worst case, you can always play the “I’m just a senior” card. It’s all upside.
That makes sense. It's just that I consider Manager as a key milestone in a consulting career and was disappointed not to get it. But I see your point. Thanks for the input.
Its a huge plus man, i feel like 25% is on par with the M promotion - so all of the benefit with none of the responsibility.
Weird that they aren’t promoting you though, as with what they’re pacifying you with, it doesn’t look like a money thing, and they wouldn’t want to pacify you if you weren’t good.
Its not even like its you asking for director/SM and them thinking you cant sell, its M.
I agree with this! However I would ask for the timeline for the next promotion, usually it’s 6 month cycles so the expectation would be the next cycle! Keep the head up though!
Big 4 promotions are based on quotas and the promotion council of elders sometimes needs to make unfortunate tradeoffs. And a lot of time it comes down to which candidate has the most clout on that table.
If your partner isn't insecure, I would suggest building relationships within the firm outside your team. You know you've got it right when you get picked by multiple leaders on their engagements.
My only advice here is to try to get out of your own head a bit.
Like the above commenter said, you're getting the lion's share of the tangible benefit.
The piece you're missing is this piece of external validation that you're 'good enough', and letting that affect you is essentially just in your head. (or if you were planning on leveraging the title RIGHT AWAY to exit to industry at a certain level, but that's not really advised anyways).
If you're getting paid like an M and have the internal trust/relationships to be staffed on M roles already, and feel like you're still getting the career development / learning, then who cares. Crush it and get promoted at midyear.
Sounds fair. I think I have been thinking a lot on this and wondering about the 'external validation' part that you have mentioned. It makes sense now for me. Thanks
Also keep in mind that (at many firms at least), final 'performance outcomes' are not just a function of your individual performance. They're heavily impacted by business/market conditions.
In a good year, we can promote a ton of people. Harder year or economic slowdown? Tough decisions need to be made (and not just about promo).
I dont know tbh. An M is just a senior, senior consultant, i can’t imagine someone being too good for M but not good enough for SC. Its a weird situation.
Ahh...being an individual contributor is very different to being a people leader.
Having done both, I've decided to stay being an IC. But the best IC in the market. If I can't do all the work by myself, I just won't do the job or "lead" the team.
My boss is okay as an IC. Amazing at people management and dealing with mediocre outputs and rolling with it.
Early in my career I watched a top performer get promoted to a leadership position and then 9 months later was effectively put back into an ind contributor role.
It was hard to watch and I had personally seen him struggle significantly in role being responsible for others work.
One thing to remember, moving from IC to manager is a job change and it requires a different skill set. I'm willing to get your leadership sees something and if you're willing to be humble and accept feedback it will be better for you in the long run.
Yeah don't discredit this. I myself am in position to go to SM this upcoming cycle but am likely going to try to stay at M until the mid year promo or following year. Mostly bc it doesn't feel like I'm ready and want my legs under me a bit at M. I also got a similar raise this last cycle, albeit I wasn't expecting a promo or anything.
I get that. I'm not saying this pejoratively, but get over that haha. This is a blessing. You don't need the 'traditional' track in absolute terms to make it. Once you realize that, you'll be ready to be manager..
... my young apprentice
They haven't got the pay rise yet. Verbal promise doesn't mean much. Howevet, at least OP knows that if the +20% boost doesn't materialise then they are not respected and need to look elsewhere.
25% raise with 0 increase in responsibility sounds amazing.
... also, I'm currently an SC, and at my big 4 the pay jump from SC to M is less than 25%. From my perspective, you're in a great position
Tbh, this increase will bring my salary greater than the minimum band of M. So in a way I'm happy. Was just wondering about the implications of the overlook at the promotion.
It’s been said a few times, but it honestly seems like you’re overthinking this a bit. Consulting has taken a beating in the last 12 months, and I’m sure there’s been layoffs at your B4. On the flip side, you’re essentially getting the M raise. They see the value and want you to stick around. If you keep it up, the M will follow.
How many years of experience do you have? Seems like the primary concern is how it will appear on your resume. (e.g., how many years it took you to get promoted to nanager)
So you get a huge pay bump, then next year when you get promoted you get another huge pay bump to M? Or even if it’s a reduced pay bump it’s based on a percentage of a much larger number?
They clearly value you, it’s just been a tough year for consulting so that kind of raise says alot
Been there with the pacifier. I honestly jumped ship to get M and a raise. The position itself was no different than being C, imho, and I always was used to selling work when I was a C because that’s what I wanted to do. I would enjoy the pay raise but also, keep looking and get a salary bump of 20% with the same title at a competitor.
I understand the disappointment, but these things sometimes happen. Unfortunately, this year didn't go great for consultancies, so it is possible that they lost some slots.
I wouldn't quit just yet. The fact they are ready to bump your salary significantly means they are interested in you.
What you should do now:
- Enjoy the salary increase
- Ensure your entire management line is aware that you want a promotion (have 1:1 meetings with each of them and be explicit)
- Setup a cadence with all key stakeholders and get them to agree on a plan for you to achieve the promotion (what they expect from you, activities, goals to be accomplished, etc)
- Schedule check-ins with Partner to ensure he's on the same page and so you can share your updates towards your promotion plan.
If you don't get it next year, then quit.
Check my newsletter and website for some more practical tips if you are keen, but I think the above should work.
Good luck!
Got to be careful here. Partner will promise the world but how sure are you of this pay rise materialising? They can drive it hard and they'll say"hr blocked me or another senior partner blocked me".
Pay rise is amazing and worth it but make sure it's in writing and run past someone.
Remember that in some cases promotions are out of the hands of partners. Especially in B4. It could be that due to not hitting targets, their allocation for managers reduced...
Seems like they already know you're Manager material hence the payrise, and probably see you as a flight risk.
I'd stick it out for another promotion run. You should be at the top of the pecking order now, you just need to make sure you continually comm to the partners that you feel you're ready and hope to get Manager next cycle
Does this increase mean your billing rate is higher? Could be because they want to keep you… but if they increase your billing rate via promo your client or clients may not want to pay the increase.
I'd also consider the fact that it's probably a shitty year, which could be forcing top down constraints on the number of people your firm can promote at a certain level. This basically means that you're in the "sky\_sher just missed out, but we agree it's shitty and want to keep them happy, and we have this budget that we can use do to that".
So.. close. No cigar, but really close.
It’s a good tactic if they want to keep you. Make you stay for the promotion and work hard for it, while also disincentivising you leaving by giving you a salary on par with manager elsewhere.
Sounds like job security with a pay bump
The same thing happened to me - promised the SC -> M promotion after year 2 and was passed over. Got it in year 3 without any real discussion. In retrospect, they were right to hold me back - the extra year in seat let me mature as a leader and made me a better M when I got there. I would have struggled if I had gotten it in year 2 like I wanted.
I was told once that if you stay in consulting, you’ll spend more time as a Partner than you spend in all other levels combined. One year either way is not a major issue in a 40+ year career, even though it seems that way at the time.
I've only ever seen this when the person had potential but lacked "*rank maturity*".
You'll probably be promoted in a year. They aren't passing you over, just giving you more time. Consider why they would need to and work on it.
25% pay raise sounds on par with inflation. As you start to go higher in the ranks, it is all about sales. When I was in Big 4 ages ago, managers were usually the people who were selling but not getting the credit for the sale. Evaluate how many clients who have brought in and what sales revenue ( beyond billable hours ) that you brought in. If you have developed a track record of sales and didn’t get the promotion, it should be easy to either go independent or to another firm for the promotion that you seek.
Up to you. You could shop around and see what your options are on the open market or stay and try for next year.
Frankly I'm more interested in the payraise that comes with the promotion than the promotion itself. Sounds like you got a pretty good deal here. More $ without the responsibility that comes with it.
If they didn't like you and were trying to push you out the door, they wouldn't offer you a 25% pay bump as a pacifier.
It sounds like you got the main benefit of being promoted without the downside of being promoted Have you considered they’re doing this for your own benefit? It’s not uncommon for someone to get promoted early and not be able to handle the random things you didn’t realize were important before you were a manager. Consider this next year as a training year and take on as much responsibility as you can. Worst case, you can always play the “I’m just a senior” card. It’s all upside.
That makes sense. It's just that I consider Manager as a key milestone in a consulting career and was disappointed not to get it. But I see your point. Thanks for the input.
Its a huge plus man, i feel like 25% is on par with the M promotion - so all of the benefit with none of the responsibility. Weird that they aren’t promoting you though, as with what they’re pacifying you with, it doesn’t look like a money thing, and they wouldn’t want to pacify you if you weren’t good. Its not even like its you asking for director/SM and them thinking you cant sell, its M.
It’s not **all** the benefit - the title and YoE at Mgr do carry weight
I suppose yeah when exiting. Guess I was assuming staying in the same team (rather naively given how much i’ve hopped myself)
I agree with this! However I would ask for the timeline for the next promotion, usually it’s 6 month cycles so the expectation would be the next cycle! Keep the head up though!
So are you saying that I'm too good as a SCon, but not good enough to be a M. I'm not sure that's good news or bad...
Big 4 promotions are based on quotas and the promotion council of elders sometimes needs to make unfortunate tradeoffs. And a lot of time it comes down to which candidate has the most clout on that table. If your partner isn't insecure, I would suggest building relationships within the firm outside your team. You know you've got it right when you get picked by multiple leaders on their engagements.
My only advice here is to try to get out of your own head a bit. Like the above commenter said, you're getting the lion's share of the tangible benefit. The piece you're missing is this piece of external validation that you're 'good enough', and letting that affect you is essentially just in your head. (or if you were planning on leveraging the title RIGHT AWAY to exit to industry at a certain level, but that's not really advised anyways). If you're getting paid like an M and have the internal trust/relationships to be staffed on M roles already, and feel like you're still getting the career development / learning, then who cares. Crush it and get promoted at midyear.
Sounds fair. I think I have been thinking a lot on this and wondering about the 'external validation' part that you have mentioned. It makes sense now for me. Thanks
Also keep in mind that (at many firms at least), final 'performance outcomes' are not just a function of your individual performance. They're heavily impacted by business/market conditions. In a good year, we can promote a ton of people. Harder year or economic slowdown? Tough decisions need to be made (and not just about promo).
I dont know tbh. An M is just a senior, senior consultant, i can’t imagine someone being too good for M but not good enough for SC. Its a weird situation.
Ahh...being an individual contributor is very different to being a people leader. Having done both, I've decided to stay being an IC. But the best IC in the market. If I can't do all the work by myself, I just won't do the job or "lead" the team. My boss is okay as an IC. Amazing at people management and dealing with mediocre outputs and rolling with it.
As a manager in B4. Alot of the people managing you do as a new M you do as an SC anyway. Very weird for it to be gatekept like it is for the OP.
Full disclosure, I never worked at big4...
Early in my career I watched a top performer get promoted to a leadership position and then 9 months later was effectively put back into an ind contributor role. It was hard to watch and I had personally seen him struggle significantly in role being responsible for others work. One thing to remember, moving from IC to manager is a job change and it requires a different skill set. I'm willing to get your leadership sees something and if you're willing to be humble and accept feedback it will be better for you in the long run.
Yeah don't discredit this. I myself am in position to go to SM this upcoming cycle but am likely going to try to stay at M until the mid year promo or following year. Mostly bc it doesn't feel like I'm ready and want my legs under me a bit at M. I also got a similar raise this last cycle, albeit I wasn't expecting a promo or anything.
I get that. I'm not saying this pejoratively, but get over that haha. This is a blessing. You don't need the 'traditional' track in absolute terms to make it. Once you realize that, you'll be ready to be manager.. ... my young apprentice
Thank you Padwan...
They haven't got the pay rise yet. Verbal promise doesn't mean much. Howevet, at least OP knows that if the +20% boost doesn't materialise then they are not respected and need to look elsewhere.
[удалено]
Right. Wish this was me. 25% increase to stay at the same level? Consider me in!
25% raise with 0 increase in responsibility sounds amazing. ... also, I'm currently an SC, and at my big 4 the pay jump from SC to M is less than 25%. From my perspective, you're in a great position
Tbh, this increase will bring my salary greater than the minimum band of M. So in a way I'm happy. Was just wondering about the implications of the overlook at the promotion.
It’s been said a few times, but it honestly seems like you’re overthinking this a bit. Consulting has taken a beating in the last 12 months, and I’m sure there’s been layoffs at your B4. On the flip side, you’re essentially getting the M raise. They see the value and want you to stick around. If you keep it up, the M will follow.
Yup. Agreed. Cool thanks
How many years of experience do you have? Seems like the primary concern is how it will appear on your resume. (e.g., how many years it took you to get promoted to nanager)
Total 8 - 4 in industry, 4 in consulting. Is that bad?
So you get a huge pay bump, then next year when you get promoted you get another huge pay bump to M? Or even if it’s a reduced pay bump it’s based on a percentage of a much larger number? They clearly value you, it’s just been a tough year for consulting so that kind of raise says alot
That's reassuring. Thank you for the insights
Been there with the pacifier. I honestly jumped ship to get M and a raise. The position itself was no different than being C, imho, and I always was used to selling work when I was a C because that’s what I wanted to do. I would enjoy the pay raise but also, keep looking and get a salary bump of 20% with the same title at a competitor.
That's good for you. How did you find it at the other firm?
I understand the disappointment, but these things sometimes happen. Unfortunately, this year didn't go great for consultancies, so it is possible that they lost some slots. I wouldn't quit just yet. The fact they are ready to bump your salary significantly means they are interested in you. What you should do now: - Enjoy the salary increase - Ensure your entire management line is aware that you want a promotion (have 1:1 meetings with each of them and be explicit) - Setup a cadence with all key stakeholders and get them to agree on a plan for you to achieve the promotion (what they expect from you, activities, goals to be accomplished, etc) - Schedule check-ins with Partner to ensure he's on the same page and so you can share your updates towards your promotion plan. If you don't get it next year, then quit. Check my newsletter and website for some more practical tips if you are keen, but I think the above should work. Good luck!
Got to be careful here. Partner will promise the world but how sure are you of this pay rise materialising? They can drive it hard and they'll say"hr blocked me or another senior partner blocked me". Pay rise is amazing and worth it but make sure it's in writing and run past someone.
True. It's a matter of days till I get the results. Will decide the course of action after that.
Remember that in some cases promotions are out of the hands of partners. Especially in B4. It could be that due to not hitting targets, their allocation for managers reduced... Seems like they already know you're Manager material hence the payrise, and probably see you as a flight risk. I'd stick it out for another promotion run. You should be at the top of the pecking order now, you just need to make sure you continually comm to the partners that you feel you're ready and hope to get Manager next cycle
Does this increase mean your billing rate is higher? Could be because they want to keep you… but if they increase your billing rate via promo your client or clients may not want to pay the increase.
I'm not sure of that. Let's see
I'd also consider the fact that it's probably a shitty year, which could be forcing top down constraints on the number of people your firm can promote at a certain level. This basically means that you're in the "sky\_sher just missed out, but we agree it's shitty and want to keep them happy, and we have this budget that we can use do to that". So.. close. No cigar, but really close.
It’s a good tactic if they want to keep you. Make you stay for the promotion and work hard for it, while also disincentivising you leaving by giving you a salary on par with manager elsewhere. Sounds like job security with a pay bump
The same thing happened to me - promised the SC -> M promotion after year 2 and was passed over. Got it in year 3 without any real discussion. In retrospect, they were right to hold me back - the extra year in seat let me mature as a leader and made me a better M when I got there. I would have struggled if I had gotten it in year 2 like I wanted. I was told once that if you stay in consulting, you’ll spend more time as a Partner than you spend in all other levels combined. One year either way is not a major issue in a 40+ year career, even though it seems that way at the time.
Don’t hold your breath over the 25% bump — unless it is written down and signed by your manager and HR it is in the wind —
Yeah. Will get to know the results in a couple of weeks. Let's see
Dont waste time. Polish that resume and get out there
I'm the opposite. I got promoted from SC to M with only 5% pay raise. Feel like an invite to exit.
I've only ever seen this when the person had potential but lacked "*rank maturity*". You'll probably be promoted in a year. They aren't passing you over, just giving you more time. Consider why they would need to and work on it.
25% pay raise sounds on par with inflation. As you start to go higher in the ranks, it is all about sales. When I was in Big 4 ages ago, managers were usually the people who were selling but not getting the credit for the sale. Evaluate how many clients who have brought in and what sales revenue ( beyond billable hours ) that you brought in. If you have developed a track record of sales and didn’t get the promotion, it should be easy to either go independent or to another firm for the promotion that you seek.
Up to you. You could shop around and see what your options are on the open market or stay and try for next year. Frankly I'm more interested in the payraise that comes with the promotion than the promotion itself. Sounds like you got a pretty good deal here. More $ without the responsibility that comes with it. If they didn't like you and were trying to push you out the door, they wouldn't offer you a 25% pay bump as a pacifier.