64. Starting Your Career: Big4 vs Gov with Jeremy

Aussie Firebug

Today we’re talking about two popular career paths - starting out at one of the big four or going into a government role.
The Big Four is the nickname used to refer collectively to the four largest professional services networks in the world. These include Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), KPMG, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Joining me in this discussion is my old schoolmate Jeremy who did a cadetship at Deloitte where he worked for 6 years. Jeremy explains the interview process, culture, work-life balance and salary during his time at one of the big four.

I’m going to be representing starting out in government as I spent the first 8 years of my working life in the public sector.

Some of the topics we cover in today’s episode are:

• What is the process of landing a job and what were the interviews like? (00:05:18)
• How does a cadetship actually work? (00:14:51)
• First year experiences (00:18:44)
• Salary progression (00:21:36)
• Big Four workloads and expectations (00:24:25)
• Government experience, expectations & work culture (00:35:12)
• The pros and cons of both career paths (00:48:28)
• Dealing with burnout (00:56:49)
• Finding meaningful work that brings purpose (01:00:25)

Links

• Website - Small Giants
• Book - The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life - David Brooks

www.aussiefirebug.com/podcast