Moving from LE into Big Four

Hi,

I would estimate that you would be looking at salaries in the mid 30K range, depending on experience of course. It all depends on what you're looking to get by working for one of the Big 4, are you wanting to get into eDiscovery or change your workload? I know some past colleagues who got bored with the variety of work offered in comparison to what they had in LE, and some others who found it hard to keep a hold on their relationships/home life when they were sent abroad at the last minute to do a collection.

I made that move from LE to corporate about 16 months ago, but in Australia so my experiences won't accurately reflect what you can expect in the UK some may be of interest.

I moved partly to reduce workload/stress as we were drastically understaffed and overworked, a nearly 2 year backlog on full scale analysis work. Second reason I left was remuneration, after being a cop for 12 years I realized that I had pretty much reached my earning ceiling, and even if I managed to reach higher rank the pay jumps were very very small, in some cases 3k AU pay rise for much more responsibility and loss of some penalties.

I had several colleagues who all made the jump from my unit to Big 4 in the year before I left, without exception they all hate it. They are worked ridiculous hours, promised all kinds of extra incentives which are never delivered. This may not be indicative of the Big4 simply the people they work with over here, but what is universal is the long hours. You will have a slightly higher salary with Big4 but in general the extra hours you have to work mean the reality is you are actually earning less.

I jumped to a very large second tier firm, I am paid around the same as my colleagues in the Big4 but I work much less hours. Travel is a perk for me but it may be an issue for you so you will need to check that out, but no matter where you go travel is an important part of the job. The workload will likely be unchallenging compared to what you are used to (or at least that has been my experience) but that will depend on the clients needs I guess, but I went from doing a lot of CP work to pure corporate and I don't miss that crap one bit D

The hardest part for me has been the culture shift, it's taken me about 12 months to get my head around the BD they make me do and find my feet away from LE, but then I was a copper for a long time and very close to being institutionalized I think 😉

Salary depends on your experience which you don't state. Have you 2 or 10 years LE experience? What job, if any, did you do before your LE post? What's your education and qualifications?

Note that generally the working week is shorter at LE than big four. Busy projects may mean 10+ hour days, which may not get paid overtime for. Leave allowance may be shorter too. Though you may get bonuses. So just on a financial basis if you work out the per hour pay you would get from a typical week at the big four, there may not be much difference.

I'll echo what Jonathan says with regards to the pay as well, if money is the major incentive then stay LE and work overtime. You will work probably the same hours as you would Big4 and may end up with more money.

Hi guys,

I'm in position at the moment where I feel I may have hit the brick wall at work. I love my job, I can handle the stress and if anything I thrive on the pressure. The difficulty I have is progression. For me to progress would require someone to leave or die! That's how frustrating it is. I'm on a healthy wage which is around £33K. A promotion where am at would see my hit near £40k. However I'm not going wait for this to happen.

Moving into private sector appeals to me. At least there is room for progression…well I think. However the lure of e-discovery doesn't. I enjoy investigation work and get a real buzz when I find the evidence I'm looking for. I'm under no illusions of hours or travel. At present I'm young and don't have family commitments.

In terms of my background, I have two degrees, which includes a masters in computer forensics. My current job role sees me imaging and examining both Windows and Macs machines.

I'm also not ruling out joining another company outside of the "Big 4". The reason why I thought of the “Big 4” was because of job security, as I understand their forensic teams are constantly expanding. But I also understand they are performing more and more e-discovery jobs.

I maybe showing my age here, but I’m hungry for success, I want to progress and I want to push up that job ladder. I'm not prepared to sit and wait for things to happen. However I must note I’m not willing to jump into the first job offer I receive. I’m trying to do as much research as possible, which includes posts here, meeting people already in the private sector and trying to learn from their experiences. At present the picture is very cloudy and certainly confusing.

Thank you Suzz, Adam10541 and Jonathan for your advice. Greatly appreciated.

Working for the "Big 4", is a lifestyle, until you can find a real employer.

The requirements that they do not tell you at the interview is to have no family, no healthy relationships, no friends, no pets, no plants, require only 6 hours of sleep-a-day, suffer no jetlag, love to hotels every night, eat out every meal, have all vaccinations, always wear a suit & tie, life out of a suitcase, have no religion (or faith), travel to every far flung corner of the world but never really "be there", never take vacation, never take sick days, and, should you get to return to your home office you will be treated as a pimple on a toads bottom.

Your benefit of being an indentured servant for 5 years at least? You can put four lines on your CV.

I flew from East coast to Houston, TX, 2 days business, day three fly to Tokyo. Three days business, fourth day fly to Hong Kong. Three days business, fourth day fly to Singapore, two day business third day fly to Kuala Lumpur; three day business, fourth day fly to Mumbai, three days work, fourth out to Budapest, three days work, fourth out to NYC. Home for 48 hours…

What I got for it? Frequent flyer miles that I could never use because they would never let me take a vacation…

Jhup, I'm completely sold!

Thank you for your response. It's honest responses like yourself and others already posted on here that I really appreciate.

Ethan

So we've heard that for forensic folk work at the Big 4 is less interesting, pays less on a pro-rata basis and that they steal your soul.

Would be good to hear from someone who's happy working at one of the Big 4 and what they like about it.

If you are just out of college with no experience, working for the Big 4 for five years is an excellent springboard.