Making it to partner at one of the Big Four professional services firms — Deloitte, EY, PwC, and KPMG — is the pinnacle of success for many consultants and accountants.
Partners are the firms’ most senior employees. Those who hold equity in the business traditionally get a vote in strategic matters and a share of annual profits. That meant each of Deloitte’s equity partners in the UK received the equivalent of $1.3 million last year.
Becoming a partner is notoriously difficult, and is only getting more competitive as structural shake-ups and slowing growth have reduced partner numbers and annual payouts.
Business Insider asked two recruiters who place partners at the Big Four firms and a former PwC partner who recently left the firm for the advice they’d give early-career employees who want the coveted role.
Networking
James O’Dowd, founder of the global executive recruiter Patrick Morgan, which specializes in senior partner hiring and industry analysis, told BI that two key traits were needed to become a Big Four partner: a “commercial nature” and an understanding of “the politics within the business.”
“A lot of your success is about the support and encouragement you get from senior individuals and the individuals around you as much as it is your competence,” he said.
You can be technically good, but unless you invest time building those internal networks, you won’t progress as quickly, O’Dowd said.
Mohamed Kande, who made it all the way to become PwC’s global chairman last year, wrote in a 2021 LinkedIn post that several executives in the firm helped him “learn the many areas of our business” and “helped me grow and provided me with tremendous opportunities to advance my career.”
As a junior, you should start putting your hand up to do the tasks other people don’t want to do, said O’Dowd. Over your career, that will build you a reputation as someone who can get stuff done, he added.
Paul Webster is a former EY employee who’s now a managing partner at Page Executive, a senior talent recruitment firm. He said there was no doubt that networking was a necessary skill at the Big Four.
Webster, who has worked in the advisory world for the past 20 years, advised employees to start incorporating more networking and client events into their schedules, and “be good at schmoozing.”
You should also draw on these social skills to be a team player, Webster added. Whereas other industries have more of a focus on individual performance, he said the Big Four don’t want to see you trying to get ahead by stepping on someone else’s toes.
“You’re trying to help the team win so that the firm gets ahead. They particularly venerate collaboration and an extremely collegiate style.”
Develop a commercial mindset
“Ultimately, a partner in a Big Four is a sales role,” O’Dowd told BI. “Your sole focus is on winning and nurturing client relationships.”
He said a Big Four career meant transitioning from doer to revenue generator to seller.
“As you progress through those levels, you’re increasingly managing people and then eventually the onus is on not only managing but bringing in money,” so developing those skills from an early point will help to set you apart, O’Dowd said.
Even if everyday tasks don’t require commercial skills, he advised junior employees to get as much exposure as they can to the commercial side of projects by attending client-facing meetings and connecting with people who are known for doing it really well.
O’Dowd added that senior partners tend to frown on those who work from home, preferring people to demonstrate the interpersonal skills necessary for commercial business, so going to the office is a good idea.
Webster said the focus on business skills has become even more pertinent over the past decade.
“Even when you’re getting up to senior manager grade, they now start to expect you to have some level of a Rolodex or some contacts or some sort of ability to bring in business even before you get to partner,” he said.
Climbing the ranks isn’t the only option
Working your way up the ranks internally isn’t the only way to a Big Four partnership.
Alan Paton joined PwC as an equity partner from Google. He worked in AI cloud capabilities in its financial services division before leaving the Big Four firm this year.
He told BI that joining the firm required more than a year of individual interviews, panel interviews, personality and academic references — and that was while being “fast-tracked.”
Every hiring decision is based on the business case, so to become a partner from an external company, you have to have specific skills the firm is lacking, Paton told BI.
He added that the firms are desperate for high-quality people with cloud, AI, data, and tech skills, but anything else will not get you very far.
He added it was “pretty tough” to break into the Big Four from a smaller consulting firm if your work consists only of “generic consulting.”
O’Dowd said Big Four employees should be thinking carefully about positioning themselves and their skill sets.
“Think strategically about your progression and the area you’re filling versus who else is in the organisation,” he said. “If I’m smart and I’m still developing my capability, I might position myself into an area where I know there’s a gap.”
In response to a request for comment, KPMG US’s vice chair of talent and culture, Sandy Torchia, said the firm aimed to empower partners with three essential mindsets.
“These mindsets — referred to as ‘owner, operator, steward’ — are vital to the partnership’s strength and provide our partners with meaningful connections to KPMG throughout their careers and beyond,” she said.
We also recognize that career aspirations evolve. By fostering a multi-disciplinary firm with diverse career pathways, we not only better support our clients but also offer our professionals layered opportunities throughout their journey.”
PwC, EY, and Deloitte did not respond to requests for comment.
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