I've recently received two quite different entry-level role offers, and am torn on which to move forward with. The first (accepted) is a data consulting role at a boutique firm, and the second is a Big 4 accounting firm role in the workforce consulting team.
Pay for the first firm (excluding bonuses) is at least 13k higher than the Big 4 role and the scope for quick learning + development seems immense. The team seems intelligent and the opportunity to develop my analytics skills looks valuable within the role itself too - I feel like I would be doing real work from day 1. However, brand name is not too prominent and I'm nervous about the transferability of this experience overseas for future roles, especially as they work a fair bit with the public sector.
The main thing that honestly draws me to the Big 4 role is the brand name and the prestige that comes with it. The work looks fairly interesting but definitely less intellectually rigorous, and I'm not sure whether workforce consulting will pigeonhole me into HR-type work if I were to want to move into broader management/ strategy consulting in the future. Have also not heard the best things about Big 4 culture itself (i.e. politics, lacking a sense of purpose with work for entry-level roles, large-scale layoffs), plus the fact that pay is substantially lower.
Is Big 4 consulting worth withdrawing from offer 1 for the brand name, even with lower pay and maybe less intellectually rigorous work? What do the exit opportunities for data+strategy consulting vs workforce consulting look like, especially internationally?