Schellman reviews

I was an accounting major in college where they lauded the big 4 career path. After my internship in the B4, I decided a smaller firm was a better fit for me. I ended up accepting an offer at GT, but was recruited by S&C shortly after completing my first year. Making the switch to a firm that was previously unknown to me, under 100 employees (at that time), and a workforce that was primarily remote seemed to stray too far from the path my school tried their best to instill. However, I knew I was not fully content with my current situation and they provided an offer that was too good to shoulder without a little due diligence. My search to find reasons to avoid this offer came up empty, but I still remember feeling like I was taking a little bit of a gamble when I switched. My uneasiness was quelled the first week on the job; the on-boarding processes simplified the transition and I realized that there were incredibly competent people at the helm. Management here is comprised of some very intelligent and approachable people, and have served as great resources to help launch my career. I feel like my lines of communication stretch all the way up the organization. Training offered at Schellman also turned out to be much better than I had expected. I remember a partner at my old firm telling me that S&C’s training opportunities wouldn’t compare to ones offered at GT. I haven’t a clue how he would have insight into this, but I wanted to bring it up because I have found this to be far from the truth. I finished my CPA and was trained on ISO 27001 within my first year. I attended a CISSP bootcamp at the Tampa headquarters and obtained my CISSP in 6 days; I have a similar CIPP bootcamp slated for the fall. The culture at this firm truly is what makes it a great place to work. I have never been micro managed or worked absurd hours; if I ever find myself behind on work others are there to lend a hand. I have also never been denied PTO, which my friends in the B4 claim is a real thing. It will be very hard to leave this place.

I worked at KPMG before joining, and one of the Partners told me I was making a mistake by coming to Schellman. I had reservations after I'd left, especially because I didn't have overly negative experiences like a lot of my Big 4 peers had. Looking back I can honestly say Schellman is an amazing place to work. The work can be demanding, and you will have to learn on the job. We have deadlines and customers that we want to satisfy, which means if you can operate fairly independently and are a quick study you can thrive here. Management puts their money where their mouth is, I was accustomed to the empty promises that the Big 4 would dangle (i.e. good starting salary, hefty raises, bonuses, etc.), but Schellman will blow that out of the water out the gate. I don't get the sense that they really play games here when it comes to that stuff. On top of that, the benefits are top notch, a highlight includes: 401K dollar-for-dollar match up to 6% (will increase to 10% no later than January 1, 2018) of your salary, quarterly bonuses (some quarterly bonuses were larger than my annual Big 4 bonus), fitness expense reimbursement (when traveling the firm reimburses your gym expenses so you can stay in shape), travel bonus (when traveling during the weekend, or when you have to stay until Friday), work from home every Friday, company shutdown for two weeks during Christmas and New Years (firm-wide, meaning people don't expect you to work, what a concept), and company sponsored trainings (to work toward a CISA / CISSP / CIA / CCSK etc.) It sounds like I am bragging, but I feel like Schellman does a lot to make you proud of where you work.