Pros
I've been working at Schellman for about a year and it is my second job in the IT auditing/consulting industry. The reviews on here really speak for themselves, but I will go ahead and add another one to the pile -- this really is the ideal place for an experienced senior consultant/auditor to work (they do not hire straight out of school). I came from a much larger accounting firm and there really is so many refreshing qualities about this company that makes it downright impossible to want to go back. These are my favorite aspects about working at Schellman: - Yep, the benefits and pay are great; free healthcare for the employee, 10% 401k match (unheard of), quarterly bonuses, monthly technology stipend....a lot of these things sound almost too good to be true but I can assure you they are real - The technology used for performing the work is a massive improvement over my prior firm -- the laptops, software, and the way that all of the tech meshes together makes doing work as seamless as it could possibly be. Everything just works, and the operations team is constantly making improvements and adding new tools. Everything is set up to help you succeed and do your job as efficiently as possible. - Gone are the most mundane and annoying administrative tasks, especially entering time, which saves tons of......time. I couldn't possibly express through words how much I do not miss doing this. - Lots of flexibility in the location and hours you work; Schellman is mostly a mobile workforce where you are either working at the client or at home, which can be super convenient and time-saving (more on this below) - Transparency from management at every level, all the way up to the CEO -- to use a cliche, there is absolutely an "open door" policy here, and managers, senior managers, principals, and executive management are all accessible and forthcoming. There are regular calls to keep the entire company apprised of everything going on with the firm. This is the type of thing you can only get at a company of this size. - If you have spent the past couple of years stuck as a cog on the Big 4 machine, completing singular tasks next to 10 other auditors, a manager, senior manager, and partner and having no real responsibility or control over anything other than whatever test or section you've been assigned, this is pretty much the exact opposite. After a couple of months, you will know how to, and be responsible for, completing reports from start to finish. In the short time I've been here I have learned a ton and gained a ton of skills solely because you essentially have to have them here. You are involved in the process from beginning to end, and it is not long before you become an expert. I cannot imagine that there is a better place to learn and develop invaluable skills for the rest of your career.
Cons
I've rated Schellman as 5 stars, so obviously the cons are few and far between. However, one of the most important things to realize about this company is that its ability to succeed is based a lot on how it functions at its core; it is able to provide employees with great benefits and pay because it is able to do lots of work with very few resources, and keeps expenses at a minimum. With that in mind, there are some tradeoffs that one should be aware of while seeking employment here. - I mentioned as a pro that Schellman is a flexible and mobile workforce with lots of working from home, which at many times is convenient and a great feature of the job, but unfortunately that means that there is not much of a social aspect as a part of the culture. Some cities have rented office space, but the majority do not, and there is no place to go aside from your home office when you are not on a client. This is a cost-cutting measure that does indirectly benefit the employee through the profit sharing bonuses, but if you're doing remote work for several months in a row, which happens, you may get a little stir crazy without an office to go to. It also unfortunately means that you will not interfact with many of the people you work with in person very often, and you'll only see most of the firm once a year on the annual company trip. If you place a lot of value on deriving part of your social life from your employment, this is not going to be that for you. Just something to keep in mind. - While Schellman is a great company that most consultants/auditors would love to work for, it is not for everyone. This is a fast-paced, and highly efficient operation that does expect a lot from its employees. That in and of itself is not a con, this is after all a place of employment, but if you think this is a place where you can coast and hide behind a large team, this isn't the right fit for you. Hours are not unreasonable most of the time, but there will be periods that are really heavy when you have to open up the laptop again after dinner for a few hours. The overlapping of engagements is unavoidable and time management is perhaps one of the most valuable skills to have here. There really aren't any light periods as new work is constantly being won. Those great benefits and salary come with the cost of a slight-to-moderate hit to work-life balance.
