Vault’s Verdict

Insiders at CIL Strategy Consultants describe their firm’s office culture as social and collaborative, with team members eager to collaborate and help each other grow. Motivated by the firm’s values of excellence, integrity, and supportiveness, they appreciate the firm’s focus on continuous feedback and improvement. After every single project, consultants undergo a review of their contributions with the project’s manager, making it easy to track progress toward the next promotion.

The firm offers structured formal training when consultants first join, when many take on generalist responsibilities rather than immediately specializing. The firm offers a secondment program to support international transfers, although insiders have mixed feelings about the ease and transparency of this process. That differs from promotions, which they say the firm governs with a  transparent, fair process. 

Work-life balance at CIL tends to receive positive reviews from insiders, with most working between 40 and 49 hours per week, which is reasonably low for consulting. Travel requirements are also minimal. Paired with a solid compensation plan that offers excellent salary progression and transparency, the firm is well worth an application.

Employee Reviews

Firm Culture

• “Good, social culture, with people at different levels talking.”
• “As much work-life balance as possible considering the type of work we do. Limited/no face-time.”
• “Our values are excellence, integrity, and supportiveness. I think being hardworking, being able to work effectively in a team, and responding well to feedback/continuously improving, are key to success.”
• “Great, supportive people to work with and fascinating work with diverse, interesting, and challenging clients.”

Quality of Life

• “Best aspects are a better focus on maintaining solid consulting working hours. I think a large proportion of the client-facing team works 40-49 hours per week, compared to bigger consultancies where it is more like 60-69 hours. WFH policies are flexible for any needs you may have, and HR is accommodating if you had any further needs for taking time off, etc.”
• “Hours can vary, as does TOIL. For instance, on some projects you could work more than 50 hours a week and not receive any TOIL, but others you could work less than that and still get it. This could be more standardized. Travel requirements are minimal and taking time off usually isn’t a problem, although you are encouraged not to take an ‘unhelpful holiday’ (for instance, a long weekend), which can be frustrating. The possibility to buy five more days of AL a year is a good perk.”
• “Hours can be long but not consistently so. Exercise is promoted and supported (e.g., company sports teams).”
• “Very easy to take time off and sabbaticals. Long hours but not as bad as others in industry.”

Career Development

• “Promotions/salaries are extremely transparent compared to what I believe other companies do. Promotions are primarily data-based on previous project reviews. Grade salaries are readily available for anyone to view. Informal, on-the-job training is very much encouraged. Regarding international opportunities, there is not a very clear process for changing offices, and the offices are probably comparatively limited to other consulting firms, though because the firm is mid-sized, these opportunities are more interesting as you are a key starting member in other offices.”
• “Formal training was very well structured and provided a good sense of what would be taking place and how to achieve it. Has an in-place secondment system which seems to provide a good support for abroad placement but is only applicable from the consultant level.”
• “Great informal training but very dependent on the office. In smaller office structures, junior members are closer to partners/directors.”
• “The best aspect is a clear review process, tracking of personal progress, and structure to move upwards. Everything is set out well and very transparent. The worst aspect is a lack of specialization early on. You’re assigned to multiple sectors on purpose, which can be useful, but you only learn deep knowledge of sectors much later.”

Compensation

• “Everyone’s pay is totally transparent, and the progression is pretty good. You can only expense a company taxi on working late after 9 p.m., which is pretty late.”
• “Best is transparency of pay, can see amount every level is paid. Pay is reasonable given other benefits. Pension plan could be better.”
• “At a senior level, the base salary is relatively low to mitigate effects of downturn but offset by a generous (but variable) bonus. Real attention paid to pay equality and also transparency.”
• “They offer discounts on gym memberships and have teams for tennis and football. They also offer mental health counselling and an EAP.”

Inclusion

• “There has been a dedicated effort to better monitor and publish the businesses efforts in attracting and retaining a more diverse workforce. We’re not very diverse at the moment, but I think the business is putting sensible steps in place to support improvement in DEI.”
• “An important focus of the firm. Very proactive around women (where have critical mass) and increasingly re ethnicity. Transparent and supportive re: LGBTQ but less proactive as we are subscale in this space. In principle supportive of disability, but limited proactiveness outside mental health.”
• “There are women’s network events that are good at fostering relationships with people of different grades. There is also a very diverse workforce in regard to ethnicity. However, there is still a big disparity in gender, which is partly due to the nature of the industry but could still be improved.”
• “Generally fine but an industry-wide problem. CIL does what it can to be more equitable.”

Business Outlook

• “The best aspect is that it is specialized within its niche and has good sector coverage. The worst is that it is quite dependent on general deal activity, which can be cyclical and unpredictable.”
• “Certain sectors have brought talent through well and are well positioned to succeed. U.S. office should also be well positioned to grow”
• “Have grown substantially and taken share in our market. Ambitious leadership with willingness to invest in new verticals and geographies.”
• “Growing strongly internationally. Developing value creation services which are more interesting but can be less lucrative than due diligence.”

Hiring Process

• “Three rounds: Initial with a consultant. Second with a director. Third with a partner in person. Candidates should be engaged, interested, and smart. Time is limited; you need to show an ability to operate under pressure. Showing ways of thinking is more important than specific numbers but still try to do the math right.”
• “Online aptitude questions. Round one interview with a consultant and senior consultant. Round two interview with engagement manager. Round three interview with some of the senior team. Ideal candidate: intelligent, enthusiastic, appetite to learn.”
• “Callback is very efficient and quick. There are no long wait times between interviews, and the team is friendly and efficient. I think it is one of the best in the market. The interview process is relatively easier.”
• “We’re looking for bright, motivated graduates who are business literate with strong basic maths and English capabilities.”

Interview Questions

• “I was given one page of writing describing a business. This page gave me information on the business’s financials, its business model, the market outlook, and its competitors. I was told to answer three questions regarding what I thought could affect the firm’s ability to succeed. I had to evaluate which information was relevant, whether it was negative or positive, how there might be confounding factors, what actions the firm could take, etc. I was given 10 minutes to write down my thoughts and then had to speak through my answers.”
• “Market sizing questions: For example, how many hairdressers are there in London? Business case studies. For example, how would the profitability of a business change due to different factors? CV discussions. Why consulting? Why CIL?”
• “Regression analysis on a dataset with missing data, poor quality data, etc. Market sizing questions.”
• “Size the UK greeting card market.”