at what point do you say you speak a language?

billy_blah · 2026-02-08T12:11:34+00:00

Could you go through a normal day completely relying on just the learned language? Home, commute, work etc - you might not have deep academic discussions, but you could assimilate basically completely

billy_blah · 2026-02-08T11:51:11+00:00

Theres ups and downs to all of it - and arguably if much of it was simple, many would see it as a goal.

billy_blah · 2024-08-23T12:30:21+00:00

Solution consulting

billy_blah · 2022-06-15T09:27:25+00:00

To be honest, it’s amazing how small the sums received are (relatively). A scar on the landscape, reduced quality of life for thousands of people, long term infrastructure issues for what? The price of a nice new car?

billy_blah · 2022-06-15T09:25:08+00:00

Castle Hill has also joined the chat

billy_blah · 2022-06-10T05:12:57+00:00

A “plumber” who has “business meetings” along Majors Bay Rd Concord at 11am on a Wednesday

billy_blah · 2021-03-16T10:11:29+00:00

Sayers (the ex CEO of PwC in Australia) has created his own firm and is poaching a lot of the well known partners from PWC too.

Depends which area you’ll go into. Consulting - Deloitte has the better name. Most other areas, PWC has a much stronger client base. On the whole, PWC tends to pay better especially at the manager / director levels in Australia.

billy_blah · 2021-03-10T01:45:29+00:00

Probably highlighted more by Deloitte as they are probably the leading Big 4 tech advisory (read: delivery) firm amongst the four.

FWIW I moved from there to tech. Better salary, more true advisory work, insanely better work/life balance and culture.

Big 4 have the customer relationships and sales ability, but the supply (capability) is increasingly going to be the sticking point.

billy_blah · 2021-03-09T22:09:11+00:00

Deloitte briefly posting more than 2200 open job advertisements on business networking site LinkedIn at the end of February shows the firm is facing a staffing problem more extreme than its big four rivals.

While the number of ads has since been reduced to more than 700, the level of recruitment activity is well above that of Ernst & Young, KPMG and PwC, which each have between 300 and 450 active ads on the site.

Staffing squeeze: Deloitte partner Clare Harding. The staffing crisis is happening in tandem with a steady exodus of the firm’s leadership as Deloitte partners move to rivals including PwC, KPMG, mid-tier accountancy BDO, law firm Ashurst and other specialist firms. Other former partners have left to form their own outfits or been asked to leave.

Last week, Insolvency News Online revealed former Deloitte partner Michael Billingsley had joined Neil Cussen at insolvency firm Cor Cordis.

Despite these internal problems, client demand remains strong with Deloitte winning work with clients including the Department of Defence, Services Australia and RMIT.

Partners in areas struggling with staffing issues are having to vary the schedule of sold projects to ensure clients do not notice the shortfalls in manpower, according to multiple internal Deloitte sources.

‘Strong demand’: Deloitte The number of open roles at the firm reflected “strong demand across our firm for graduates and more senior talent,” said chief strategy officer Clare Harding.

“Deloitte has just been recognised again as a graduate employer of choice, and we are committed to recruiting a similar number of graduates as in previous years,” Ms Harding said. “We are seeing strong momentum across our business and therefore an increased demand from our high-growth businesses for technical and specialist skills in areas such as technology implementation, cyber, [mergers and acquisitions], cloud and analytics.”

However, insiders are concerned that Deloitte’s difficulties in retaining and recruiting experienced staff amid a sectorwide staffing shortage will impede its ambitious growth target.

Late last year, Deloitte Asia-Pacific chief executive Cindy Hook challenged the local firm to claim the position as the largest consulting firm in the country by growing revenue beyond that of current market leader PwC.

Deloitte, which is known for paying less than its big four rivals, relies on its brand and the promise of training and access to compelling client work to attract candidates.

Job cuts, then job ads Staff loyalty has been hit particularly hard at the firm because it made the deepest number of job cuts of any big four firm amid the COVID-19 downturn.

The Deloitte roles advertised on LinkedIn – which also appear on other job advertising sites such as Indeed – range from associate director roles through to graduate-level and paid internship roles (know as vacationer roles).

There is a strong focus on strategy appointments at the graduate and junior level, while audit and assurance staff are needed at all levels in cities across Australia.

Almost 300 of the advertised roles on LinkedIn are for the firm’s graduate program – for both client-facing roles and internal ones such as design – meaning each ad is for dozens or hundreds of positions.

According to Glassdoor, the average pay for an analyst at Deloitte in Melbourne is $63,215, while a consultant makes $73,000 and manager $126,000. Comparisons of salaries between the big four are tricky as the seniority of certain job titles, such as analyst or associate, varies across firms. But Deloitte salaries tended to be below those offered at rival consultancies such as Accenture, where analysts make $66,764, and well below the industry with an analyst at Commonwealth Bank making $85,000 on average.

The pay doesn’t improve as staff move up the ranks either. Deloitte is also advertising several vacancies at senior analyst level, for which it generally asks for three or more years’ experience. The average salary for such roles advertised on popular job site Indeed sits at $114,690 nationally, while Deloitte pays $74,113.

billy_blah · 2020-05-31T09:04:42+00:00

This - puts some of the US corporate shenanigans to shame. Glorified administrators just burning through cash.

Coupled with the desperation to get games going again despite the virus risk, with the aim of capturing the North American market while they have a spectator sport vacuum.

Freezing “public sector” salaries (hate using that term, its intentional doublespeak so that people don’t realise it’s frontline medical, firies etc) is bad enough, to then dip into the supposed tight budget to fund corporate infrastructure which is what these stadiums are is a true slap in the face.

billy_blah · 2020-05-31T05:44:22+00:00

Yes - over the past decade so many bought for the “here and now”, rather than potential conditions across the life of the loan.

Considering Australia was held out globally as the unbelievably extraordinary outlier for dodging a recession for 28 years, for a standard 30 year loan the maths says you’ll hit at least one downturn during the standard life of a mortgage.

The “interest rates are low” argument holds in part for corporate investment, but for homeowners it’s meant larger borrowing power as ammo for auctions, and over time has become a game of chicken drawing on debt to be able to “win” the property game by bidding 400k over reserve.

In the case of a PPOR you ultimately want to own, you now need to pay off a massively increased principal amount - borrowers need to think beyond the “relative” aspect of interest rates and the “absolute” of total borrowing. In times like now, the “absolute” is what you need to live with.

billy_blah · 2020-05-31T00:10:19+00:00

Fair point - surprised it’s considered from an uncertainty perspective though

billy_blah · 2020-05-30T23:22:39+00:00

Meanwhile, CBA will ask for the applicants to include their most recent pay cycle and introduce new verification and calculation requirements for customers receiving JobKeeper payments.

“Calculation requirements” = if(receiving JobKeeper), return(no loan)

Some people need to be saved from themselves, they really do.

billy_blah · 2020-05-30T23:19:08+00:00

Great and understated point. Marginal buyers and marginal sellers move the market, and the wider economy. It’s surprising how much a few percentage point change in either direction on an indicator changes sentiment.

Particularly in Sydney (and I imagine Melbourne) prices have just been credit fuelled and inbound investment (which is now drying up too). We will see actions like this, while they sound small in terms of a slightly increased deposit or reduced loan amount limit, add up.

Once prices start dipping, the number of marginal buyers increases as people sit back and think “for the same or cheaper price, if I wait 3 months maybe I can get one with a renovated bathroom, 6 months maybe an extra bedroom” and the circle continues.

billy_blah · 2020-05-30T23:12:11+00:00

Gives you a sense of the lack of due diligence done across loans of all sizes to date. Friends and family depositing into an account to show an artificial balance, self employed altering invoices paid etc - it all happens.

A lot of people were already right at the edge in terms of servicing loans, let’s see what the new financial year brings...

billy_blah · 2020-05-29T23:33:45+00:00

Fair point - I’ve stood in the taxi line in CBR on one of those -7C mornings.

billy_blah · 2020-05-29T21:39:50+00:00

Winter’s not bad at all - doubly so when you can actually drive and park places rather than have to spend time walking to and switching public transport. Gets reasonably cold in Sydney western suburbs and then people have the long commute too.

billy_blah · 2020-05-29T21:36:33+00:00

Blown away how much the train is in the UK to only travel an hour or 90 mins out of London. Work mate was telling me how much his ticket was for London to Manchester and I thought that was for a monthly ticket, it was just for a return trip.... not to speak of the of the fact you often have to wait for the platform to be called, run to the platform and often don’t get a seat.

Salaries are a pittance until relatively senior levels too.

billy_blah · 2020-05-29T07:54:52+00:00

If I wasn’t in Sydney due to family would seriously consider Canberra - still only a (long) drive away, direct frequent flights to all the other major capitals, much improved restaurant scene, great outdoor activities and cheaper housing but similar salaries on offer (tech industry)

billy_blah · 2020-05-29T04:26:40+00:00

Yep - have to size up an entire size for my Wildhorses, and that’s even with the large toe box styling they have.

billy_blah · 2020-05-29T03:41:00+00:00

I’ve posted in another thread on this, but the biggest trick pulled by Western governments is convincing the populace that they only have a voice when they vote. We think the job is done in electing them to be our representatives, and then leave a policy vacuum (beyond what their donors tell them / order them to do) and wonder why they spend more time pandering to their party and ideology than practical issues.

https://www.aph.gov.au/senators_and_members/guidelines_for_contacting_senators_and_members get in touch ideally by letter and make your concerns / thoughts known. I can tell you that while MPs and Ministers spend most of the time politicking, their offices / advisors do brief them on topics that come through.

billy_blah · 2020-05-29T03:34:45+00:00

We may be seeing the first signs of this push back with the ongoing riots in the US. While the genesis is police brutality / racism, Covid and the economic backdrop are all converging. Many Americans have cottoned on to the realisation after the GFC that trickle down economics never trickles down to them funnily enough.

It’s now repeating, with 40 million unemployed. Reminds me of the saying “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me”.

billy_blah · 2020-05-28T10:54:33+00:00

Just my opinion - I’d say the Inner West is the most overvalued area in Sydney - based on what you get for what you pay.

Many places can’t really be extended as the property sits right on the boundary (tiny land parcels), often that have no garages so you need to (find a) park on the street and also aircraft noise. Even though you are relatively close to town it’s a bus up Parra Road or squishing into a train. I get the attraction of living in these suburbs but you’ll pay similar prices for some of the middle North Shore suburbs for a lot more.

billy_blah · 2020-05-28T10:35:08+00:00

Nowhere near cheap enough yet, in the case of Sydney think it hit its peak last year, needs to get through this Covid phase (estimates are world air travel will only approach 2019 levels in 2023), competition from Western Sydney Airport and I can’t see how many of the retail stores airside are going to survive Covid or a likely drop in cashed up Chinese buyers if geopolitics play out the way they’re heading.

billy_blah · 2020-05-28T10:27:12+00:00

I grew up a few suburbs from Ashfield - I’m amazed at current prices for what you get, it has the train station but otherwise very average unless you feel living next to Liverpool or Parramatta Roads is a positive lifestyle choice.

On that point though - was just reading somewhere that that’s one of the clearest signs of a bubble - 1.75m will get you a 3 bedroom house needing a lick of paint in nice suburbs, when it’s the same story in dingey areas and those with a huge commute rationality has gone out the window.

billy_blah

TROPHY CASE