It all depends on what you want to do afterwards, therefore everyones choice will be biaised by their personal goals if they are unaware of your goals.
Someone stated that they wouldn`t take the consultancy role because its not the `big 3`. Whereas for me, i would go to a consultancy if it specialised in my interest area irrelevant of its size and as long as the company is growing. A smaller company can give bigger opportunities for personal growth and increased responsibility.
1) would be my choice depending on the future potential of the company. The opportunity for quicker promotions and increased responsibilities in a growing company can be an opportunity for fasttrack into senior management. Whereas at a larger company you can be stuck at a similar level for a while with less opportunities for personal development. Here`s my reasoning based on personal experience:-
in chronological order :-
A) I`ve worked in a small company <100 people
B) a large company but not growing ~5000 people
C) a Fast growing company which went from small to big (~200 at start ~1000 when i left)
D) a large multinational top 10 branded company in the world(~60k people)
By far the biggest growth opportunities skill development and promotions were at company A & C and largest pay increases were at company C. The biggest bonuses were paid by company D. Climbing up the corporate chain at companies A & C allowed me to switch over to higher positions in companies B & D, giving me positions above other people who had been at those companies for a while.
Looking at recruitment at higher levels of management in large companies, a lot of people are recruited from high responsibility positions in growing companies e.g the Marketing VP in company C was headhunted by M$ to lead an entire division, the premise being that to entice someone away from an interesting position in a growing company, the offer has to be attractive.
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