What is this career path?

Management consultants provide advice to organisations to help improve performance. The industry is divided into the ‘Big 3’ strategy consulting firms (McKinsey, Bain, BCG), the ‘Big 4′ professional services firms (PwC, Ernst & Young, Deloitte, KPMG) who primarily do operations consulting (as well as auditing and accounting), and a large number of small ’boutique’ companies, who often specialise in a particular type of situation or subject matter.

Career capital

Consulting is often pursued in order to build career capital while keeping options open, and overall, we think it’s a strong option if that’s your aim.

Common exits

A substantial fraction of people leave the industry for after 2-3 years. Common exits include: MBA programs, work in an industry you served as a consultant, venture capital, private equity, policy/civil service, work on a “strategy team” for a company.

Culture

Consultants usually have graduated from top colleges, and the firms tend to have a more intellectual culture than elsewhere in business. That said, people value niceness and how much you get done more than how smart you are.

A reader in consulting has told us:

Cultures might vary between firms, but for McKinsey I would describe the culture as follows: A strong firm culture that values friendliness, pro-sociality, hard work and own initiative.

Exploration value

Consultants usually work on a series of one to two month projects across a variety of sectors, companies, and divisions within companies (including government and nonprofit organisations), making it one of the most attractive options if you want to quickly learn about many different types of work.

Personal fit

Entry requirements

The standard route to entry for an analyst position is an undergraduate degree from an elite university, and an MBA from an elite university for an associate position. However, many consulting firms also hire MDs, PhDs, and JDs at the associate level. Consulting jobs at top firms are highly competitive, with acceptance rates around 1-3%.

What does it take to progress?

We think it suits someone with a well-rounded profile of good analytical skills, social skills, teamwork, and the ability to work hard. Compared to the other careers we’ve rated, the verbal and social skills seem particularly important since you need to interact with and persuade clients from the start. This is likely hard to predict in advance.

Job satisfaction

The work is probably more interesting than many other corporate jobs, including the early years of finance, because it involves more problem solving and variety. Consultants often like the challenge and variety of their work, as well as the people they work with.

Common complaints from consultants include 60-hour work weeks and extensive travel.

Direct impact potential

Consultants affect the organisations they work with by:

1. Sharing best practices within and across industries
2. Bringing in smart outside perspectives to offer strategic improvements
3. Helping to settle strategic disagreements within organisations

On the positive side, each of these changes can increase organisational efficiency. Sometimes, consultants increase efficiency through downsizing. This is controversial due to negative effects on employees, though some would argue that it usually has good long-run consequences.

Earnings potential

Advocacy potential

Consulting offers opportunities to network with influential business people, as well as peers who will move into the high levels of many different types of organisation in the future.

The full report

Read our full report.