The consulting industry boasts some of the country’s most prestigious graduate employers, with companies like McKinsey, for example, using its workforce to support 80 per cent of the world’s largest corporations, as well as various governments and non-government organisations.
Consulting firms have a reputation for appealing to top students from a diverse range of disciplines with enviable salaries, international career development opportunities, and the chance to build a client portfolio that features world-renowned businesses.
Hence, it’s a given that consulting firms should feature prominently in the GradAustralia Top 100 Graduate Employers Survey. Indeed, they secured four places, with Accenture coming in at 21, followed by the Big Three: McKinsey & Company (36), Boston Consulting Group (39), and Bain & Company (70).
Why have these consulting firms risen to the top of the results? One explanation is the scale of the businesses and consequent opportunities for career advancement. Speaking to GradAustralia, one graduate employee at Accenture, for example, described the company as offering ‘countless ways to grow professionally’, though ‘competition is fierce and you must stand out in a world of already above average people’.
Another reason why consultancy firms attract high-achieving graduates could also be their reputation for investing in the development of positive workplace cultures. For example, another graduate employee at Accenture reported that ‘the culture of the company is very friendly and engaging’ with ‘quite an active social culture after-hours’.
‘For many students, the transition into full-time work can seem daunting,’ says Geoff Adams, co-founder of GradAustralia. ‘The promise of a positive workplace culture that encourages the balancing of work and play can help to ease that transition, and, in this respect, the consulting firms on the Top 100 list have excelled.’
Visit the GradAustralia website to search for graduate employers in the consulting industry.