- Consultants’ start salaries have remained flat since 2023, a new report was found.
- The consulted management found that the salaries were largely stagnant in Boutique, MAFB and Big Four firms.
- The industry has recently been affected by slowing demand and increased productivity driven by it.
Starting salaries for consultants in both senior firms and boutique consulting mainly remained flat for the second year in a row, according to a new report from advised management, a company that offers online resources and career training for professionals trying To lower the jobs in counseling.
The report revealed that the start of the salary has remained stagnant since 2023 while the counseling industry is wrapped in a slowdown in the demand for services, despite some recent signs of improvement. Previously, annual growths of 5 to 10% were standards for the industry, according to the management consulted.
The company’s 2025 counseling report included over 100 firms and was based on submission and provided letters separated by readers and its customers working in consulting. The consulted management said it does not include information on salaries that is unable to verify.
The report revealed that the start of general compensation in large professional service firms – Deloitte, PWC, KPMG and EY – has not increased since 2023. This was true for new employment that came out of university programs as well as those with higher salary that emerges to MBA or PhD.
The same was mostly true for new employment in MBB – McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company firms, and Boston Consulting Group – which are widely considered the most prestigious strategy counseling firms and are known for their competitive salary packages.
Do you work on counseling and have the knowledge to share about the industry? Contact this reporter at kvlamis@businsinsider.com or through the signal of the messaging app coded in Kelseyv.21.
The report said management advised that the expected salaries would remain flat, despite some increase in demand for counseling services in 2024, which came after a few years of a decline that saw the large firms that carried out or delay starting dates for employment new.
The plain is evident given that counseling compensation increased by 2022 and 2023, according to the 2023 wage management video. The latest increase before it was in 2019.
In 2023, employment after the MBA won a base salary of $ 192,000, a performance bonus of up to $ 60,000, and a $ 35,000 signature bonus at the highest levels. Pre-employment won a $ 112,000 base salary, a performance bonus of up to $ 30,000, and a $ 5,000 signature bonus.
However, salaries and performance rewards increased throughout the industry in 2023, with some firms that increase benefits such as profit sharing, paid rest and pension contributions. Boston Consulting Group even arranged his compensation structure in an attempt to attract new talent and keep existing talent.
One reason wages remained the same in 2024, according to the report, are the productivity advances driven by generating and distance work. The report also said fewer consultants were leaving the industry due to restricted opportunities elsewhere, which means that stagnant wages could be another possible side effect of the so -called white collar recession.
“Enabling it to enable counseling firms to make more employment more employment. Productive profits, combined with slower attraction, reduce the need for new employment and increased stall wages,” said Namaan Mian, official Main Operating Management, advised in comments shared with business shared with domestic business
Mian also said that the perception of MBA’s employment value, who usually make a higher starter salary than the university -leaving consultants, varies greatly.
“Firms historically pay MBA twice as much, but don’t get the value of them twice. This does not fly into an efficiency -oriented environment,” Mian said. “That is why we are seeing less employment from MBA programs and more from university ones.”
Some firms also used changes in their variable compensation – in which payment is partially determined by performance through rewards – to make their salary packages look more attractive, the report said, adding that only 5 to 10 % of consultants usually earn their maximum bonus amount
The consulted management said it expects an increase in employment as the demand for counseling and attraction services is expected to increase in the coming years. However, she said salaries for new employment may remain stagnant.
Do you work on counseling and have the knowledge to share about the industry? Contact this reporter at lvaranasi@businsinsider.com or through the signal of the Message app coded in LVARANASI.70.