Consulting - Management & Strategy

Information compiled by the GradSchools.com team - last updated December 2010

Management and strategy consulting is the most broad and overarching sub industry in the consulting field. Management consulting firms sell their business advisory expertise to leaders of corporations, governments, and non profit organizations. Management and strategy consultants are brought in for their neutral outsider approach and sometimes have more overall industry experience than the client itself.

Because of this outsider approach, many firms are readily able to offer "best practices" from the industry as a whole and market their own proprietary methodologies, which offer strategies for more to help transform their clients into efficient and effective companies. A management and strategy consultant works on projects such as helping companies assess its problems, improve operational efficiency, maximize profits, and plan for the future.

Consulting is one of the best paid professions for recent grads, offering lucrative salary packages and the chance to hobnob with top management of Fortune 500 companies, while working on some of the most interesting issues that these clients face. But pressures run high and travel is onerous. While job titles may differ between consulting firms, the levels and promotion path across firms is remarkably similar. Students graduating from undergraduate institutions come into a firm at an analyst stage, while those with an MBA or similar degree enter at an associate (also called consultant) level. More senior positions include managers, senior managers, and directors.

Analysts typically spend two to three years at a consulting firm before returning to get an MBA or abandoning the field of consulting altogether. Some consulting firms will now promote top analysts directly to the associate level. The average salary for research analysts is $39,200, while entry level consultants typically bank around $58,000. Management consultants can pull in around $76,300, while senior consultants can rake in more than $100,000.

As the economy declined in 2008, the management consulting industry stayed somewhat insulated due to long term contracts and ongoing projects. But according to global consulting firm Watson Wyatt, 23 percent of firms are planning to make cuts to their workforce in 2009. As the financial sector flounders, Consulting magazine recommends MBAs who were looking for a job in finance to parlay that into a consulting career. Crisis management consulting in particular is a field that is seeing an increase in business, as companies are clamoring for big changes to stay afloat these times of economic distress.