Salary negotiation for experienced hires

Short answer: It depends. Everything is “it depends”. It depends on which firm, which office location, which position etc. etc.

Longer answer:

1. Most major consults have fixed salary levels by office and position. Not even salary bands - mostly fixed levels. So MBA or not doesn't matter
2. Glassdoor salary bands are generally marred by people reporting salaries across different times (2019 vs 2021 say) and across different offices. Some will include bonus or housing perks, some won't. So take those numbers with a pinch of salt. Given that you have 10 years experience - you might want to negotiate a higher position itself.
3. If you are not required to relocated then most likely they will not give you relocation assistance. From what I know, you can still negotiate for receiving a one-time sign-on bonus.
4. Your negotiation should be mainly on the position and not on the salary since there is little room there in most major consults.

Hi there,

First of all: Congratulations on the offer!

It's great that you're asking for advise in the Consulting Q&A. I have also seen several of my coachees struggle with the sometimes puzzling compensation information on Glassdoor. The reasons for the spreads can be various: People mixing up base salary and total compensation, people converting local currencies to USD/ EUR, wage inflation over the years aso.

Regarding the questions you mentioned I would advise you to consider the following:

• Often times, unfortunately, consulting companies discount the experience gained in the industry (and sometimes even at other consulting companies). Generally speaking, the more consulting-like the tasks on your previous jobs were, the more probable it is that your experience is taken into consideration at all.
• In case you did not take explicit leadership roles in your previous jobs, it might happen that the very risk-averse consulting companies tend to put you in the last non-leadership role (which would be the MBA grad entry position at most companies). However, given your brief description and the vast tenure, I would advise you to negotiate the entry position according to your wishes and see what happens.
• Relocation assistance is granted with most consulting companies. However, please be aware that if the relocation takes place in the same city/ nearby region, it might happen that the assistance is capped at a lower point or removed at all.
• To best leverage your experience, it really depends on the means for the negotiation (e.g. competitive offer, insights and your knowledge on the “hot topics” of the practice). Generally speaking, the better you are “equipped”, the more individually you can negotiate your offer. However, please be aware that most consulting companies tend to have fixated total compensation packages per role (where the bonus is often times the only aspect you can actively influence on the job). I would advise you to make the negotiation mostly about the role you will take and any signing and relocation bonuses (if applicable).

In case you need any more detailed input for the upcoming negotiation, please feel free to to contact me directly.

I hope that helps,

Hagen

Hi there,

Congratulations on the offer!

In terms of your questions:

1. Depends on the position you join. Salary in top consulting depends on the position, so if you join with the equivalent position of a post-MBA, you will get that salary
2. Normally you cannot negotiate the base salary for a given position but you can negotiate
   1. The entry position itself and/or
   2. The signing/relocation bonus if present
3. Relocation bonus depends on the company and office
4. For points indicated in 2 (entry-level and bonuses), the best thing would be to show an offer from a competitor and see if they could match that

Best,

Francesco

Hi there,

1) No, unless being hired for different roles. Base salary for a given role is the same. Now, hiring bonuses do change…

2) The general rule is to aim higher! Then if they negotiate lower, you're still ok

3) I have not. If you relocate, you should be able to negotiate a relocation bonus

4) Negotiate on signing + relocation bonus…this is the key! (For example, I doubled my signing bonus through negotiation)

Hi,

My short answer is that you must negotiate here. Given you are coming from Industry and have an MBA, there is room! They might push back and say you don't have prior consulting experience but negate that with you clear value statement & transferrable skills combined with industry expertise.

Start at the top end of the range and perhaps settle for middle. You can make the next promotion point in 12-24 months. 

Be nice during the process and focus on win-win.

All the best.

Hi there,

My answers to your 4 questions point by point:

1. Salary is specific to position. If both are for the same exact position, salary should be the same (or at least very similar)
2. Usually there is a specific salary for each position for each office. Very little room for negotiation usually
3. Have not heard
4. If you think you are offered a rate below the typical rate (I would be surprised if that was the case), you could have some room for negotiation. Otherwise, there is limited room as salaries are normally fixed (or in a very tight band) for a given position in a given office

Good luck!