All questions tagged salary - Consulting Q&A - PrepLounge.com

Hey there,

So here's my insights:

Compensation (DE)

I agree with what you found on glassdoor. Its a good ballpark. Compensation will be ~30-40% lower than MBB and at par or slightly above BIG4. Please remember there is a broad range at every level and this becomes broader the more senior you go (Manager & above). There is room to negotiate sign-on bonus and other perks. Overall, from my experience having worked at Accenture UK, its a good pay master with great benefits but NOT at MBB level.

Brand

Its not a tech consulting firm anymore. The breadth and scale of Accenture has made it one of the most sought after companies in the recent 5-10 years. It now plays in Strategy, Digital Transformation, Marketing etc. Just check out Gartner/Forrester rating and Accenture pretty much leads all qudrants even beating MBB in Digital Transformation expertise for example.

Check out these links:

• https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/consulting/forrester-digital-business-transformaion
• https://www.rankingthebrands.com/The-Brand-Rankings.aspx?rankingID=6
• https://www.crunchbase.com/search/acquisitions/field/organizations/num_acquisitions/accenture

Note that Accenture Strategy is not at the same level & reputation as MBB, so you need to play the wider Accenture brand in your story i.e Accenture offers exposure to all those areas where MBB dont play giving you more experience in e2e business problems. However, they are fighting hard and investing a lot to boost the Strategy practice. I am also aware of many ex-MBB partners who have joined the Strategy practice in DE in past few years.

Exit Opportunities

Overall, good in my view but not the same level of pull as MBB. Its a global and well known brand, but you have to work a bit harder on your story & exit. Get this right and you can make make big jumps. I did it and so have many others.

Good luck!

Hello!
Unfortunately I cannot help you, but try glassdoor or similar.

There is always the right info there!

Cheers,

Clara

Hello!

As long as the money is obtained by licit ways, you have totally no problem.

To save comissions, best is to talk to your bank directly for special treatment o leverage fintechs such as Transferwise or other that are in the market that minize comissions

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Read the book "Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss". It will prepare you for future negotiations :). Take what you get now at this stage, but you will be ready in time to sit in that negotiation.

In a given region, salaries on a given level are typically not far apart. Both across the firms (e.g. a MCK Associate earns roughly the same as a BCG Consultant and a Bain Consultant) and between sub tenures (e.g. annual escalation without a promotion is typically ~10%). You'll see larger swings, once you move to Associate Partners or Partners of course where base payment is only a small fraction of overall comp.

One difference exists though: Compensation on all levels is massively dependent on location. For example post tax comp in Dubai can be nearly double to that in European countries.

Hi there,

Congrats on your offer. I agree such a large difference seems strange. Are all the other components the same (eg benefits, bonuses)?

Expectations will be higher since you have some seniority, however I don't think you have to worry about it - you already showed you have the potential to do the job.

Best,

Francesco

Hello!

I guess tha rational behind is to attrack talent, but tech indeed pais way above market.

Furthermore, work-life balance is much better.

I went from McKinsey to Amazon so let me know if you want some more insights about my personal experience.

Cheers,

Clara

Hey Levente,

As you may imagine, consultants are not supposed to share concrete information on salary levels, however you can get a good glimpse of them in websites such as glassdoor.

That said, I can share with you a couple of insights: salaries differ (significantly) from office to office (in part to compensate for differences in standard living costs, but not only); there is indeed an interesting jump from BA to Associate levels, but again for all roles there is a considerable difference in jumps across offices (btw, the biggest jump should be to Partner though!)

Hope this helped out

Hi Anonymous,

as mentioned by others, the main thing you can negotiate is your entry level in the firm (eg Senior Associate with 12 months to Consultant vs 6 months to Consultant). It would be very difficult to negotiate a different standard salary for a fixed seniority level, as this would create inequality in the firm. On the other hand, if you can negotiate a higher initial entry level, this should bring a higher salary or faster promotion track without creating imbalance in the company, thus would be feasible.

You can definitely try to negotiate your entry level in the firm. The degree of negotiation depends obviously on how valuable you can be for the company (usually the more senior, the more valuable). In any case, you should be aware that with a higher level, expectations on your performance will also be higher.

Best,

Francesco

Dear A,

No. It's reduced.

If you have further question on the Middle East recruiting, jobs and firms feel free to reach me out, since I have a lot of friends and former colleagues there, in the Middle East, so I'm happy to share insights wigh you.

Best,

André

Hi, I confirm Glassdoor is the main website for salary researchers

Best,
Antonello

Hi,
they are usually aligned with MBB. In Dubai, entry-level consultants can reach $70k (plus, you have to consider that taxes are very low). Check on Glassdoor for more accurate numbers.

Best,
Antonello

Hi there,

In general, salaries are within a somewhat narrow range, but do vary region-to-region and company-to-company. Honestly, I think playing the salary game isn't worth it; regardless you will be very well compensated, and worth much more than $10-15k/year is 1) Prestige 2) Growth opportunities 3) Exit opporutnities 4) FIT (do you like the office, the culture, the people? Will you enjoy your time there).

I would easily pay $20k/year just to be at a consulting firm where I feel supported and enjoy the work.

Two other thing to keep in mind that actually have a big impact:

• Taxes (i.e. Dubai taxes = 0%, Australia they are ~35%, in the US they are ~25%)
• A lot of bonuses are currently being cancelled for the current year

Don't do it especially if you work for a top tier consulting firm. You only get to leave once and it is in your interest to leave for an opportunity you are truly excited about. In the long run money tends to even out

Glassdoor is your friend :)

https://www.glassdoor.co.nz/Reviews/JLL-Dubai-Reviews-EI_IE5779.0,3_IL.4,9_IM954.htm?countryRedirect=true

https://www.glassdoor.co.nz/Salary/JLL-United-Arab-Emirates-Salaries-EI_IE5779.0,3_IL.4,24_IN6.htm?countryRedirect=true

Indeed is also great

https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Jll/reviews?ftopic=paybenefits

Hey there,

You don't need to worry about that. If you get in MBB, your salary is not based on your past payslip, but it is based on the company pay structure which is based on the role level and country/region. MBB would not lowball you.

Best,

Emily

Hi!

Having worked for several years at both McKinsey and BCG I can comment on these two firms.

It differs a little bit across regions. But as a general observation, at McKinsey, contrary to BCG, there is a historic structure of giving pay raises within a certain seniority level, based on performance rating. At BCG however, the salary is flat throughout a specific seniority level. So as a consequence, McKinsey pay starts a little bit lower, and then rises beyond the level of BCG. It also means that the jumps from one career level to the other are bigger at BCG. On the more senior career levels (AP/Principal and upwards), McKinsey pay structurally rises beyond BCG pay in most markets (especially driven by the part that depends on Firm performance, which was amazingly high over the last 10 years or so).

Cheers, Sidi

Hello,

It depends on the company, but you can you can expect something between 25k$ and 30k$. You can find detailed information on Glassdoor, as suggested by Vlad.

Best,
Luca

Hi,

I have bad news for you - startups won't really increase your salary. There might be a small (3-7%) increase YoY. There might be a bonus and performance management program (But I believe you would already know if it was in place).

Anyway, the good steps here can be the following:

• Wait until you get a year in tenure (8 months is not enough to start those discussions).
• Make sure you understand the official promotion system (Makes sense to discuss with your boss)
• Grow with the company by taking more and more to your plate

Several rules can help you grow:

• Be proactive and come up with ideas yourself
• Find the main Company's revenue driver and try to move towards that function (Some companies are engineer and product -driven (google), others are driven by supply (Airbnb), or Sales (Fast-growing Saas businesses)
• Be close to the "resource center of the company". In most of the tech companies, it's data. If you own some data and analytics required by many departments - this gives you immediate visibility

Best!

Hello!

Consider between 95 and 120 K -bonus liked to performance of both the firm and the individual-.

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara