Hello there i was wondering if someone could shed light on my query. As a graduate im looking to go into consulting. Friends are looking to go into other career lines - law, invest banking, journalism. We were just wondering what the pay scale was like from graduate level. At city law firms a graduate upon qualification (after 2 yrs) would be earning btw 46-50k. Inestment banking is harder to predict due to bonuse sbut we presume as a trader for example one would be earning more than 50k after three years. However we were stumped on consulting. Not the top strategy firms but the full house firms like deloitte, PA, ACN, CG. How much could a graduate starting at analyst level expect to be on in three years time at these type of firms..excluding bonuses. Secondly what sought of bonus is one likely to get in consulting (average) after 3 years as a percentage of ones salary at these type if firms. Does it vary considerably, if so how much. Many thanks

At entry level at the large players, you're looking at between £26-30k basic pay. Firms will have their own ways of toping this up (bonuses, company car, etc). After three years at one of the large players, and provided you get at least one promotion, you could be on something between £40-50k basic. As for bonus, after three years, you should be getting at least 10-12% on top of basic. So in summary, after three years in consulting and best case scenario, you could be bringing home around £60k, if you include bonus and other allowances! Not bad eh?! Worst case, you're looking at around £50k, including bonus and allowances. Again, not bad! Hope this helps mate.....

Cheers for that Money! Yeah is not bad actually. There is a post about a guy with 6 years experience only on 50k at a boutique consultancy...is he being underpaid? or is 50k a realistic ball park figure for someone of his experience?

No probs. Re the other chap - at first glance, I would definitely say underpaid. Although it really does depend on the firm and its force in the market. Any old firm can call itself a "Strategy Boutique"......I think someone with six yrs consulting experience should be on £70k at least! But thats if they were working with a decent player in the market. I hope this makes sense?

Or he could only be worth 50k - if he's not as good or has limited project (vertical area) experience then he may not be as viable as a cost...