Cheggars, you seem to know alot and in much detail. Could you please advise me then on which you believe is a better choice. PA consulting for strategy and marketing (graduate) or Capgemini for business consulting community (again graduate). Could you also inform me as to the relative pay and cultures of each. Much appreciated.

We aim to please !! CG are a well respected consultancy, but their various mergers have resulted in a disjointed culture. I don't know too much about SMP in PA, they are a relatively small outfit. The opportunity exists to move across groups in PA Consulting, so there's no need to feel pigeon-holed at the point of joining. Salaries will be very similar for both orgs, but on balance I'd plump for PA.

Cheers C, but could you give me an indication of how much the starting salary is? I have heard figures in the range of 24-28, would that be correct. Furthermore would being in SMP at PA be a bad move? what are the adv and disadv of working in a smaller outfit?

Starting salary at CG (for CDC) is £29,000 + 1.5k in flexible options. Not sure about PA..