Top-ranked firms offer development and growth opportunities; Consulting firms remain popular post-college destinations for those who major in Economics, Finance, and Business.

NEW YORK, Feb. 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Vault, the leader in data-driven employer rankings and verified employee reviews, today released its 2024 rankings of the Best Consulting Firms to Work For in North America, providing a comprehensive look at the region’s consulting landscape and recognizing the leading firms in more than 30 categories. The rankings include the Vault Consulting 50 North America, a signature list of the best overall firms to work for. Vault also ranks the Most Prestigious Consulting Firms, Best Boutique Consulting Firms, Best Consulting Firms by Practice Area, and Best Consulting Firms by Employment Factor. The rankings were derived from Vault’s survey of more than 8,000 North American consulting professionals in Fall 2023. The North American survey was part of a larger global survey of more than 15,000 consulting professionals. Survey respondents rated their firms in several categories, including compensation, culture, diversity, hours, training, work/life balance, and wellness. Consulting professionals were also asked to rate firms other than their own in terms of prestige.

“Consulting remains an excellent career choice for professionals, including those early in their careers who want to learn a great deal on the job and have high levels of exposure to clients and their most pressing challenges,” said Eric Stutzke, SVP & General Manager of Vault. Stutzke added, “While firm culture and compensation remain key areas of focus for consulting candidates when evaluating a firm, our survey revealed that being staffed on quality engagements that provide the opportunity to perform substantive work is of nearly equal importance.”

Key findings from Vault’s survey and rankings include:

Bain & Company sits atop the Vault Consulting 50 North America as the #1 overall consulting firm to work for. Boston-based Bain & Company, which has offices in 65 cities across 40 countries and celebrated 50 years in business in 2023, is committed to employee development—the firm secured #1 rankings in both Formal Training and Informal Training.

Specialized boutiques offer focused work and upward mobility. Vault’s Best Boutique Consulting Firms include the best specialized firms to work for that have fewer than 750 consultants. The #1 ranked boutique, Chicago-based ghSMART & Co., is a leadership advisory consultancy that also took the top spot in multiple key categories, including Internal Mobility, Promotion Policies, and Level of Challenge.

Top priorities for jobseekers when choosing a consulting firm are firm culture, compensation, and type of work. These three factors all had similar percentages of consultants that identified them as key considerations when choosing a firm.

Junior consultants come from a wide variety of backgrounds, but those who studied Economics, Finance, and Business still enter in large numbers. The most common undergraduate majors among entry-level consultants in the survey were Economics (21%), Finance (8%), Business Administration (6%), Biology (6%), and Accounting (4%).

The Top 10 Consulting Firms to Work For in North America in 2024:

View all the Vault 2024 Consulting Rankings.

About Vault

Vault is the leader in career research, exploration, and discovery for professionals and students. Through our proprietary data-driven Vault rankings, verified employee and intern reviews, and extensive network spanning more than 500 campuses and universities, we have been the trusted provider of career intelligence solutions for emerging talent for over two decades. Our exclusive data-driven rankings, in-depth employer profiles, and valuable employee and intern reviews encompass a wide range of industries, including Law, Banking, Accounting, Consulting, STEM, and the top Internship programs.

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