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Between 2006 and 2009, 0.8% of doctoral graduates, or 110 employed doctoral graduates, are known to have been working as management consultants six months after graduation.

Job description

Management consultants are classified in the ‘other common doctoral occupations' cluster of doctoral employment.

Management consultants are involved in providing objective advice, expertise and specialist skills with the aim of creating value, maximising growth or improving the business performance of their clients.

They are primarily concerned with the strategy, structure, management and operations of an organisation. Consultants can assist by identifying options including recommendations, providing additional resources and/or the implementation of solutions.

Consultants operate across a wide variety of services such as business strategy, marketing, financial and management controls, human resources, information technology, e-business and operations, and supply-chain management.

As with the type of work, the range of consultancy firms also varies from the larger firms that offer end-to-end solutions to smaller or niche firms that offer specialist expertise, skills and industry knowledge.

Typical work activities

Typical tasks, for new doctoral graduates involve:

  • Carrying out research and data collection
  • Conducting analysis
  • Interviewing client's employees, management team and other stakeholders
  • Running focus groups and facilitating workshops
  • Preparing business proposals/presentations
  • Spending the majority of time at the client's site

As they become more experienced doctoral graduates may move on to undertake some of the following additional tasks:

  • Identifying issues and forming hypotheses
  • Formulating and implementing recommendations/solutions
  • Ensuring the client receives the assistance needed to implement the recommendations/solutions
  • Managing projects and programmes
  • Leading and managing those within the team, including analysts
  • Larger leadership role in the management of client relationships

Entry requirements

Although management consultancy is open to doctoral graduates (as well as graduates qualified to lower levels) from any discipline, numerical or analytical skills could be an advantage for some firms. A degree or postgraduate degree in the following subjects may increase your chances:

  • Business
  • Economics
  • Engineering
  • Finance
  • Mathematics
  • Science

Employers are generally looking for a strong academic background and therefore may view doctoral graduates positively.

Many consultants enter the profession with a broad-based background of commercial experience; and in some cases a professional qualification e.g. a Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) qualification. Doctoral graduates with experience of one or more of the key consultancy industries and services will be attractive to recruiters.

Salary

  • Salaries for new entrants range from £25,000 to over £35,000, depending on location, type and size of consultancy. After some years of experience salary can increase to over £50,000.
  • On progression to more senior levels, annual salaries become considerably higher, again dependent on location and the size of the consultancy. Senior consultants can earn up to £80,000, managing consultants can earn up to £100,000 and those at partner or director level can earn over £125,000 (All salary data collected May 2008).

Sector and disciplinary information

Sector information

Doctoral graduates from 2006-9 working in this occupation were known to be employed in the following profiled sectors six months after graduation:

Disciplinary background

The most common disciplinary backgrounds for doctoral graduates (2006-2009) entering management consultancy have been:

Career stories

Mark Hughes

Director, mch consulting

"Having decided upon a career within the not for profit world, I felt I needed to gain some business/management experience to be of value within it. I felt a way of gaining good experience quickly, was through management consulting and so this led to a short spell at the international management consultancy firm, McKinsey & Company."

Other relevant career profiles

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