Typically, 9am to 9pm are considered to be the typical 'core hours' at top consulting firms, with some variation on either side of the timeframe. On average, a standard number of hours a consultant can expect to work in a week is between 70 and 75, including lunch and travel time.
The typical length of time for consultants to stay at top firms like McKinsey, BCG or Bain is two to four years. Some statistics indicate that 2.7 years is the average length of time that a consultant works at a top management consulting firm before moving on.
MBB consultants usually work 50-60 hours per week, most of it concentrated from Monday to Thursday.
How many hours do consultants work? While this varies by firms and nature of clientele, you'll be working at least 40 hours a week.
McKinsey & Company's PTO and Vacation policy typically gives 20-30 days off a year with 67% of employees expected to be work free while out of office. Paid Time Off is McKinsey & Company's most important benefit besides Healthcare when ranked by employees, with 49% of employees saying it is the most important benefit.
McKinsey can be a high-stress environment
McKinsey consultants are frequently performance-reviewed and work under high expectations. Everyone has seen other consultants give in to the stress. People get overwhelmed, burn out, and sometimes get sick.
Long Hours. You can't work for one of the top firms on exciting projects without a strong work ethic. McKinsey consultants are known to be amongst the hardest working in the consulting industry, which is saying a lot. If you're looking for a chill 40-hour workweek with no weekend work, McKinsey is not for you.
Work-life balance for consultants is predicated by the projects they're working on, so improving project and resource allocation can alleviate some of the peaks in pressure. For example, shorter projects are common for strategy consultants and create especially intense periods of work.
Your travel and lifestyle will vary depending on your role and the client engagement you are working on at any given time. However, an average McKinsey consultant travels 40 percent of the time. Sometimes travel is heavily concentrated between Monday and Thursday, and other times it is fairly infrequent.
21. What kind of hours do you work? On average hours vary from 37.5 to 50 hours per week; I have worked one or two 70 hour weeks. It really depends on the project, manager you're working with, and client, and to some extent your own efficiency.
On average, a standard number of hours a consultant can expect to work in a week is between 70 and 75, including lunch and travel time. Weekends aren't included in a consultant's working week.
On a very high level, a rough average of all the Partners I met in almost 5 years in McKinsey, they'd work from 9 to 9 (12h) every day, with a potentially shorter day on Friday. However, there is a significant variability here.
It is very hard to get a job at McKinsey.
McKinsey is a global consulting firm and has established itself as one of the most influential firms in the world. This fact alone makes getting a job at the firm difficult. McKinsey is also known for its rigorous, intensive, and selective hiring process.
While a job at McKinsey sets you up for a fantastic career in management consulting, it's also notoriously one of the hardest companies to get an offer from. Read on for our top tips to help you land that coveted first consulting role.
It receives hundreds of thousands of job applications which means chances are slim that your application will be successful. However, if you have an excellent academic record, and can prove you have strong communication and analytical skills, you just might make the cut. The hiring process at McKinsey is quite intense.
McKinsey, BCG and Bain all have exclusive job boards that former consultants use to publicize job opportunities, often with great success. In fact, the majority of consultants who leave McKinsey find their next job through the firm's job board.
And the McKinsey recruitment process is one of the most selective as well: only 1% of the 200,000 applicants receive an offer.
McKinsey doesn't technically lay people off as a rule so getting rid of about 1,400 people like this is kinda a big deal. According to a communication from global managing partner Bob Sternfels, it's mostly support staff getting the boot.
Saturdays, you're rarely working in consulting. Sundays, generally you're getting ramped up for the rest of the week. So understand that your work-life balance will feel really different on a Monday or a Tuesday than it will on a Friday or a Saturday.
You should be able to have a fantastic career and a full life – and do it in a way that works for you now and when you may make changes down the road. That's why we offer an innovative range of flexible, part-time programs for all consultants that are compatible with career success.
You have very little room to negotiate. Even if you have an offer from McKinsey, Bain, and BCG, you may not be able to leverage your other offers to negotiate for an increase in compensation at another top firm.
The highest paying salary package reported for a Management Consultant at McKinsey sits at a yearly total compensation of $319,000. This includes base salary as well as any potential stock compensation and bonuses.
McKinsey Partner & Director salary
McKinsey Partners and Directors in the US may earn up to $1,300,000 per year in salary, with a $1,000,000 base and $300,000 performance bonus.