[candybar]

Top management consulting firms (McKinsey, BCG, ec) are insanely competitive and won't consider anyone without elite credentials, i.e. top grads from elite undergraduate programs, MBAs from top schools, Ph.Ds from good research programs, etc. These opportunities are far more scarce and require more effort overall as well. I suspect that some of these firms could hire more or less randomly from those who make it to the interview stage and do nearly as well, since their resume filtering is extremely rigorous, while their skill requirements for most roles aren't that high outside of being smart, analytical and willing to travel and work insane hours. Big Tech is substantially more egalitarian in terms of who they let through to the interview stage, while the actual job demands somewhat esoteric skills that go beyond just being a smart, analytical hard-working person, which necessitates a more meaningful filter.

I suppose Big Tech could do something similar (skip leetcode stuff for people who have credentials such as prior experience at top tech firms and/or tangible research experience at top research institutions) but I suspect that would not go over well with most people that have issues with the current hiring processes.

[ResearchCode]

I keep hearing this but in my country iẗ́s just not true. Yes you needed to go to the right school (most difficult part but not difficult) an maintain a 3.5 (what they advertised) or even a 3.0 GPA (what they ended up accepting) and join a few student clubs (which nobody really cared about).

Maybe the bar is higher in the US.

[candybar]

Are you talking about US-based top global management consulting firms and actual strategy/management consultant roles (since top consulting firms often do other things like technology, tax/accounting, etc)? I guess that's possible but I suspect that in that case, it's largely because roles in these offices aren't quite desirable from a comp or a career track perspective. The reason why management consulting is hard to get into is because it pays well and it promises a career track where you can get to a 7-figure income and potentially go directly into the upper management of F500 companies afterwards without working your way from the bottom. If that's not a realistic path from a satellite office (I have no idea if it is or not), then it wouldn't have the same draw. If it is though, I mean it has to be competitive, right?

[ResearchCode]

Yes, management consulting at the local offices of the "big 4". Starting comp in MC something like 60k/yr (whereas IB is double).

More high end opportunities than other career paths certainly, but it's much less top heavy. 7 figure income, a few CEOs make it but not common.

Kind of make sense though if local offices adopt some of the same rhetoric and marketing (elite selectivity etc) as the US head offices but with really different market conditions.

[franklampard]

> Top management consulting firms (McKinsey, BCG, ec) are insanely competitive and won't consider anyone without elite credentials

That’s why they are failing. Broken hiring processes. Big Tech is eating their fruits.