All you do is complain - well is it really the 2nd best job after ibanking or is it really a pile of shite?

"2nd best job after ibanking"???Who said IB is #1? Maybe paywise but I doubt ibankers enjoy their work more than consultants.And by the way, I wouldn't mind if you were more careful selecting your words. I don't know about the rest of you consultants but I personally found "pile of shite" quite insulting.

Depends what kind of consulting. If you're in strat at a top firm then it's probably going to look good on your cv and you might get a job in private equity in future.If you're at one of the systems integrators then it's a pile of shite but unless you have a targetted degree to get you a decent job like law or engineering it's one of the better paying jobs out there for grads, if not in the top 2 or 3.

Where does Deloitte Consulting fall on this lader?

I'm going to take the high road and avoid scatalogical comparisons, suffice to say that DC is dominated heavily by its SI/TI work and falls into anon's latter camp.

Yes.Next question please.

"If you're in strat at a top firm then it's probably going to look good on your cv and you might get a job in private equity in future."Consulting seems to be one of the only industries where I find people talking about exit ops into a different industry...

eh, consulting and banking. very few people will start a career in private equity.

Lets be honest consulting is a pile of shite ! I wish i had never joined and gone and done something a bit more 'important'

Consulting is the only place I know of where managers treat their staff like idiots and generally take the mickey with pay and undeserved (and often incorrect) "feedback" etc, then act surprised when they hand in their notice and swan off to greener pastures.

Well I personally think it's a great job. Having worked in industry then moved to consulting, I think the pros outweigh the cons. I get variety, opportunities to choose my own career path, freedom to work in the way that I want when I'm not at a client, and a bit of international travel.Yes there are a few t*ssers and dull projects and the travel/hours can be excessive but I'll happily take that stuff for the good bits. I'm not rich, but hey, my sister is a chef and her husband is a carer, they both work bloody hard, and I make double their combined salary.Am I really in the minority in being a happy consultant?

Yeah, I think you are... (cue a torrent of analysts desperately proclaiming "me too! what about me!! i think it's great too!!).Almost every consultant I know (and that's a LOT of them, i.e. not some anecdotal bunch of fresh grads working for ACN) complains about the stress and responsibility of their job, and how the pay is disproportionately low compared to our clients who invariably have jobs that seem trivially easy/relaxed/stress and hassle free in comparison. "But one day you could make PARTNER!!!" the enthusiastic grads proclaim with their eyes wide open and a naive look of anticipation on their face. Well yeah, you might earn a few quid when you get to that level - but you'll still have gone through all the stress and sacrifices required to get there, and even then the money probably won't seem like enough. In the meantime, however, enjoy being hammered and abused by the ones that did get there.

As someome already stated you can't compare McKinsey and Acn. It's like comparing a Rolls-Royce with a Renault.General comment like consulting is sh... is as intelligent as Chinese food is sh.. Maybe you ate in the wrong restaurant or you simply don't like Chinese food.

Guys I work for Deloitte Consulting South AfricA - i LOVE IT - been with the firm going on 4 years now - it's awesome - culture is great way better than my friends at AC - who are just numbers - Deloitte all the way - love hte travelling and the non repetitiveness - yeah some projects suck but hey theres always gotta be somebad.

how can we be sure this culture you describe isn't just a regional thing within DC's south africa office? SA is, after all, a totally different place to the UK.

I'd say load of shite. Have been at Accenture 2 years now in oil and gas consulting and applying for oil company grad schemes to start again in a function like finance.The problem with consulting (at firms like mine) is you end up with a pretty random 'skillset' and when you get fed up after 5-8 years will find it difficult to get a job doing much else beyond exactly what you're doing but in industry.

I'd say load of shite. Have been at Accenture 2 years now in oil and gas consulting and applying for oil company grad schemes to start again in a function like finance.The problem with consulting (at firms like mine) is you end up with a pretty random 'skillset' and when you get fed up after 5-8 years will find it difficult to get a job doing much else beyond exactly what you're doing but in industry.

I would list communication skills as fundamental to a consultants skill set. The wording of the question and the context in which it is asked suggests that this is absent from this persons skill set. So yes it is quite possible that a person without the necessary talent would think this whilst other more talented candidates would not.I have never worked at Accenture, but I think you need to get beyond the '2 years at Accenture' thing before you have any sort of a credible mandate to insult an entire industry.

So in 2 years you won't have a good idea of the kind of work you'd do as a graduate, the kind of work the firm does as a whole and the kind of work your superiors do? Unless you've been in a portacabin in the middle of nowhere comfiguring SAP for 2 years I find that unlikely.