I'm a third year history undergraduate looking to apply to strategy consultancy firms. I haven't been particularly successful with the bigger companies despite getting first round interviews and i am now searching for smaller, obviously leass well advertised management consultancy firms. could anyone recommend any medium sized/small, but fast growing smaller firms in the industry and point me in the right direction?Thanks very much

Same problem here. Can anyone suggests small/medium sized Consulting Companies in U.K. with growth opportunities?Thanks

Not wishing to be rude but if you are advocating a career in MC you could at least develop some research skills. Try looking for smaller consulting firms on google etc - spend a saturday or sunday in your university library and do some leg work!

Harsh, Mars!I've heard good things of forward thinking inc, London and SMT in Oxford.

You could consider Qedis - not a 'strategy firm' but they are a small consulting firm with a very open culture apparently. It was set up by ex-Anderson/Deloitte people, and they've grown rapidly from what I hear (a friend of mine interviewed there)

Emily, MahtabYou are unlikely to find the role you are looking for in a smaller consulting firm - they tend to hire experienced and/or senior level hires. If you are not getting success with the bigger firms you need to look at your interview technique - certainly you are doing ok if you are getting interviews and therefore getting through the bureaucratic screening. Point here is you need to have the development programme a bigger consultancy can offer, and the exit options - going straight from graduation into a smaller firm will make it harder to move on if the firm is not well known. There are a great many large consulting firms out there now so keep focusing on these and polish your interview skills. Keep going and you'll get places in the grad schemes!Good luck with your applications both of you!

Email me on christian_harris [at] hotmail.com with an idea of what you're looking for and a CV, my firm is recruiting and I'll pass on CVs if I think they'd be interested in you.

Not sure about Mars' comment that smaller firms don't take people on unless they're experienced - in my experience, a little experience helps more than none at all, but any firm worth its salt in the 10-30 people category will want a range of people in its mix.

I did say 'tend'.

I'm not sure I agree. With due respect, small firms run with even tighter profit margins than big firms. Grads are not sufficiently cheap to keep on the books, and their limited skillsets mean that they're very hard to charge out. This is true in a large firm as well as a small firm, but larger firms tend to sell larger projects -- and can squeeze a grad in to do some of the grunt work. Smaller firms generally sell smaller projects -- 1/2/3 people at most -- and it's much harder to bring in an unskilled graduate to do the work, especially at the sort of fee rates they charge.Finally, one of the reasons that the big boys take on graduates is that they have defined training programmes to give the new consultants the skills that they need. In a smaller firm, even if they're willing to take you on, you're unlikely to get the kind of training that will turn you into a more well-rounded consultant later on.If you're not having luck with the big firms, but your credentials are good enough to get you interviews, it suggests to me that you need to work on your interview techniques. Failing that, I would suggest getting a few years experience in industry and trying again later -- at which point both big players and smaller niche firms should be interested in your skills.