Hi,As the name (half) suggests, I will be joining a consultancy arm at one of the big four in the summer and my main question was how often do you expect progression from graduate level?One of the reasons for me asking was I previously saw someone mention you should be Manager within 5 years including graduate experience - although previously I thought graduate experience was more of "training" time, and you'd be looking at 5 years post-graduate scheme. I plan on progressing through consultancy and have high ambitions for myself (hopefully, with endurance and a bit of luck, one day making partner).I know they vary at different consultancies, but if you could go through at the levels of "Analyst", "Consultant", "Manager, "Senior Manager" (and then I know you have the "bottle neck" effect which is hard to predict) it'd be very appreciated. I just want to have an idea so I know how my career is progressing in the future, thanks!- The Graduate

"The Graduate"? What happened to your 1.8m friends? Per year :-p

There's a reason graduate employment has been struggling over the past few years... may be something to do with those graduates disapppearing...

To answer your question, at ACN - the normal path is:2 year Analyst3 year Consultant3 year managerSM until you die (or get promoted, or leave)

Roughly it works like this, but allow for some variations..JoinWorkWorkWorkWorkRinseWorkRepeatWorkSellSellSell moreSell yet moreYell at peopleRetire

Mars, you missed out a few steps. I have corrected your list.JoinWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkWorkRinseWorkRepeatWorkSellSellSell moreHeart attackSell yet moreYell at peopleRetire

Bushy in the spirit of maintaining an accurate list, I've amended yours, which was an amendedment of mine..Listen to BS Believe itJoin Work Work Work Work Work Work Work Work Work Work DivorceWork Work Rinse Work Repeat Work Sell Buy fast car / board or similarSell Sell fast car/ boat or similarSell more Heart attack Wonder where your sudden liking of Werthers Originals came fromSell yet more Wonder why people haven't adopted your favourite clichés as catchphrases for high impact, dynamic situations where thought leading change enablers like yourself make a ummm impactYell at people RetireGet yourself a job as a NEDDie while berating your local MP for something

hehe

[quote]Work Work Work Work [b]Divorce[/b]Work Work Rinse [/quote]A clairvoyant did recently tell me I'm due heartbreak in the future, maybe they weren't so far off...What have I signed up for?!

Did she say "heart ache" or "heart break"? If the latter it might be that you've got to the heart attack stage of consultancy? Typically it follows a series of under-resourced projects and being given some unrealistic sales and utilisation targets.

I feel this is going to be messy either way...