My career ambition is summed up by wanting to get paid the most for doing the least. I am happy to work fairly long hours (8-8 mon-fri) and where necessary longer in short periods. Having looked on this forum it seems that 15+hour days are standard at the big 4.Which firms do people think pay the highest in exchange for the least hours? Or to put it another way which offers the highest hourly wage?

I've gotten the impression that would be Bain, but could be wrong.

The hours at Bain have become much worse in the last couple of years - we used to advertise average of 57hrs per week (data was fudged). Probably close to 70hrs per week on average now.

I think Goldman Sachs pays its traders a pretty steep hourly rate.Oh, I get it. You actually are looking for a consulting firm that will pay you well for not working?!

Never understood why people put themselves through the horror of working 70 hours/week and for what? For someone else?!?! How do you maintain any life normality under those circumstances?!?! No money can buy my time I spend with my family, friends, sports, traveling, clubbing, making love, and etc., and I still have my own apartment, fancy car, fancy holidays and etc.

And what precisely do you do for a living, Adrian?

I've heard that of all the consulting firms Oliver Wyman pay best. In terms of hours/pay ratio this is the wrong industry.There's a lit of banking jobs with decent hours (7-6) and minimal travel like research, sales etc.

I'm a hairdresser which is why I come on a MC board. Let me guess - you're an MBA graduate who process maps all day long?

It wasnt my intention to offend. Every job comes with a sacrifice, lets call it a tradeoff. The point being, its foolhardy of you to look down on the preferences of others...Perhaps I'll rephrase the original question: how many hours are you working? And does this provide justification for someone working fewer than you, to frown upon your choice of proffession?

This web site should have some log-in names and passwords so that people don't impersonate others. Childish behavior is so typical as a form of "argument". No, the real Adrian isn't a hairdresser, although nothing wrong with being a hairdresser if I could still afford my own place, fancy car and fancy holidays and etc. I worked in what here seems to be everyone's favorite industry-consulting, after I graduated. Tolerated the long hours and frequent traveling for as long as I could-one year. Left the service industry with the smile on my face and joined the real industry. Been in the industry for five years now and soon starting my own company with few of my co-workers.

I wasn't looking down on anyone or criticizing one's career decision. I was only expressing my opinion having gone through it all. Its one thing to be in early 20's, new university graduate, eager to step into the real world and make some money. When you get a little older, you look at things from a different perspective. Long hours then didn't seem like a huge deal when I started my first job. However, once you get the hang of it, or once you realise you are wasting your time doing someone for someone else, you decide to either stay or leave. I am not saying those who do work long hours are fools, God forbid. I am smart enough no to think that. I am just saying I never understood that life choice. There are many jobs out there with normal working hours that pay just as much as certain jobs in service industry. That is my point.

KFC or McDonalds.

Prostitution

Out of interest what jobs do pay similar for normal hours? For me the big appeal of consulting is that in a few years time I could be a partner on £200k+ and those sorts of figures are far less attainable in 'industry'. If they are, I'd be very keen to find out what sorts of roles/industries outwith investment banking and it's brethren.

I second the query on which jobs pay the same as consulting but offer better hours! Im actually leaving industry to go back into consulting as I found the pay differential too great to ignore- would love to hear about said jobs with better hours but same pay in industry..

surely the money should be little more than a motivator, not the sole purpose for undertaking an entire career...?

mind you, there's the variety of work as well. having worked in both industry and consulting, if you're someone that gets bored easily consulting is probably the way forward. i couldn't stand doing the same crap over and over again in my industry job- thought the grass was greener but decided consulting is better for me. for the money and the variety.

High potential programs within industry pay quite large amounts. In my case, I was not able to find a consulting gig out of a top bschool that matched my industry offer. ... and I was a consultant before my MBA. If you can get your hands on an industry that is frowned upon (think alcohol, tobacco, weapons, oil) and that in a high-income country (think Dubai, Switzerland etc), then you get the best of all worlds in terms of pay/hour. This logic of course only holds if you can live with yourself working in those industries.

I have no issue with those industries, my question would be about salary progression. A lot of us could move to industry on an increased package now but if you only get a 3-5% raise on that each year then it'll be a long time before you hit that 2-300k level that one would anticipate in consulting if you're good.

That's a fair point. To be honest though, unless you work for MBB I am hardpressed to buy the significant salary progression argument. You can get the equivalent of a very solid senior manager base salary (6 digits in GBP) with less than 5 yrs of experience under your belt. If you pull that at late 20s or early 30s in industry then you are in a pretty good position. This of course comes back to the pay/hour argument since industry hours tend to be more humane than consulting. Also, fast track programs tend to promote faster than average industry, allowing for decent progression (assuming decent performance of course).

Do you have any examples of these fast track programs/companies that do them? I'm intrigued!

Do you have any examples of these fast track programs/companies that do them? I'm intrigued!