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Announcing the 2019 Vault Consulting 25: Europe

Published: Sep 25, 2018

 Consulting       Interviewing       Job Search       Workplace Issues       
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I’m excited to announce that today, we've released the 2019 Vault Consulting 25 Europe, our annual ranking of the best consulting firms to work for in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA). In addition to the Vault Consulting 25 (our overall Best Firm to Work For ranking), we've released several other EMEA rankings, including the Most Prestigious Consulting Firms in Europe, the Best Consulting Firms in Europe in Each Practice Area, and the  Best Consulting Firms in Europe in by key employment factors (including Compensation, Benefits, Diversity, and more).

As with our APAC and North American consulting rankings, the EMEA rankings are based on exclusive insider information from verified employees in the industry, leveraging insights from our annual survey of leading consultancies. The goal of these rankings is to provide job seekers with an invaluable insider’s perspective on what it’s really like to work at the top consulting firms in the EMEA region. Our survey takes into account everything from a firm's reputation (its prestige score) to individual quality of life factors.

Without further ado, the Top 10 EMEA Consulting Firms based on Vault’s annual survey for 2019 are:

  1. McKinsey & Company Europe
  2. Bain & Company Europe
  3. Oliver Wyman Europe
  4. Roland Berger Europe
  5. A.T. Kearney Europe
  6. OC&C Strategy Consultants Europe
  7. Simon-Kucher & Partners Europe
  8. Implement Consulting Group
  9. QVARTZ
  10. Arthur D. Little Europe

Survey respondents say of McKinsey & Co., “Impact and integrity are [our] core values... Furthermore, our commitment to innovation is quite unmatched in the industry, as is our investment in developing our people.”

“More than most international firms we’ve surveyed, insiders feel as though McKinsey truly operates as a single global entity: a cohesive network where people have access to resources, intellect, and knowledge sharing from around the world,” said Stephan Maldonado, Vault’s Consulting Editor. “Respondents to our survey lavish praise on the incredible set of opportunities, and the great spirit of collaboration—between individuals and offices—that they’ve found at McKinsey. This sense of connectedness and a profound human element only heighten the experience of working at one of the world’s largest and most prestigious firms.”

The Vault Consulting 25 Europe is based on scores from more than 5,000 EMEA consulting firm employees surveyed earlier this year. These employees were asked to rate firms on a scale of 1 to 10 based on a variety of factors, including prestige, firm culture, compensation, work/life balances, the outlook for the firm, and overall satisfaction. The Vault Consulting 25 Europe ranking is based on the following weighted formula:

  • 30 percent prestige
  • 15 percent satisfaction
  • 15 percent firm culture
  • 10 percent compensation
  • 10 percent ability to challenge
  • 10 percent work-life balance
  • 5 percent promotion policies
  • 5 percent overall business outlook

A Year of Impressive Change

Several of the other firms in our Consulting 25 for EMEA have experienced an impressive rise in their positions. Within the Top 10, A.T. Kearney, OC&C Strategy Consultants, and Simon-Kucher & Partners are each up one position (to No.’s 6,7, and 8 this year, respectively), while Implement Consulting Group (No. 8) and QVARTZ (No. 9) are each up two positions (from No.’s 10 and 11 last year, respectively).

Some particularly notable increases include The Brattle Group at No. 11, up from No. 15 last year, and Marakon, which comes in at comes in at No. 13—a jump from No. 18 in the 2018 rankings. Perhaps the most impressive jump is L.E.K. Consulting, which holds this year’s No. 14 position—a significant rise from last year’s No. 24.

The Boston Consulting Group Leads in Practice Area Rankings

This year, The Boston Consulting Group claimed more No. 1 spots in our practice area rankings than any other firm, with McKinsey coming in at a close second. Of 12 different practice areas, The Boston Consulting Group ranked No.1 in five areas: Energy, Management, Pricing, Sales & Marketing, Retail, and Strategy consulting. McKinsey ranked No. 1 in four areas: Economic, Financial, Health Care and Operations. Meanwhile, Accenture took the No. 1 spot in both IT Operations and IT Strategy.

McKinsey Leads for Quality of Life & Key Employment Factors

Across 22 different quality of life categories, McKinsey proved itself to be a firm whose experience lives up to its prestige, ranking No. 1 in 12 categories: Ability to Challenge, Benefits, Exit Opportunities, Firm Leadership, Informal Training, Innovation, Interaction with Clients, Internal Mobility, International Opportunities, Overall Business Outlook, Relationships with Supervisors, and Most Selective Consulting Firm in Europe.

Bain & Company ranked No. 1 in Compensation and Diversity, with insiders saying that the firm “celebrates diversity” and “actively confronts issues related to diversity through helpful dialogue.” Bain & Company also ranked No. 1 in Formal Training and Promotion Policies.

QVARTZ was ranked as the No. 1 Consulting Firm in Europe for Firm Culture. As said in our Vault Verdict, “Many consultants take pride in their firm’s culture, but it’s not often that we see respondents to our survey champion their culture so adamantly as if to suggest that it should be the primary differentiator for clients enlisting its services and candidates applying to work there.”

More EMEA Rankings

In addition to the industry-wide ranking for the EMEA region, Vault also asked consultants to rate the prestige of consulting firms in their region and select the strongest firms in their specific practice areas. For key employment factors, consultants were only permitted to rate their own firm; for prestige and practice area rankings, survey respondents were NOT allowed to rate their own firms, and were only permitted to rate those with which they were familiar.

This data informs 12 practice area rankings—including Economic Consulting, Healthcare Consulting, Financial Consulting, and Strategy Consulting—and Best Firms to Work For based on 22 key employment factor rankings—including Benefits, Compensation, Diversity, Innovation and Formal and Informal Training.

You can see more of the consulting rankings we released today by visiting any of the links below:

 

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this year's rankings: our amazing client outreach and editorial teams, our survey team, the firms we've featured, and especially this year's participants. Without your feedback, these rankings would not be possible.

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