The Best Consulting Firms in Europe, 2018

I am delighted to announce the release of Vault's rankings of the Best Consulting Firms to Work for in Europe in 2018.

These rankings represent the last of the three regions we cover—the other two being the US and APAC. As with those rankings, the Best Consulting Firms in Europe are based on our annual survey of leading employers within the consulting industry, and take into account everything from a firm's external reputation (its prestige score) to individual quality of life factors—all of which also have separate ranking categories, which you can find links to towards the end of this post.

Without further ado, however, here is this year's top 10:

The Best Consulting Firms to Work For in Europe

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

View the full list here

Those who have been paying attention to our other rankings will know that this release means McKinsey has now been named the #1 firm in every region we cover for 2017-18—a remarkable feat that speaks to the amount of work that the firm has done around establishing a "One Firm" approach to quality of life and compensation around the world. That, coupled with the firm's stellar prestige results—it remains the most highly-regarded firm by some distance—makes it a can't-miss opportunity for those who hope to set their careers down a leadership track.

Elsewhere on the list, one of the developments we've been tracking for a few years in Europe seems to be coming to fruition: the increasing rise of boutique firms, particularly in fields such as economics, finance and healthcare. This year, we have a record number of boutiques making the list, with Copenhagen-based strategy outfit Implement Consulting Group managing to crack the top 10 on its first attempt. These firms, while often harder to find due to their smaller recruitment resources and more limited reputation, typically offer benefits such as earlier responsibility and better quality of life than their larger peers. For that reason, I am delighted to see this category growing within the European market, and to be able to help draw attention to some of these outfits through these rankings.

How do we calculate the EMEA Consulting Rankings?

This year, more than 4,400 verified, practicing consultants in Europe, Africa and the Middle East took the time to tell us about life at their firm through our survey, and to rate their jobs on everything from compensation and work-life balance to diversity, promotion policies and even exit opportunities. Those same consultants also rated peer firms on their prestige overall, and in a number of individual practice areas.*

Each of these ratings serves a different purpose:

Prestige and Practice Area Ratings

The overall prestige score is used to determine our ranking of the Most Prestigious Consulting Firms in Europe.

The practice area scores are used to determine the Best Consulting Firms in Each Practice Area.

In Asia-Pacific, we cover 11 categories:

Quality of Life Ratings

Internal quality of life scores are used to determine our Best Consulting Firms in Europe to Work For rankings across individual quality of life categories.

This year, we asked consultants in the region to rate firms across 22 separate categories:

The Europe Consulting 25

The last ranking—but definitely not the least of them—is the Europe Consulting 25. For that, we apply a weighted ranking that takes into account the factors that consultants have told us over the years are most important to them in both selecting a firm, and in determining their long-term happiness once inside the firm. This year, that weighting was as follows:

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

Now that you know what each of the rankings is, and how we compile them, I invite you to check them out in more detail—just follow any of the links above to get started. Who knows—you might find your next employer in one of those lists.

*Note that consultants cannot vote for their own firm in prestige or practice area rankings, and can only rate their own firm on quality of life factors.