Starting salaries for management consultants

Starting salaries for management consultants

Are you interested in management consulting and considering a career in the consulting industry?In this article, you’ll find out all you need to know about starting salaries for management consultants. We’ll also look at how salaries vary between different sectors.

Many factors play a role

Whether you are interested in recruitment consulting, IT and processes, or corporate management consulting: management consultants are highly sought after in all sectors. The more demand there is for expert knowledge within an industry, the higher the salary you can expect to receive when you start your career. So you will earn more, for example, in financial services and insurance than in the public sector.

On the other hand, the size and profile of a company, the number of employees, and the location are also significant factors. Prominent employers, such as McKinsey or Boston Consulting, may in some cases offer impressive starting salaries of up to 70,000 euro per year including bonuses (consulting.de).

Further training increases success

Factors such as your qualifications, work experience and specialist training will also determine your starting salary. As a junior consultant with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration or Business Psychology, you can already earn between 40,000 and 45,000 euro gross per year in a management consultancy.

However, it’s usually worth investing in your education and gaining a master’s degree. A postgraduate qualification will not only enable you to acquire additional specialist knowledge, but you can also gain valuable professional experience during your studies through internships and student jobs. This could lead to a higher starting salary, ranging from 48,000 to 66,000 euro gross (alphajump.de); a master’s can also enable you to start your career in a higher position.In-company professional development or independent further training will give you additional qualifications and increase your market value and your income.

If you are still looking for the right master’s degree for you, then why not find out more about our Corporate Management and Business Psychology master’s programs?

Starting your own business

Perhaps you are considering setting up your own consulting agency in the future; many management consultants have this in mind. According to the  BDU (German Association of Management Consultants), there are about 140,000 management consultants working in Germany. Many of them are employed by agencies or companies, but there are also plenty of independent consultants.

As a result, there is huge competition in this industry and that means you need to stand out from the crowd. Specialized qualifications, professional development, outstanding performance, or expertise in a particular field, method, or customer type will help you to succeed.If you are starting out as a freelancer with professional experience, you can charge a daily rate of between 500 and 700 euros (Gehaltsreporter.de).Once you have established yourself, you still need to keep going. If you deliver the right quality and have a good sales strategy, you could earn as much as 15,000 euro a month as an independent management consultant (consulting.de).

Starting salaries for journalists in the print, radio, TV, and online sectors

If you are studying journalism or communications and would like to work as a journalist once you graduate, don’t miss our next article in this series on Friday, April 12, 2019. We’ll take a close look at entry-level salaries for journalists in the print, radio, TV and online media sectors.

Many thanks to Prof. Dr. Thomas Deelmann for providing a wealth of background information.


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