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ANZSCO 2247Skill level 1Business and finance

Management consultant

Advise organisations on strategy, operations and transformation across industries.

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Salary

Cited figures from Job Outlook and QILT. ExamExplained does not publish predictive earnings or projections.

FigureAUDSource
Full-time weekly earnings$2750Job Outlook (2025-06-01)
Graduate starting salary$85,000QILT (2025-03-01)

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What a management consultant actually does

Management consultants work in case teams on a defined client project, usually somewhere between four and sixteen weeks long. A typical day involves interviewing client staff, pulling and analysing their data, building slide decks, and meeting with the project manager and partner to test the emerging answer. Mornings often run case-team workstreams and afternoons run client steering or working sessions. At a strategy firm, juniors spend most of the day in Excel and slides; senior consultants spend more time interviewing, framing, and presenting. Hours sit at 50-60 a week on average and stretch to 70+ in the final weeks before a major board paper or deal close. Most consultants are hybrid or on-site at the client for several days a week, which can include interstate or international travel.

Typical tasks

  • Diagnose business problems with structured frameworks.
  • Build quantitative and qualitative analyses.
  • Present recommendations to executive sponsors.

Skills you'll use

  • Structured problem-solving and hypothesis-driven analysis
  • Financial modelling and forecasting in Excel
  • Slide-writing for executive audiences (storyline, exhibits, talk track)
  • Interviewing senior client staff to extract information
  • Reading an industry quickly from public filings and ABS data
  • Project planning under tight deadlines
  • Pushing back diplomatically when a client's answer is wrong

How to become one

  1. 1Finish Year 12 with English plus Maths Advanced or Methods; strategy firms favour stronger maths
  2. 2Complete a Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Economics, or a STEM degree (3-4 years); double-degrees in commerce/law or commerce/engineering are common
  3. 3Aim for strong distinction-level grades; the major strategy firms heavily screen on academic results plus extracurriculars
  4. 4Apply for a strategy graduate or summer-internship programme (most strategy firms recruit in penultimate year)
  5. 5Build the role over 2-4 years; many consultants later complete an MBA before stepping toward manager

Where you can work

  • Global strategy consulting firms (MBB)
  • Big-four management-consulting arms
  • Boutique strategy and operations consultancies
  • Internal strategy teams inside ASX-listed corporates
  • Federal and state government strategy units
  • Health, education and infrastructure advisory practices

Career progression

Typical stages and salary bands. Salary figures are sourced from Job Outlook, QILT or industry bodies; brackets are 25th-75th percentile not absolute floors or ceilings.

  1. Business analyst / consultant
    0-3 years
    Typical roles: Business analyst, Consultant, Senior consultant
    Salary band: $85,000 - $130,000 per year (source, sourced 2026-05-21)
  2. Manager / engagement manager
    4-7 years
    Typical roles: Manager, Engagement manager, Project leader
    Salary band: $160,000 - $250,000 per year (source, sourced 2026-05-21)
  3. Principal / associate partner
    8-12 years
    Typical roles: Principal, Associate partner, Director
    Salary band: $280,000 - $450,000 per year (source, sourced 2026-05-21)
  4. Partner
    12+ years
    Typical roles: Partner, Senior partner

Is this for you?

You might love this if

  • You like solving a different problem every few months
  • You can take ambiguous instructions and break them down into a plan
  • You're comfortable being the most junior person in a senior meeting
  • You can take direct feedback on your work and your communication style
  • You're willing to travel and work long hours, especially in the first few years

This might not suit you if

  • You want one team, one product and one mission for years
  • You hate slide decks and frequent travel
  • You can't tolerate weeks of long hours during peak deal moments
  • You dislike client-facing work and prefer purely internal roles

Three ways in

Uni, TAFE and trade routes for management consultant. Not every career has all three; we only list pathways that actually lead to this occupation.

University

Bachelor degrees that lead to this career.

TAFE / VET

Nationally accredited Certificate and Diploma qualifications.

No direct TAFE pathway to this career.

Apprenticeship trade

Earn while you learn through an Australian Apprenticeship.

Not an apprenticeship trade.

Sources

ExamExplained does not publish predictive salary figures. For current Australian earnings data check Job Outlook directly. Career classifications follow the ABS ANZSCO 2022 release.