Five consulting firms make top 10 in Top 100 Graduate Employers list
The Top 100 Graduate Employers list highlights how Australian graduates are turning towards on consulting firms to begin their careers. The list features 10 consulting firms in the top 100 with the four largest accountancy and consultancy groups of the globe – the Big Four – who all made it into the top 10.
The list which is compiled by Australian Financial Review (AFR) in association with graduate employment website GradConnection shows that the consulting industry is popular amongst Australian graduates. The Top 100 Graduate Employers list was created from a survey which took into account the opinions of just under 38,000 graduates from around the country.
Deloitte was the most popular choice from all the consulting industry for the second year in a row. The consulting firm hung on to first place with 18% of respondents expressing a preference to work with the firm. Deloitte recently purchased Australian digital communications and storytelling company The Explainers.
Consultancies across the world continue to spread into the communications advisory market, a move that has been emulated by a number of other consultancies mentioned in the ranking. Fellow Big Four giants PwC scored second with a score of 15%, fourth with KPMG registering 13%, and EY at 6th with 8.2%.
Newcomers to the list Aldi polled a rating of 11.4% to see the supermarket sit 5th in the table which prevented consulting firms from dominating the top five entirely. Tech giants IBM ranked second with 14% of respondents them as their ideal employers whilst Accenture ranked eighth with 7%.
Engineering firms also performed well in the ranking, with both professional service firm Jacobs and building materials and services company Hilti attracting interest from around 7% of graduates. The shift towards engineering and construction companies in the list reflects drive in building and infrastructure industries in the Australian economy.
Engineering consultants AECOM (14th) and Aurecon (18th) and professional service firm Protiviti (20th), a subsidiary of recruitment firm Robert Half, also made the upper fifth of the list. Capgemini, BCG, FTI Consulting, BDO and Accenture also appear as top employers.
Career opportunities
Outside of the consulting industry, the public sector still remained a good option for graduates. The Queensland Government was chosen by 7% of respondents in the survey whilst other government agencies followed including the ATO (4%) and the NSW Government (3%), the ABS (3%), the DoD (3%) and the Reserve Bank of Australia (2%).
The criteria which students sought were also identified in the survey, predominantly being reasons for career growth itself including; opportunities to build experience and to cultivate a pathway to future promotions.
That being said, incentives like travel and company culture are also important to Australian grads. A recent survey states that being a managing consultant was the best job for those who love to travel, with an average salary of upwards of just under $100K and 80% travel time on the job.
