Top 100 graduate employers in Australia: Consulting Firms
Analysis of the first employer preferences of more than 60,000 graduates has revealed Australia’s top 100 graduate employers, with 20+ consulting and professional services firms featuring on the list.
This year’s ‘Top 100 Most Popular Graduate Employers’ list by employment platform GradConnection and media partner the Australian Financial Review is headed up by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), which ranked just ahead of the New South Wales Government.
Global accounting and consulting firm Deloitte (including its sub brands Deloitte Consulting, Deloitte Digital and Monitor Deloitte) ranks as the best performing professional services firm at number three, with industry counterparts PwC, KPMG, DXC Technology and EY all also making the top 10.
In addition to the Big Four and DXC Technology – which all follow up on top ten placings last year – nineteen other management consulting and professional services firms also made the Top 100 list, including Accenture at twelve and Jacobs (the parent of PA Consulting), Capgemini (the parent of Capgemini Invent) and IBM (the parent of IBM Consulting) rounding out the last three spots of the top twenty.
Accounting and consulting firms Grant Thornton (31st), BDO (53rd), RSM (55th), Pitcher Partners (82nd), and Findex (96th) also rank as one of Australia’s leading employers for graduates.
In the category awards, Deloitte was named most popular internship employer in the large business category (over 5,000 employees), along with taking home the title of most popular business and commerce employer. KPMG won the Chartered Accountants-sponsored award for most popular accounting employer ahead of its Big Four rivals, while DXC Technology received the most popular tech employer award.
The full list of consulting firms in Australia’s top 100 graduate employers ranking for 2022:
Deloitte
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #3
Deloitte’s consulting business consists of Deloitte Consulting, Deloitte Digital and Monitor Deloitte
2022 graduate intake: 1,310
Applications: close March 15th
PwC
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #5
PwC’s consulting arm comprises PwC Advisory and Strategy& (strategy consulting)
2022 graduate intake: est. 900
Applications: from March 2nd
KPMG
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #6
KPMG’s consulting arm operates as KPMG Advisory
2022 graduate intake: over 900
Applications: second round opens March 21st
DXC Technology
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #7
2022 graduate intake: 131 (including New Zealand)
Applications: close April 15th
EY
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #8
EY’s consulting arm comprises EY Advisory and EY-Parthenon (strategy consulting)
2022 graduate intake: 898
Applications: close March 25th
Accenture
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #12
Accenture’s consulting arm goes to market as Accenture Strategy & Consulting
Aurecon
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #14
Jacobs
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #18
Jacobs is the parent of PA Consulting Group
Capgemini
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #19
Capgemini’s consulting arm operates as Capgemini Invent
IBM
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #20
IBM’s consulting arm operates as IBM Consulting
GHD
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #21
Marsh
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #23
Marsh is part of Marsh McLennan, the parent of Mercer and Oliver Wyman
Arup
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #26
McGrathNicol
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #27
Grant Thornton
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #31
AECOM
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #34
KordaMentha
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #41
BDO
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #53
BDO’s consulting arm operates as BDO Advisory
RSM
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #55
RSM’s consulting arm operates as RSM Consulting
Fujitsu
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #69
Fujitsu’s consulting arm operates as Fujitsu Consulting
Pitcher Partners
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #82
Protiviti
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #91
Norman Disney & Young
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #92
Findex
Position in the top 100 graduate employers: #96
The analysis by GradConnection was based on over 68,000 applications by graduates at employers in Australia from January to November 2021.
Where are the strategy consultancies? And others?
Notably, the Top 100 Most Popular Graduate Employers list by GradConnection does not feature some of the world’s most prestigious – and most popular firms among graduates – including the likes of McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company, Kearney, Oliver Wyman, and L.E.K. Consulting. In most international rankings, these firms typically feature among the top graduate consulting employers (and often lead the pack).
Meanwhile, some of Australia’s leading homegrown consultancies such as Nous Group, Synergy Group and Partners in Performance are also not part of the top 100 ranking.
The omissions of these firms has to do with three factors. For one, only companies with a company profile are included in GradConnection’s analysis – Oliver Wyman and Synergy Group for example are not active on the platform. Second, companies need to have graduate opportunities advertised on the platform – Boston Consulting Group and Bain & Company for instance don’t advertise their roles.
Third, to compile the list, the researchers assess the total volume of applicants, meaning that the final ranking is skewed towards larger companies. Bigger businesses offering employment opportunities across multiple disciplines in multiple locations will tend to have a higher number of applicants and so gravitate toward the top. As a result, the majority of consultancies listed are large players, with some notable exceptions (McGrathNicol, KordaMentha and Protiviti).
