Consultants provide expert advice to other professionals. Think of them as skilled problem solvers who can provide an objective perspective or specialized knowledge that is lacking inside a company. Organizations across all industries and sectors rely on consultants to provide expertise to help them maximize their profitability or effectiveness and keep them running smoothly.
Large management consulting firms such as McKinsey, Bain, Boston Consulting Group help organizations improve their structure, management, profitability, and assist in the development of strategies for short- and long-term growth. Immediately after graduation, undergraduate students that start with a large management consulting firm most often begin as a generalist and gain exposure to many fields. Graduate students with prior work experience or specific expertise may be able to specialize earlier at these firms. Undergraduate students interested in specializing earlier in their careers, should consider boutique consulting firms, which offer more specialized guidance for their clients in areas such as nonprofit, economic development, health care, government, environment, or engineering.
Consulting firms seek talent from diverse backgrounds including social sciences, humanities, and STEM fields. Read on to learn more about the various types of consulting firms, the breadth of roles that are available, and how to assess whether a consulting career is right for you.
Common Consulting Specialties
Among the popular consulting specialties are management/strategy, financial, information technology, human resources/staffing, public sector & non-profit, and healthcare. Large, one-stop firms offer advisory services in these and other specialties. Boutique consulting firms support their clients with highly specialized expertise and focus on a smaller number of industries (government, non-profit, energy, life sciences, technology), functions (mergers and acquisitions, economics, litigation), or methodologies. For more information about government and nonprofit consulting, visit the Public Sector & Non-Profit Consulting Community.
Management/Strategy Consulting
Management/strategy consultants solve a multitude of organizational problems. All management/strategy consultants require knowledge of management science, strategy, operations, marketing, logistics, mergers and acquisitions, manufacturing, government relations, environmental issues (including compliance), materials management and physical distribution, finance and accounting, human resources/staffing, and electronic data processing and systems.
Examples of typical management/strategy consulting projects include:
-recommending a new strategic direction for a growing wireless company
-determining how a Hollywood studio can reposition itself to maximize profits from new markets
-developing a strategy for a consumer products company to revive a 50-year-old brand and relaunch it worldwide
Financial Consulting
Financial consultants provide advice on handling issues from profit-and-loss reporting and risk management, to financial control and compliance with laws, to capital budgeting and corporate restructuring. Working on these problems—whether as a one-time staffing assignment as a generalist consulting firm or as an employee of a specialty financial strategy consulting practice—can be very rewarding for quantitatively focused people with skills in accounting or financial analysis.
Common financial consulting projects include:
-assisting clients with capital budgeting, financial statement preparation, and/or project valuation
-identifying and analyzing potential financial risks and helping clients control their risk exposures and plan for disaster scenarios
-helping an investment firm identify a strategy to reach a new target market
Information Technology Consulting
Information technology (IT) consultants utilize their in-depth knowledge of the IT industry, computer and telecommunications hardware and software, and the Internet (including social media and cloud computing) to help clients achieve their technology goals.
Services provided by IT consultants include:
-determining how a major “big-box” retailer can use technology to improve its distribution network
-helping a major health care system make the transition to a digital record-keeping system
-developing client-specific software programs for an insurance company to run in the cloud environment
Human Resources/Staffing Consulting
Approximately 60 percent of any company’s expenditures are tied to human capital, including recruiting, hiring, and training workers; managing human resources (HR) departments; overseeing compensation and benefits; developing and managing ongoing initiatives (e.g., to improve diversity and work/life balance); and maximizing the skills of employees to achieve the organization’s goals. Many companies have realized that investing in human capital and effectively managing HR programs pays off in the form of a more satisfied and dedicated workforce, lower recruiting and training costs (by holding onto productive workers), and improved company staffing flexibility.
Human resources/staffing consultants work on the following types of projects:
-Human resources policy research during the Coronavirus pandemic
-How to navigate the future of work from talent acquisition to updating skills
-Achieving gender equity in leadership roles
Sophomores who want to build connections around being the first one in their family to attend college or the experience of growing up in a lower-socioeconomic household: Join Bain’s 1.5-day First Forward Summit.
This program introduces consulting through interactive case …
If you are looking for insights and internship/post-grad opportunities to do more for the common good, check out the resources provided by Effective Altruism.
For further information, subscribe to their newsletter, follow them through social media such as LinkedIn, and …
By Jorimel Zaldivar
Jorimel ZaldivarSenior Associate Director for Common Good Careers
Application deadlines for McKinsey, Bain, and BCG begin as early as March 29. To keep up with the application process, sign up for upcoming events, and submit your application, please visit each firm’s website.
For undergraduates (full-time): For undergraduates (internships):
The Office of Career Strategy collects information about Yale College graduates. This tool allows users to search outcomes by year and major. Please visit Statistics & Reports for more information on our data collection.
First Destination summaries are based on the Knowledge Rate of graduate outcomes six months after graduation according to National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) guidelines.
Knowledge Rate, defined by NACE, includes direct survey responses and basic employment or graduate school information collected through other sources, such as faculty, academic advisors, or LinkedIn. Yale’s information below on Starting Salary and Time of Year Offer Received is based only on direct survey responses.
Helpful Tips for the Interactive Tool:
There is no Enter or Submit Button; results will appear automatically
The default is ‘All Years’ or ‘All Majors.’ Choose specific years or majors for more granular results. Uncheck the selected major(s) to reset your search.
The tool returns results with at least five responses. For small majors, choose ‘All Years’ to show results
To ensure confidentiality, results are reported in the aggregate
90.7% of those graduating between July 1, 2024-June 30, 2025.
Survey Responses: 1,458 (85.4%)
Confirmed through LinkedIn or other sources: 249 (14.6%)
95.3% employed or in graduate school within six months of graduation
$94,028 among graduates employed full-time in the United States
Financial Services, Education, Technology, Consulting, and Healthcare
01
First Destination
02
Top Employers
03
Employment Industry and Function
04
Size of the Organization
05
Starting Salary
06
Time of Year Offer Received
07
Internships, Research, and Study Abroad Experiences
08
First Destination Locations
09
Top Universities
10
Advanced Degrees Pursued
First Destination
First Destination refers to the postgraduate plans of Yale College graduates six months after graduation. The pursuits of Yale graduates include employment, graduate school, independent research, military service, and more.
Top Employers
This list of employers shows organizations that hired the most graduates in the selected year and/or major. Please note employers are listed first in the order of those that hired the most graduates but are listed in alphabetical order if the same number of graduates were hired in the same year or major. This list changes annually, and the Office of Career Strategy works closely with employers across industries and functional areas.
Employment Industry and Function
It is notable that no single industry or functional area attracts Yale graduates as a critical mass, which is consistent with Yale’s liberal arts education through which graduates gain valuable skills desirable to many roles. Use the tabs below to view both function and industry choices.
Function
Industry
Size of the Organization
Yale graduates choose employers of all sizes and typically only about half of the graduates in each class choose the largest size employers (501+ employees).
Starting Salary
The salary information below includes only salaries self-reported by graduates employed full-time in the U.S. and does not include bonuses or other forms of compensation.
Time of Year Offer Received
Although graduates report accepting their post-graduate positions throughout their senior year, typically 50% of graduates secure their full-time position in the spring of senior year or later.
Study Abroad and Experiential Learning
Yale students pursue an array of activities, including study abroad, research, and internships, and many receive Yale funds for these endeavors. The following charts show the percentage of Yale students who undertook: (1) credit-bearing study abroad, (2) experiential learning experiences (e.g., internships, research, service experiences), and (3) received summer funding.
Study Abroad
Experiential Learning
Summer Funding
First Destination Locations
When considering an entire Class, the majority remain in the U.S., while on average more than 10% reside outside of the country.
NOTE: Hover over each state to see the percentage of graduates in that state. Grey indicates no graduates from this class year.
United States
World
Top Universities
The list below shows Universities most often attended by graduates in the selected year, however, Yale alums enroll in programs around the world. In the case where there are a significant number of graduates enrolled in a Professional School at a University, that School may be listed separately (for example Yale School of Public Health and Yale University).
Advanced Degrees Pursued
The chart below shows the graduate degrees being pursued immediately after graduation. Each year, more than 70% of Yale College graduates employed immediately after graduation indicate they intend to pursue a graduate degree in the next five years.
We don’t have enough student data to show you these results.
SERVICE HOURS
Day of the week
Academic Year
Summer Hours
M
Monday
8:30am - 5pm
8:30am - 4:30pm
T
Tuesday
8:30am - 5pm
8:30am - 4:30pm
W
Wednesday
8:30am - 5pm
8:30am - 4:30pm
TH
Thursday
8:30am - 5pm
8:30am - 4:30pm
F
Friday
8:30am - 5pm
8:30am - 4:30pm
The office is closed weekends, holidays, and recess days.
