Announcing Firsthand's 2022 Vault Consulting Rankings for EMEA and APAC Regions!

Consulting is one of the most rewarding and meaningful career paths for students and recent graduates, and aspiring consultants face difficult questions when deciding which firms to pursue for internships and full-time positions. “What kind of culture do I want?” “How soon should I specialize?” “How much client exposure can I expect?” For answers to these and other important questions, Firsthand’s Vault Consulting Rankings have become an essential tool, giving aspiring consultants a competitive edge when looking to launch their careers with the world’s best consulting firms.

The Vault Consulting 25 in Europe and the Vault Consulting 15 in Asia-Pacific—as well as the Prestige, Practice Area, and Best to Work For rankings in both regions—cover various employment factors, including work/life balance, firm culture, compensation, practice area, and more. These results are based on our survey of almost 5,000 current employees at more than 40 of the most prominent consulting firms in those regions. Their responses form the basis of our Europe and Asia-Pacific rankings.

These consultants’ invaluable insights give jobseekers an insider’s perspective when researching their next career move. Every year, we ask employees to rate their own firms on a scale of 1 to 10 based on firm culture, compensation, work/life balance, overall business outlook, satisfaction, and other employment factors. We also asked consultants to rate the prestige of peer firms and to select the strongest firms in more than a dozen specific practice areas; for the prestige and practice area rankings, consultants were unable to rate or vote for their own firms. The Vault Consulting 25 Europe and Consulting 15 Asia-Pacific rankings are based on a weighted formula that combines each firm’s prestige rating with its scores in several key employment factors to come up with an overall list of the Best Consulting Firms to Work For. 

The Top 5 Consulting Firms in Europe are:

1. McKinsey & Company
2. Bain & Company
3. Roland Berger
4. Oliver Wyman
5. OC&C Strategy Consultants

The Top 5 Consulting Firms in Asia-Pacific are:

1. McKinsey & Company
2. Bain & Company
3. Roland Berger
4. Oliver Wyman
5. OC&C Strategy Consultants

McKinsey & Company is No. 1 this year in both Europe and Asia-Pacific. The firm also ranks No. 1 in both regions for multiple employment factors, including Firm Leadership, Innovation, Compensation, Benefits, and Formal Training. Says one employee in one of McKinsey’s European offices, “The saying within McKinsey is 'make your own McKinsey' - and this is true if you want it to be. You define your own boundaries and objectives and plan your journey accordingly. On your journey, everyone is there to support you and challenge you.”

Bain & Company ranks No. 2 in Europe and Asia-Pacific. It is No. 1 in Europe for Overall Business Outlook and takes the top spot in Asia-Pacific for Firm Culture, Diversity, and Work/Life Balance. One employee in the Asia-Pacific region praises Bain’s recent growth and positive future outlook, stating, “Our traction across multiple parts of the firm is extraordinary - multiple engines of growth, providing a very robust outlook. Digital is becoming a real strength for us, with enormous upside.”

Roland Berger rounds out the Top 3 in both Europe and Asia-Pacific rankings as well. In Europe, the firm performs well in several practice areas, including Energy Consulting (No. 4) and Strategy Consulting (No. 6). As one employee in the region told us, “Besides the extensive formal training possibilities, Roland Berger's culture places a high value on mentoring. From beginning onwards, I was directly given two mentors - not only my direct boss from the same cluster, but also a senior consultant from another area of expertise - to make sure that you always have someone to reach out to. …” The firm’s Asia-Pacific presence is distinguished by strong performance in various employment factors, including Innovation (No. 2), Interaction with Clients (No. 2), Internal Mobility (No. 3), and Health & Wellness (No. 3).

OC&C Strategy Consultants is new to the top 5 this year, taking the slot in both the EMEA and APAC regions. The firm’s Asia offices scored No. 1 in Hours in the Office and No. 2 in Work/Life Balance, while the Europe region scored well in several practice areas, including Retail Consulting (No. 4).

The Most Prestigious Consulting Firms in Europe and Asia-Pacific

There aren’t often surprises in the ranking of the most prestigious consulting firms, and understandably so. This held true in this year’s North American rankings, and it holds true for both the European and Asia-Pacific rankings, which only saw one firm move into the Top 5 in each region (Kearney Europe and Oliver Wyman Asia).

Consultants who participate in our survey are not allowed to rate the prestige of their own firms; they can only rate their peers. The firms that rank are often the standard-bearers of the consulting industry—those global juggernauts whose influence and renown all but ensure near-universal name recognition.

The 5 Most Prestigious Consulting Firms in Europe are:

1. McKinsey & Company
2. Boston Consulting Group
3. Bain & Company
4. Oliver Wyman
5. Kearney

The 5 Most Prestigious Consulting Firms in Asia-Pacific are:

1. McKinsey & Company
2. Boston Consulting Group
3. Bain & Company
4. Kearney
5. Oliver Wyman

Below are the rest of our Consulting Rankings for Europe and Asia-Pacific, along with the firms that rank No. 1 in each (categories marked with an asterisk are new to this year’s rankings).

The Best Consulting Firms in Each Practice Area for Europe and Asia-Pacific:

Vault Ranks the Best Consulting Firms to Work For by Employment Factor for Europe and Asia-Pacific:

View the complete Vault Consulting Rankings for North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

Firsthand.co also features a consulting web portal to help consulting professionals research hundreds of firms through employee reviews, firm perspectives, Q&As, and more. We recently published the Vault Guide to Case Interviews, Ninth Edition, which provides an inside perspective on what recruiters and interviewers expect from candidates as well as key business frameworks and more than 50 sample cases, guesstimates, and brainteasers likely to come up in an interview.