Three of the UK’s largest management consultancies are increasing junior and graduate recruitment this year despite widespread concern that AI will reshape entry-level roles.
Bain & Co and Alvarez & Marsal’s UK leaders both confirmed plans to step up junior hiring over the next few years, expressing confidence that AI will not significantly impact graduate consultants.
Bain & Co managing partner Clare Gordon told the Times the firm, which advises chief executives and boards on strategic planning and major deals, has already raised its recruitment targets twice this year.
Gordon said graduate hiring would be 25 per cent higher than last year, as the firm “needs juniors working alongside more senior experts, so they can develop the judgment, the expertise, the pattern knowledge of how you drive change through organisations.”
She added that hiring levels would be “well above pre-pandemic levels,” amounting to “triple-digit numbers of graduates and junior hires up to consultant grade.”
Alvarez & Marsal’s European Practice lead, Antonio Alvarez III, confirmed the firm is also scaling up graduate hiring and has begun talks with educational institutions in the US and Europe to establish graduate schemes.
“We’re in the process of making some alliances with leading institutions. We’ve recruited on campuses before, more in the US, less so in Europe. But I think that’s where we’re going to need to go. I’m hiring more junior people — I actually need grads,” Alvarez said.
Boston Consulting Group also confirmed the firm “plans to hire consistent if not slightly increased numbers this year,” joining Bain and Alvarez in bucking the sector’s cautious trend.
The wider consulting industry has faced significant disruption as AI reshapes how consultants operate, with many firms cutting headcount particularly at junior levels.
Much of the concern centres on AI automating tasks traditionally handled by junior consultants, including research and data analysis, which form the backbone of early-career work.
Last summer, it emerged that Big Four giants began cutting hundreds of entry-level jobs and substantially pulling back on graduate recruitment programmes.
Clients are also reconsidering what they expect from consultancies and how much they are willing to pay for services, as AI tools become increasingly embedded in day-to-day consulting work.