Consulting firms ramp up hiring at top B-schools

Consulting firms are queuing up at top-tier business schools with surprising hiring numbers, especially after AI (artificial intelligence) hit employee figures in some of these very companies, according to the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs).

- Devina Sengupta

“This year witnessed a strong resurgence in consulting and finance roles, with consulting offers rising by nearly 60% and finance roles by about 10%,” said Debashis Chatterjee, director of IIM Kozhikode, adding that 492 of 594 students have been placed already.

These offers are driven by India's growing role in complex, AI-driven work. According to Chatterjee, one of the main reasons for this resurgence is because a significant portion of them is “now aligned with strategic and high-impact teams as complex global work based out of India has relatively increased”.

Notably, consulting, banking and advisory firms have always been coveted recruiters at B-schools.

While the global slump hurt hiring for the 2024 batch, the next batch saw these sectors pick up the slack.Bain & Company, Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey &Co. and Accenture are some of the consultants, along with investment firms General Atlantic and Temasek Holdings, that are expected to pick up students aggressively.