Do consultants work long hours? It's a question that many people ask when considering a career in consulting. The answer is yes, consultants often work long hours, but the amount of time they spend on the job varies depending on the type of consulting firm and the individual's role. At strategy consulting firms, the weekly average is 60 hours, while millennial management consultants may work as little as 50 hours a week. A typical workday for a consultant can range from 7-8 hours to 16 hours, depending on the project and the consultant's role.
Consultants often work long hours due to time and budget constraints on projects. However, many consultancies are now implementing policies that give consultants the space to take time off work to relax and recharge. The data also reveals that consultants with a longer tenure in a company work fewer overtime on average, highlighting the investments that consultants often need to familiarize themselves with a new environment. At the highest level, a consultant is someone who is an expert in something and helps other people, whether it's a person or an organization.
Consulting covers a wide range of job functions and there are many different types of consulting firms. The typical path that people take in consulting is to work in a large consulting firm for two years and then move on to something else, such as working at a startup or working internally in a large organization and being on the client side. In short, consulting (especially in MBBs) is not a 9-to-5 job and most applicants are fully aware of what it is to temporarily tax a career in consulting. So yes, in consulting you will most likely work fewer hours than in investment banking, but days of 14-16 hours are still common.
