UK Management Consulting Firms Closer To Achieving Gender Parity

Until relatively recently, the management consulting industry has undoubtedly been male-dominated. For major firms McKinsey, Bain and BCG (collectively known as ‘MBB’), addressing this issue is a huge strategic focus, particularly when it comes to hiring new talent.

To find out more about these companies’ efforts towards achieving gender parity in hiring, the case interview preparation platform CaseCoach conducted a detailed analysis of 7,550 individuals who were hired into client-facing roles at MBB firms in a selection of locations around the world between 2020 and mid-2022.

Key takeaways from CaseCoach’s analysis included:

Progress is being made in gender parity in hiring at MBB firms, with an average of 42% female hiring across all three. The difference among the firms is small, with 44% female hiring at McKinsey, and 41% at both BCG and Bain.

Among the firms’ different hiring channels, the pre-experience student hiring channel comes the closest to achieving gender parity, with 45% female hires across the locations analysed.

The global MBB offices that are closest to achieving gender parity in hiring are those in the UK (46%), Canada (47%) and Switzerland (37%)

The data also revealed that MBB firms in the Middle East, France, Australia and the United States hired a lower percentage of female consultants.

Enguerran Loos, founder of CaseCoach, commented: “We know that gender parity is a huge strategic priority for top management consulting firms today. Our analysis of hiring at McKinsey, BCG and Bain shows that these efforts are generating tangible results, with an average of 42% female hiring across all three firms.

“While some global MBB locations have further to go, others – such as the UK, Switzerland and Canada – are very close to achieving a balanced population of male and female hires. This demonstrates genuine progress and indicates that the firms are moving ever closer towards achieving true gender parity within their ranks.'”