The four largest accountancy and consultancy groups of the globe – the Big Four – are the most popular consulting employers in Australia. Consulting remains a popular industry to work in for Australian graduates: ten of the top 100 graduate employers are active in the advisory industry.
The Top 100 Graduate Employers list, compiled by Australian Financial Review (AFR) in association with graduate employment website GradConnection, was created from the feedback of nearly 38,000 graduates in the country.
For the second year in a row, Deloitte was the most popular choice, hanging on to first place with 18% of those surveyed expressing a preference to work there. The firm, who recently purchased Australian digital communications company The Explainers, as consultancies spread into the design advisory market, was joined by a variety of its rivals in the top ten. Fellow Big Four giants PwC polled second on 15%, fourth with KPMG registering 13%, and EY at 6th with 8.2%.
Preventing consulting firms dominating the top five entirely, newcomers Aldi polled a rating of 11.4% to see the supermarket sit 5th in the table. Technology giants IBM meanwhile ranked second with 14% of respondents considering Big Blue as their ideal employers), while Accenture ranked eighth on 7%. Engineering experts meanwhile performed well, with professional service firm Jacobs attracted interest from 7% of graduates, and a similar number looking favourably at building materials and services company Hilti of 6.6%. The companies sit 9th and 10th respectively, reflecting strong interest in engineering and construction among graduates thanks to a boom in diverse activities of the building and infrastructure industries.
Financial advisory group Westpac (13th), engineering consultants AECOM (14th) and Aurecon (18th) and professional service firm Protiviti (20th), a subsidiary of recruitment firm Robert Half, also made the upper fifth of the list. Other consulting firms that according to Australian graduates are a top employer are FTI Consulting, France headquartered Capgemini, and accounting and consulting firms BDO and Grant Thornton.
Career Opportunities
Away from the consulting industry meanwhile the government sector remained a strong, with the Queensland Government sparking interest from 7% of graduates, while other government agencies show a solid following, including the Australian Taxation Office (4%), NSW Government (3%), Australian Bureau of Statistics (3%), Department of Defence (3%) and Reserve Bank of Australia (2%).
Among criteria students sought to meet in prospective careers, students cited a variety of reasons, with the most dominant predictably being opportunities to build experience and to cultivate a pathway to future promotions.
However, another less conventional draw was the possibility of travel as part of work – which undoubtedly also worked in the favour of consultancies. A recent survey stated managing consultant was the best job for travel-lovers, with the role’s £55,236 average annual earnings complimenting the 80% travel time spent on the job.