Average total pay: $139,921
For: Consultant*Best companies rank: 8
Strategy consultant to Fortune 500 companies starts new consultants at six-figure pay, and it gets better the longer they stay. Because of a lock-step advancement system, recruits can anticipate their total pay to increase tenfold over 10 years -- they may well be earning a million-dollars-plus annually a decade after they join.
BCG also pays attention to diversity: 34% of consultants are women and 26% are minorities. It created a career database and launched a global newsletter for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees. BCG scored a perfect 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index.
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Last updated January 26 2010: 11:14 AM ET
*Most common salaried job