You earn $X today.
The consulting offer says $Y.
Y is lower.
Case closed?
Not yet.
Experienced hires make one of two mistakes here. They either reject a move because the base salary falls, or rationalize almost any cut because “consulting will pay off later.”
Both shortcuts are dangerous.
You need to do the math that your career-change excitement is trying to skip.
The salary comparison looks simple... until your current job starts paying you twice
Your current compensation may include much more than base salary:
- annual cash bonus
- equity or stock vesting
- pension or retirement contributions
- deferred compensation
- retention awards
- accumulated vacation
- employer benefits
- predictable hours or remote-work flexibility
That last category is not cash.
It still has value.
A dollar is not the only thing you can lose.
Suppose the consulting base looks competitive, but changing jobs means walking away from equity that vests in six months.
Or your current company has a bonus cycle that pays just after your likely start date.
The headline salary may hide a very expensive calendar.
For a fuller framework, see Will You Have to Take a Pay Cut to Move into Consulting?
Then consulting adds things your spreadsheet may undervalue
Now reverse it.
An industry role can pay more today while consulting changes your future option set.
You may gain broader client exposure, faster feedback, work across different problems, access to senior decision-makers, or a path into roles that would have been harder to reach from your current seat.
Those things are real.
They are also hard to price.
Do not turn “career upside” into a blank cheque.
A vague promise that consulting will be “good for your career” is not enough to justify a major financial sacrifice.
You need to name the upside.
What capability will you build?
What network becomes available?
What future roles become more plausible?
What timeline are you willing to give that bet?
If you cannot answer those questions, you are not calculating opportunity cost. You are hoping.
The real comparison has four columns, not two
| What you compare | The easy calculation | What gets missed |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary | Current vs consulting | Bonus, equity, benefits |
| First-year cash | Money received | Money forfeited by leaving |
| Hours | Salary alone | Effective value of your time |
| Future earnings | Next 12 months | Career options created or closed |
| Risk | “MBB is prestigious” | Fit, performance, and transition risk |
That fourth column is where experienced hires often make the wrong decision.
A 10% cut may be tolerable for one person and irrational for another.
The percentage alone tells you almost nothing.
The cut needs a reason.
What would make a lower number rational?
A lower first-year number can make sense if it buys something you deliberately want.
Perhaps you are moving from a plateaued role into a steeper learning curve.
Perhaps consulting gives you exposure to problems that match the senior path you want later.
Perhaps you are changing industries and accepting a temporary reset to build a new platform.
Or perhaps you simply value the work more.
All legitimate.
But write the trade in one sentence:
“I am giving up ___ for approximately ___ because I expect to gain ___.”
If that sentence feels weak, investigate before signing anything.
The broader question is not merely whether consulting pays less in year one. Is Consulting Worth It for Experienced Professionals? explores the career trade more fully.
One number should still make you uncomfortable
Calculate the offer.
Calculate what you forfeit.
Calculate what your time is worth.
Then calculate something messier:
What happens if the career move works exactly as planned?
That is the upside.
Now ask the opposite.
What if it does not?
That is the number your salary comparison was never going to show you.