Volume 3 (2020): Issue 1 (June 2020)

How and why do strategy consultancies prioritise graduates from elite universities, and is this practice doing them more harm than good? The association of top strategy firms with elite universities is well-known, but this study suggests that the practice is done more for signaling and ‘fit’ reasons than for recruiting outstanding talent. Using anonymous interviews with recruiters, partners, and consultants at strategy firms, and drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital, this paper suggests that these practices may do more harm than good.

It is relatively unusual for white, working-class men to find employment in prestigious management consultancy firms. When they do find employment in these firms, their working-class masculinity is seen as problematic, and not in line with clients’ and co- workers’ expectations. In turn, they must modify their identity, by learning and enacting what the literature refers to as “corporate masculinity”. But how does this learning process occur? And how can consultancy firms better integrate working class men, to maximise the value of their contributions? Based on empirical research we conducted (Giazitzoglu and Muzio, forthcoming), this short piece explores the experiences of a pool of white working-class men who found employment as IT specialists in a prestigious management consultancy firm. After discussing our research and what it reveals about the way professionals from working class backgrounds learn corporate masculinity, we consider some practical recommendations.