AI is changing the way we work, and that much is clear. For junior analysts in consulting, these changes are happening fast and in ways we haven't fully considered.
Not long ago, a new hire on a strategy team would spend their first few years buried in spreadsheets, summarizing interviews, and building late-night presentations. It wasn't glamorous, especially when you got the inevitable email from your manager at 11.53 scrapping everything that you did today and starting a new line of work but it was the essential training ground. They learned by doing, developing a sharp eye for detail and the instincts needed to solve complex problems.
Today, much of that is gone. AI tools can now do in minutes what used to take a team of analysts days. We used to have a junior on all our calls just to write notes - that is all AI now.
This looks like progress. In many ways, it is. The work is faster, cleaner, and less repetitive. But we're just starting to see a real and important cost.
The Real Learning Is in the Doing
When AI handles the grunt work, junior analysts miss out on the hands-on experience that helps them grow. If a tool does the work for you, you don't get to figure out how to do it yourself. You don't get to make mistakes. You don't build the instincts that come from wrestling with a messy, ambiguous problem for the first time.
This has serious ripple effects. Without juniors learning the basics, they can't become effective mid-level consultants. Without that foundational experience, they can never become partners.
Fewer Juniors, Fewer Future Leaders
Here's an uncomfortable truth: as AI takes over more of the entry-level tasks, fewer junior analysts will be needed on projects. Some firms are already hiring smaller classes. This means fewer people are coming up through the ranks, which, over time, means fewer future leaders.
In the short term, this might seem efficient—leaner teams and better profits. But in the long run, it risks hollowing out the talent pipeline. You can't promote good judgment if it was never developed in the first place.
So, What's the Solution?
There’s no easy fix. We can’t turn back the clock, and we shouldn’t ignore these powerful tools. They’re here to stay.
However, firms do need to become more deliberate about how people learn. This might mean giving juniors the space to do things manually, even when a tool could do it faster. It means providing more active mentoring and ensuring that when an AI produces a good result, someone still takes the time to explain why it works or what's missing.
Most importantly, it means treating training not as a luxury, but as a core part of how you build a team. Because if we lose the learning, we lose the very people who make this industry work.
