Yes, because it’s the most defensible answer. Not the best. Not the most honest. The safest.

When you say consulting, you immediately tick three boxes in the interviewer’s head. Smart. Ambitious. Flexible. You don’t need to justify interest in an industry, a function, or a long-term plan. “I like problem solving across industries” works everywhere. No one can really challenge it. That’s the power.

Now the practical part. Most people don’t actually know what consulting feels like. They haven’t done client work. They haven’t lived with deadlines, pressure, travel, and constant stakeholder management. But consulting sounds like thinking, strategy, and impact. So it becomes the default answer when you’re unsure about everything else. Finance feels too technical. Marketing feels too vague. Ops feels too niche. Consulting sits in the middle and offends no one.

The real reason consulting wins is identity protection. It lets you delay committing to who you are. You can still say “I’m exploring”, “I want exposure”, “I want to learn”. It keeps all future options open. That’s extremely attractive in your early 20s when you’re scared of choosing wrong.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth. People who genuinely enjoy consulting like messy problems, client politics, constant pressure, and living in ambiguity. They like influencing without authority. They like being thrown into new contexts every few weeks. That’s a very specific personality type.

Everyone else just likes the label. The brand. The social validation. The fact that you sound sorted without actually being sorted.

So yes, consulting is the safest bet in interviews. Not because it’s the best career. But because it’s the most socially acceptable way of saying “I’m smart, I’m ambitious, and I’m still figuring shit out”.