The overheated corporate finance hiring market looks like becoming hotter still. Management and strategy consultants are piling in on the act.

McKinsey & Company, the venerable management consulting firm, is among those shopping for corporate finance talent. It’s eager to hire people with corporate finance experience from investment banks, law firms, accounting firms, and major international companies, according to an advertisement in this week’s Economist.

McKinsey didn’t return calls enquiring precisely how many corporate financiers it intends to hire, but Jamie Stokes, at recruitment firm Astbury Marsden, says it isn’t the only one on a shopping spree.

“With M&A booming, most consultants are looking to hire people with corporate finance experience,” says Stokes. “Clients consider consultants more impartial advisors than banks, and consultants are often able to be more creative when it comes to advising them on M&A- related strategy issues.”

Unsurprisingly, Stokes says consultants are unable to match banks when it comes to pay. After around five years, mid-ranking corporate financiers in investment banks are on salaries of 70,000 to 100,000, plus a bonus of 50% to 300%.

Stokes says their counterparts in consulting earn similar salaries, but unimpressive bonuses of 50% max.

There are upsides, however. The work at consultancy firms is apparently more varied, and people who make it to partner (which Stokes says is possible aged between 33 and 35 if all goes to plan), can expect total annual compensation of between 300,000 and 700,000.