When MBA students ask Keith Bevans, the leader of global consultant recruiting at Bain & Company, about the long hours and travel associated with consulting careers, he's clear there can be some of that. But he makes the case that it’s part of a bigger overall experience that pays off for employees.

"Every other month, every case team gets surveyed on a couple of different metrics to understand how satisfied are they, how much of an impact are they having, do they feel like they're learning, do they feel like they're developing," he explained. "Time and time again, what we see is that doesn’t correlate with hours and it doesn’t correlate with travel."