In my experience it's mostly the same.

Since the demand exceeds the supply by far, most consultancies take on less experienced candidates, then train them and/or pair them with a more experienced colleague.

I've worked for several smaller consultancies focusing on different domains and technology stacks and always learned it on the job.

If you dont mind me asking, how do you think this helped or hurt your career?

I have seen almost a similar structure with few smaller consulting firms as well, but you will get a clear answer from the company itself.