Local convergence techniques have become a key methodology to study random graphs in sparse settings where the average degree remains bounded. However, many random graph properties do not directly converge when the random graph converges locally. A notable, and important, random graph property that does not follow from local convergence is the size and uniqueness of the giant component. We provide a simple criterion that guarantees that local convergence of a random graph implies the convergence of the proportion of vertices in the maximal connected component. We further show that, when this condition holds, the local properties of the giant are also described by the local limit. We apply this novel method to the configuration model as a proof of concept, reproving a result that is well-established. As a side result this proof, we show that the proof also implies the small-world nature of the configuration model.
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