Bryan Hickson appointed Sales Director of Top-Consultant.com

A great many of you will have met Bryan Hickson over the years. Bryan spent several years as a Management Consultancy recruitment specialist with recruitment agency BLT. Indeed, give or take, he was Top-Consultant's first ever client! During that time he helped hundreds of candidates to progress their careers in consulting and secure new consulting opportunities. So many of you will know Bryan either through the help he's provided in finding a consultancy job - or indeed the service he's provided you as a recruiter.

When the downturn bit, Bryan opted to study for an MBA and upon graduation I was delighted that Bryan approached me to see if we could use his talents here at Top-Consultant.com. Thankfully the market was picking up at the beginning of 2004 and so Bryan joined the team alongside me in a sales capacity. What a great hire he's proven to be and now - just a year on - we're delighted to reward Bryan with promotion to the role of Sales Director. All those of you that know Bryan please do send him a word of congratulations to bryan@top-consultant.com!

Business has doubled year-on-year and so the sales / account management team have been further strengthened in the last months with the additions of Dawn Fowler and Alfredo Herrera. Both Dawn and Alfredo are from the USA and hiring them is a sign of our commitment to grow the US jobs board and achieve the same success in the US market that we have here in the UK. Any clients out there wishing to find out about trialing our US jobs board please do email either dawn@top-consultant.com or alfredo@top-consultant.com. Dawn and Alfredo will also be working with Bryan and I to ensure our UK advertisers achieve the greatest possible success on our site as we all work to tackle the "War for Talent" that's brewing here in the UK market.

Anyway, I just wanted to publicly acknowledge the great jobs Bryan, Dawn & Alfredo are doing here at Top-Consultant. Moreover Imogen and I are expecting our first baby early in September and it's a huge relief to us to see what a great sales team we now have in place - and indeed what a great team we have managing all aspects of the business. So thanks all and congratulations again to Bryan

Tony

Accenture / Capgemini deal unveiled

Interesting developments in the US this last week, with Accenture acquiring the North American Healthcare practice of Capgemini. Several hundred Capgemini consultants will overnight become Accenture consultants, a fact which has heartened the financial community... the fact that Accenture is happy to engage ex-Capgemini consultants is seen as a positive endorsement of CG's talent!

This is all part of Capgemini's new strategy which seems to focus on solidifying the french firm's position in key markets whilst pulling out of non-core markets. The sign of things to come in the consulting sector do you think - more M&A deals on the way? Do post your thoughts...

For further details of this deal, see Reuters coverage, Capgemini's press release & Accenture's press release

Tony

Recruiters flock to Management Consultancy careers fair

I gave you a heads-up a few weeks back that we would be organising the LARGEST CAREERS FAIR for Management Consultants ever to take place in London. Well it's too early for candidates to book their places - but do make sure you etch Friday 7th October irremovably into your diary (OK, so don't go pressing your PalmPilot screens too hard!). We'll be announcing registration details here soon, but for right now we're concentrating on registering recruiters to attend so that the lineup is as varied and comprehensive as possible...

On which note I can only say that recruiters are flocking to attend - so much so it's turning into a stampede! Brochures are going out to all our clients right now and I can tell you that within hours of receiving these firms are calling us back to find out more or reserve a place.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is this is going to be a massive event and if you are at all serious about jobs in consulting you need to set 7th October aside and ensure you will be in London (at Olympia) that day.

Hope to see you then - and anyone wanting a brochure that hasn't yet received a copy can email my colleague Bryan Hickson on bryan@top-consultant.com

Tony

Is it more pay or something else that you want from your employer?

A blog I posted here in February 05 revealed just how seriously consultancies were taking the issue of retention and improving the work/ life balance as a means of improving retention rates. We got some fascinating insights from consultants who've now got it so good with their current employer that they wouldn't dream of moving (more on this before the end of this post)

But now things have gone further and consulting recruiters have asked Top-Consultant to conduct an anonymous poll to discover what steps they could take that would really motivate you to stay working for their firm (rather than choosing to leave). If you haven't taken part yet, do take 2 minutes to complete the survey by clicking the link below. We'll report back on the findings here in a couple of weeks - but so far the initial results look REALLY interesting!...

Click to take part in survey now!

Thanks to everyone for taking part and making this survey really insightful - and for those of you who missed the original post and all the comments from consultants about the great work/ life balances they are enjoying (yes it is achievable!!!) then click here now

Tony

Infosys gets global recognition

One of the most imposing consulting trends of this decade must surely be the rise of the Indian competitors. Firms such as Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Infosys have risen to become recognised brands in our market. Now the global financial community has had its say... and it seems there's great belief in the business models and future of these firms amongst financiers too...

You see Infosys this week attained an international credit rating of BBB from Standard & Poor's, the first firm in India to get a higher-than-sovereign rating according to S&P (see The Telegraph India and Reuters for details). How much stronger an endorsement could you possibly want? And more importantly, are these firms lining themselves up with the credit needed to launch an acquisition bid either in Europe or the US? Any readers got any insights or views? Do post them as comments below... Tony