And the brightest consultants are...

Monday night saw the inaugural Young MCA Consultants' Challenge take place in central London, with a dozen teams entered from some of the biggest names in consulting. Comprising teams of ten, the various rounds challenged consultants to demonstrate the skills they use in their everyday lives - communication skills, risk assessment...

Top-Consultant.com were thrilled to be sponsors of the event, with £1,500 being raised on the night to support the DEPAUL TRUST.

Both Accenture and BT got off to slow starts, with the night looking like it might provide something of an upset. Could one of the smaller firms trounce the bigger names in our industry? Well as the leader board below confirms, Accenture emerged as eventual winners; a joint Tata Consultancy Services / Impact Plus team came second; BT came third.


And to give them their moment in the spotlight, here's the winning team from Accenture accepting the winner's trophy:


Thanks to Natalia, Joy, David and the rest of the team at the Management Consultancies Association for organising what was a fun night.

Tony

Martin Hancock - charitable donations please!

Many of you will know Martin Hancock, who in 2006 was one of just 7 recruiters named Top Management Consultancy Recruiter in recognition of outstanding candidate feedback from Top-Consultant readers. Well Martin is embarking on what looks like a hellish endurance race together with colleague Tara Benton - and it's all in aid of the charity Sportability.

The Coast to Coast Race will be held over 2 days and will see the two cover a distance of 120 miles through a mix of fell and road running, on and off-road mountain-biking and kayaking.
Tara and Martin hope to raise as much money as possible for this worthwhile cause and you can contribute on a corporate or a personal basis via:
http://www.justgiving.com/prism

Martin & Tara need your help to reach their target of £1,000 - so please help make their effort worthwhile. Rgds, Tony

NHS blow for consulting industry

A number of high-profile consulting firms have been reeling from the impact the NPfIT project has had on their finances, with cash either coming into the businesses far slower than anticipated - or provisions having to be made for expected future losses on the work. This is having a very real effect on the consulting workforce, with many firms financially strapped and unable to push through the salary rises that many in the industry have been expecting from the resurgent industry.

As if these financial woes were not bad enough, the consulting industry is now to be hit by a further NHS blow in the form of bad press. The Guardian and Accountancy Age are just two publications that are today covering the news that the National Audit Office's review of the NPfIT project is to be reopened - only weeks after it was given a clean bill of health in an NAO report. The decision tees up weeks of potential bad press for the consulting industry, as problems with the project are dragged up again - and consultancies are made the scapegoats for what is proving to be a political dream that's exceptionally hard to realise. Expect this one to drag and drag through until Christmas time at least...

A lesson in consulting's murky past

I was made aware quite some time ago of a new publication being launched this year, by Chris McKenna of Said Business School. Entitled "The World's Newest Profession: Management Consulting in the 20th Century", the book was set to chart the rise of the management consultancy profession and how alumni of the top consulting firms have come to yield such power in today's corporate world.

The publishers have yet to send through my review copy, but a piece in the Observer this last week reviews some of the key messages to emerge from the book. One observation is how the consulting "profession" came to exist thanks to changes in legislation in the US that essentially created a need for consulting professionals. It's then suggested that changes in legislation ever since - most recently in the form of Sarbox - have stimulated further waves of demand for our services and helped to sustain the growth of the consulting sector.

Unfortunately much that is published on the subject of consulting these days seeks to portray management consultants as underhand and undeserving of their success. Similar vibes emerge from this review of the book, though it is unclear whether it is the Observer's take on McKenna's work or the actual content of the book itself that is to blame.

Looks like an interesting read nonetheless, if only to gain an understanding of the roots of the consulting industry.

Enjoy. Tony

World Cup horror story

Watching the World Cup these last weeks has brought back vivid memories of one of the grimmest days of my consulting career. I wonder if any readers have similar tales of the woes they've faced as a result of working in the high-paced world of consulting? What events have you missed out on or traumas have you faced? Do post your comments / stories below...

Mine relates to the England - Argentina match in the 1998 knock-out phase of the World Cup. Working on a strategy assignment for an airline, I was fortunate enough to be bumped up to first class on the night of the match. An avid football fan, I was however mortified to be on an overnight flight at the time of England's game - but still relatively junior in the firm there wasn't much I could do about it...

Anyway, the stewardesses came round and asked if the 1st class passengers had any particular requests for the flight. My colleague and I asked if the pilot could radio the ground and keep us abreast of the score situation in the England vs Argentina match. Much to our surprise our request was duly passed on to the cockpit and sure enough a short while after the match began we learnt that England had gone 1-0 down to an early goal.

Some time later, with dinner served, the pilot piped up that England had fought back and the scoreline was now 1-1. We regained our appetite, the beef wellington tasted somehow better and we felt a new wave of belief in the team.

Then around what must have been full-time he came on again - Michael Owen had scored a wonder-goal and England were 2-1 to the good. Buoyed by the news and the fact that only minutes of the game remained, we got ourselves some champagne and toasted England's passage to the next round - while all those around us settled down for a night's sleep.

*****

My eyes squinted open to the sound of the pilot on the PA system again. Pulling my blanket off I heard him say "for those of you who were following the England match, the news isn't so good. It was back to 2-2 by half time and then Beckham got a red card. It went to penalties and England will be on a plane home later today..."

What a depressing way to start a week of consulting! It's one thing to have your beloved team lose at the World Cup - but to celebrate a historic victory only then to discover that you lost was truly horrible.

The pilot had, it seems, been receiving updates only sporadically and had had to stop the announcements once passengers started going to sleep. So much for the feel-good factor of flying first class!! And so much for the desirable jet-set lifestyle...

Got any such tales of your own from your time as a consultant? Do feel free to post them below.

Tony

7 tips for candidates

Management Consultants typically change jobs every 3-4 years, seeking greater fulfilment, financial reward, recognition, appreciation.

What is absolutely critical when you're moving is to ensure you:
i) move for the right reasons
ii) find a firm that can genuinely deliver on the changes you want to see happening in your career / life
iii) do what's necessary to maximise your chances of success in this move

With this in mind I've been "penning" a tips report for consulting candidates, possibly as a prelude to writing a book on the subject. If you'd like a free copy of the PDF tips report, just email me on tonyr@top-consultant.com referencing the blog as the place you heard about the report...

Tony

McKinsey -- Opus Dei?

Saw an interesting article on Bloomberg this week in which McKinsey and Roland Berger Strategy Consultants are said to be "secretive societies" much like Opus Dei. Very topical - and as an ex-RB consultant myself, something that immediately caught the eye.

The article actually centres on the publication of a new "consulting exposé" book, which critiques the secretive worlds of firms such as McKinsey & Roland Berger. And whilst I've slammed the work of David Craig for being too one-sided, this new release appears at first glance to be more balanced...

"Consultancies have a strong ability to create priorities. What they can do is force companies and executives to set goals. And they can ask strategically important questions because they come from outside and have certain experience. They can also use knowledge from previous consulting contracts to help clients."

So we're not all bad then - not all out to plunder our clients with no tangible return for our fees. There's also a valid commentary on clients' increasing professionalism in managing the consulting projects they initiate - and taking some responsibility themselves for seeing that the project does not get waylaid.

My German's pretty shaky though, so I'll have to leave the detailed appraisal to others. If any readers want to add comments on this new work, feel free to do so here...

Tony

Hiring friends of friends...

Just came across an interesting article for recruiters desperately struggling to reach their sky-high recruitment targets. You'll recall that back when we published our 2006 Recruitment Channel Report we highlighted the fact that candidates' preferred method for finding a new job was through a personal referral channel. That's to say a consultant's career path can be greatly influenced by the opinions of friends and alumni - and that they are particularly likely to apply to a firm where an existing contact has been able to get them a "foot in the door". Firms with really cutting edge referral schemes are able to gain a big advantage as a result.

"Using the buddy system" caught my attention because it expands both on why such schemes hit the mark when it comes to attracting candidates... and also quantifies the potential impact of such schemes. One example is given in which a firm is recruiting 30% of its new hires through friends of friends.

Since Top-Consultant will only ever be one component of a firm's recruitment strategy, I find these types of insights fascinating - and I hope you do too. Click the link above for the full article.

Rgds, Tony

Quarterly update

Once every quarter I like to record a short update aimed at candidates looking for a job in consulting. We're in contact with tons of management consultancy recruiters, so this is a good way for us to impart to you what the state of the market is really like - and what you need to do to secure a new job given current market conditions.

I've just recorded the latest soundbite. Just turn up your volume and hit the play button below to tune in:



Regards, Tony

Accenture's NHS woes

Richard Granger has been taking a tough stance with Accenture over delays on its multi-billion NHS "Connecting for Health" contracts, forcing the global consultancy to take a $450m pre-tax profit hit in anticipation of future losses on the contract.

Accenture is facing calls to change personnel on the project and there seems to be a determination that public sector coffers will not bear the brunt of setbacks on the contracts. Accenture, meanwhile, is thought to be looking for a renegotiation of the contracts. Expect a turbulent few months of press coverage on this one...

Here are just a few takes on the situation:

NHS contract delays hit Accenture (BBC)
Accenture Gets a Little Sick (Motley Fool)
British agency expects Accenture to deliver on contract (Reuters)
UK NHS Blasts Accenture Over Delays (Datamonitor Computerwire)

I don't envy the consultants working on those assignments, do you?! Tony

Recruitment websites

Thanks to the 1,300+ management consultancy candidates that took part in this year's poll. It's critical for us as a means of keeping track on whether or not we're still the number 1 choice for candidates looking for a job in consulting.

Fortunately this year's results again show that we are top of the pile, with the majority of all respondents voting us their preferred site for finding a consulting job. THANK YOU for taking part and giving us this glowing endorsement.

Tony

Fast-growing start-up consultancies

Each year we run a reader poll to discover the fastest-growing new consultancies in the industry. These can be some of the most exciting places to work, but they don't always make it onto the public's radar until they've already achieved fame and fortune. By discovering them in their early stages we can both help them to become established - and also give readers some pointers of firms they might wish to target as employers...

If you work for a fast-growing new firm, you've got just a few weeks to submit your firm as a candidate for inclusion in the 2006 report. You can nominate a firm by visiting this URL.

Looking forward to sharing the results with you around Easter time. Tony

Recruitment Consultants

We've just finished compiling the results of this year's candidate survey, detailing the recruitment agencies you've had the best experiences of using, the job boards and newspapers you read most often and so on. Tons of insights and useful data for both management consultancy candidates and management consultancy recruiters alike. The full report is now downloadable (details below), but in particular I wanted to give special recognition to 7 recruitment consultants who were highly rated by our readers. We're always being asked for recommendations of recruiters that candidates should speak with - so here's a definitive list as voted for by you the Top-Consultant readership!

The following 7 individuals consistently exceeded candidate expectations in providing a thoroughly professional interface between candidate and client. Congratulations to:

>> Chris Sale - Prism Executive Recruitment

>> Martin Hancock - Prism Executive Recruitment

>> Angela Heath - Beament Leslie Thomas

>> Andrew Bott - EM Consulting

>> Nick Coppin - Acumen Search (formerly @ Madison Maclean)

>> Karl Mann - The Cornell Partnership

>> Victoria Lack - Prism Executive Recruitment


Hats off to all 7 of you!

Tony

PS a full copy of the report can be downloaded from this page

Salaries in Consulting

Big £$ salaries and Management Consulting used to go hand-in-hand, back in the good old dot-com days. With the consultancy market having rebounded of late, our suspicion has been that firms would be forced to pay more - come the 2005/06 pay review window...

... and now at last we can prove that this has indeed been the case. Our salary benchmarking report has just been published, based on data from over 1,000 participating management consultants. What's interesting is the wide range in salaries, pay rises / promotions and bonus payments of late. There have been some real winners in the recent consulting upturn - and others that have fared much less well.

Which category do you fall into?

Well now you can find out, because this report is available as a free download to all Top-Consultant readers. You can get your copy (in PDF format) from:
http://www.top-consultant.com/salary_report_2006.pdf

Any feedback on this year's report much appreciated. Do post your comments below...

Tony

Networking skills

Whenever you see the most successful consulting Partners in action, they seem to be natural networkers. People that can work a room, talk to anyone and everyone - and leave an event having made precious business contacts... that over time accumulate into an enviable business network and stream of new client leads.

Mention "networking" to consultants - or indeed any professional - earlier in their career and it seems to be a notion that fills people with dread. I for one love to be in a room of people that want to talk to me - but put me in a room full of strangers where I must make the first move: that's a totally different proposition! Are you the same?!

Having admitted to this, I personally loathe identifying a professional weakness like this and doing nothing about it. And so through some introductions via Ecademy I came across an organisation that specialises in teaching people how to network. We asked them to lay on an event especially for Top-Consultant readers and here's what they have devised for us. I'll feed back some of the gems of advice from the event on this blog mid-March time. But would be great to see lots of you there in person, so if you can make it on 10th March then do sign up for the event here.

And for those of you who are already experts at working a room, do please share your tips and your success stories by posting a comment here... Cheers, Tony

Recruiters adamant: 2006 will be a bumper year for candidates!

Here's some cheery news to share with everyone interested in the health of the management consultancy sector. For our forthcoming recruiters' event we asked the 250 attendees (a mix of HR managers and recruitment consultants) to assess the likely buoyancy of the consultancy recruitment market in 2006 - always a good indicator of how healthy the consulting market as a whole is looking...

On the back of a buoyant 2005, an incredible 81% of recruiters believe recruitment levels will be higher still in 2006. The remainder almost all believe the market will be as buoyant as it was in 2005. What other sector can boast that only 1% of executives believe the market will be quieter in 2006 than it was in 2005??

Here's to a bumper year for us all!

Tony

PS Here are those results in full:

Q. Do you envisage your company will make more hires / placements in 2006 than in 2005?

Significantly more hires / placements than in 2005
(35.53%)

More hires / placements than in 2005
(46.49%)

A similar number of hires / placements to 2005
(16.67%)

Fewer hires / placements than in 2005
(0.44%)

Significantly fewer hires / placements than in 2005
(0.44%)