Consultants - act now while the odds are stacked in your favour!

I was invited to join ~40 HR Directors and HR Managers from the world's top management consultancy firms last week, to review what's happening in the consultancy recruitment market. The conclusion reached was quite stark:

There's a shortage of good consulting candidates - relative to the huge recruitment targets that the firms are now trying to hit

The implications for candidates are clear - you are more in demand now than you have been at any time in the last 5 years and the competition for consulting jobs is lower because of a shortage of applicants. The conclusion - from the candidates' perspective - is that now is the time to start applying for consulting jobs while the odds are stacked in your favour. If you'd like to review the latest consulting jobs click here now.

Of course there are pockets of consulting that aren't doing so well, so there will be some candidates struggling to find work still. But for those whose skills are in demand (and particularly those wanting a role in the UK) there has not been a better time to be looking for work in a long long while. So strike now while the iron is hot!

Tony

Incommunicado because...

Hi all. Sorry for the long gap in posting to our Blog. This is a reflection of how incredibly busy the consulting market - and the consulting recruitment market - are right now.

Things picked up again a good while back, but now there's an added factor in the mix...

... consultancies (and banks) have been lavishing pay rises on their staff, countering job offers employees have received from competitors and talking up the year-end bonus prospects. This means people are less likely to move jobs now than they were 6 months ago - when a move was seen as the best way of securing a promotion / rise. Which means recruiters are having to work harder just to generate the same volumes of applicants as before.

So recruiters need to hit ever more aggressive recruitment targets to meet client demand; yet at the same time they're having to work harder - and spend more - just to generate the same volume of applicants as before. The pendulum has certainly swung now such that we are in a full-blown candidates' market.

Which in a round-about way explains why I've been so quiet on the blog. We've just been blown away with client demand these last weeks - which if you're a candidate looking for a consulting job right now is great news indeed.

PLEASE NOTE: that doesn't mean everyone reading this site can just walk into a consulting job. The entry hurdles for consulting are still incredibly high - in fact that's one contributor to the recruitment problem the industry is currently facing. If you are not an exact match for what a firm and their clients are looking for, it's still going to be tough to secure a role. But for strong candidates the opportunities out there and the range of organisations currently hiring has not been better anytime in the last 5 years.

Long may it continue! Tony

Latest hiring trends revealed

Apologies for the lack of postings the last couple of weeks. We were furiously working to ensure the Management Consultancy Careers Fair was as successful as possible for both our readers and management consultancy clients. It was a resounding success and I know from the 40 firms that were exhibiting that tons of interviews are now taking place as a result.

For those of you that couldn't attend I wanted to share the latest hiring trends that I gleaned from talking to firm representatives on their stands. Click the play button below for a 5 minute overview of who firms are most interested in hiring right now...



Regards, Tony

Buoyancy confirmed - consulting market on a roll

I've just stepped out of the Management Consultancies Association's annual conference to pen a short blog update on the healthy state of the market - as reported by the keynote speakers.

Having attended (indeed sponsored) the Institute of Management Consultancy's annual conference a couple of weeks back, it's been interesting today to hear many of the same messages emerging:

* Consultancies are experiencing robust growth in client demand - and double-digit growth is again expected in the next year

* Attracting and retaining talent is now the number 1 challenge facing consulting Partners

* Having to get deals approved by Procurement departments as well as by client decision-makers is a more and more prevalent requirement. A successful deal agreed over lunch with the CEO is now only half the battle. Getting over the procurement hurdle is at least as difficult

* Experience rather than talent is what clients are demanding in today's market. They want consultants on the team that have detailed experience in their sector - and are less interested in the "bright young things" with an MBA but no sector-specific insights they can bring to the project

Overall the mood at both events has been buoyant, with consultants quietly confident about business prospects and expecting that 2006 will be a vintage year.

Glad we're back in a market where everyone's cheery again... :-) Tony

Indian firms in push to gain consulting share

Just seen a sterling in-depth analysis of how the Indian IT giants (Tata, Wipro, etc.) are making a big push to raise consulting revenues - and why, from a strategic point of view, this is critical for them to achieve in the next years. You can find the full article here. Will be fascinating to see this battle unfold... Anyone any thoughts on who the winners will be? Tony