Thursday, December 22, 2005

Recharging for the New Year

A short post to wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas and enjoyable break from work.

Conversations with Consultants, FTSE clients, HR managers and recruitment agencies alike all seem to point to 2006 being a very hectic year for those of us working in the consulting industry. So do have a great break and come back in the New Year fully recharged and ready for a really busy year and sky-high utilisation rates!

Season's Greetings, Tony

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Consultants - have your say!

It's that time of year again... it's the season to be merry...

... or equally it is the month each year when we give you the opportunity to have a right go at that recruitment consultant who's been totally unprofessional and hopeless in helping you get a new consulting job. Or to praise one that's worked miracles for you. And - on a more serious note - to identify the best strategies and recruitment partners for finding a consulting job in 2006.

So if you've done any job-hunting in the last year and want to have your say
click here now. Our annual recruitment channel survey is published in February and this is your chance to both contribute to the findings and receive a free copy in due course. 1,000+ management consultants take part every year, if you've got 2 minutes to take part then head over to:
http://www.top-consultant.com/rc_questionnaire.asp

Many thanks & wish you all a fantastic run-up to Christmas. Tony

Tuesday, December 6, 2005

Sign of the times...

It's an interesting sign of the times to see the consultant survey we've just been asked to run...

With the market for candidates getting ever tighter, what this survey tells me is that consulting firms are increasingly anxious to keep their existing staff happy and to maximise the chances of readers like you staying with your existing firm rather than moving on. You see the survey is all about gauging how Management Consultants like you perceive their work/life balance, career development... and all those other soft factors that make you decide to either stay with a firm or quit.


The results of this one are going to be examined in quite some detail by the vast majority of the top consulting brands. So if you'd like to make your thoughts known and would like to see a copy of the end report then click here to take part in the survey now.

This sudden angst to keep consulting staff happy ties in to a recent meeting I had with HR Managers & HR Directors from the world's leading consultancies. All spoke of their desire to grow their consultant headcounts by double-digit figures in the next year; yet none were prepared to stretch their hiring criteria to accept a wider pool of candidates...

... well no prizes for guessing that if you all want to employ 10% more staff but the pool of potential hires hasn't grown at all - well that's a lot of firms that are going to be left shy of their recruitment targets in a year's time. Or more likely, many will have had to compromise on their entry criteria - just as they did in the dot-com boom.

This explains the heightened concern about retaining staff and the industry desire to have this survey undertaken. If you're worried about hitting the recruitment targets necessary to grow 10%, the last thing you want is a chunk of the workforce moving on that must then also be replaced (and where will these replacements come from if entry criteria aren't relaxed?). Ergo, firms are acutely aware of the need to keep employees happy - and want these survey findings to tell them what they need to change to achieve this.

It's not every day you get to tell your bosses what's wrong with your job (not unless you're giving them a resignation letter at the same time anyway). So if you'd like to take the opportunity and take part in the survey then here's where you need to go.

We are in a candidate-driven market make no mistake about it. Long may it continue!

Tony

Thursday, December 1, 2005

PA Consulting vs. McKinsey vs. Bain ??

There's an interesting read on Ovum.com this week, analysing the strengths and positioning of PA Consulting Group. Not sure I agree with the bit about PA Consulting being up against McKinsey and Bain, I'd have thought there are other consulting firms they come up against much more often. But a good read nonetheless for anyone interested in PA...

Article link
Latest job openings at PA Consulting

Tony