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 / lifeiii) do what's necessary to maximise your chances of success in this moveWith 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
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
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
We've been toying with the idea of totally revamping Consultants Reunited to make it a more useable tool for staying in touch with former colleagues and associates - and I wondered if you'd like to provide any input re. the changes you'd like us to make?
When we set the service up we were very conscious of the fact that we didn't want random people to be able to contact you unless they did genuinely know you. Otherwise we felt you'd end up with random headhunters, contractors and the like all contacting you looking for work or wanting to sell their services...
However, we acknowledge we've gone too far in the other direction and although there are thousands and thousands of consulting alumni registered, activity is being restricted because it's hard to find others that you know...
So my question to you is - what changes could we make that would move the service in the right direction, without turning it into a LinkedIn type service where you end up being contacted by people that are not genuine contacts at all?
Anyone with any thoughts, please post them as a comment here. All contributions gratefully received. Rgds, Tony
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
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
Management Consultants typically change jobs every 3-4 years, seeking greater fulfilment, financial reward, recognition, appreciation.
