| | By Mick James
A tough economic
climate presents a
double threat to
consultancy firms.
Obviously, everyone’s
first thought is about
doing enough business to
avoid having to lay
people off, but
stagnation is almost as
harmful. Growth is the
lifeline of consultancy
and the engine that
powers individual
careers. So it’s been
very encouraging for me
to encounter
consultancies that are
still determined to grow
in the coming period,
however tough it gets.
One of the most
determined is ea
Consulting Group (eacg),
who arrived at
Top-Consultant.com’s
October Consultancy
Careers Fair to continue
a growth plan which will
add some 250 fee-earners
to its current roster of
just over 200 over the
next five years.
“At the moment we’re
taking people as fast as
we can get them,” says
Mike Davies, eacg’s head
of resourcing and
recruitment. “We’re
hoping to get 10 or 12
from the fair, but if we
could get up to 20, we’d
be very glad.”
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Davies says that
after years of “talent
wars” now is a prime
time to recruit.
“The challenging
times we have at the
moment are an advantage,
there are a lot of good
people around,” he says.
“Two years ago the
majority of people at
the careers fairs were
coming out of MBA
programmes, very few
were in industry, in
banking. This year there
were a lot more who were
gainfully employed but
not sure for how much
longer, and who were
being very pragmatic
about their future
options.”
Davies says that
while eacg is very keen
to take people from
industry, particularly
on the delivery side,
“some of the best people
in that area are working
in the banks
themselves”. The firm
has also welcomed
approaches from
candidates from larger
consultancies.
“Those organisations
that specialise in the
big programmes are
finding that fewer
people are requiring
their service,” he says.
“We’re very happy to see
people who’ve come out | |
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Davies says that eacg
is currently keen to
expand in the area of
risk and regulation,
anticipating a wave of
regulation in the wake
of the current problems
with the financial
system.
“When regulation
comes in, it tends to
come in at a furious
pace,” he says. “A lot
of organisations will
have to go back to
basics. It’s going to be
a very different type of
regulation from what
people have been used
to, much more
prescriptive – it will
take some getting used
to.”
Davies says that eacg
thus far has relied
entirely on referral and
recommendation for new
business.
“We’ve no plans to
bring in anyone in a
business development
role, we’d rather bring
consultants in who have
entrepreneurial
ability.”
Davies says that the
board of eacg recognises
it will be an enormous
challenge to maintain
the culture of the firm
as it expands, and sees
recruitment as the key.
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“We don’t want to
lose the ethos of the
firm that got us here,”
he says. “It all comes
down to getting the
right people at the
beginning of the process
– we’re looking for
people who are very
creative and flexible,
people who don’t
necessarily need to know
what they’re going to be
doing that day when they
come in the morning.”
The other factor will
be maintaining client
relationships and Davies
says the firm is willing
to be creative here, and
work in “weird and
wonderful ways” with
clients who find
themselves in odd
situations.
“The culture we have
is very much a ‘can do’
culture,” he says. Armed
with this approach, and
access to the right
people, he is confident
eacg can hit its
targets.
“We’ve grown
substantially during
what was a good part of
the business cycle and
that’s worked,” he says.
“Now we’re looking at
expanding in a down
market and that’s going
quite well, too.” | |
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