| The consulting candidate reality check |
| |
|
| | By Tony Restell,
Founding Director of
Top-Consultant.com
I’ve been reflecting
on the factors that
really differentiate
those candidates who are
and who are not likely
to be successful in
securing a new
consulting role.
In trying to narrow
things down to a common
denominator of success,
I have concluded that
ordinary behaviour
produces ordinary
results – and in today’s
market ordinary results
could be defined as a
failure to secure a new
job.
By contrast, securing
a job could be
classified as an
extraordinary result –
and to achieve
extraordinary results we
need candidates to be
extraordinary in the
lengths they will go to
during the job-hunting
process.
The fundamental
problem I see here is
the information chasm
that exists – with most
candidates just not
having enough
understanding of the
“recruitment game” to be
able to play their hand
to the best of their
ability – and to know
when there’s the need to
go the extra mile. For
example, if you don’t
know which candidate
sourcing channel
consulting firms are
most receptive to, how
can you possibly submit
your applications in the
manner most likely to | |
|
| | result in a job
interview?
And what about the
quantity vs quality
argument – do candidates
who submit large volumes
of applications
typically outperform
those who submit just a
few? Do those working
with recruitment
agencies typically
achieve better results
than those just applying
direct? Again, without
this information, how
can you possibly tailor
your application
activities to achieve
the greatest chance of
success?
The answer of course
is that you cannot –
your success is being
left to chance. And
that’s really what
prompted me to take on
the challenge of
organising the
"Revitalising Your
Consulting Career ---
Securing a Career Move
in Consulting in 2009"
workshop for consulting
candidates. Knowledge
is power – and I wanted
the chance to empower a
room of Top-Consultant
readers to really go out
and achieve the very
best for themselves in
this difficult market.
Expected hiring
volumes for 2009/10
Having just been
through a detailed
forecasting exercise,
what is clear is that
candidates need to be
preparing themselves for
continued difficult
hiring conditions in the | |
|
| | year or two ahead. By
our calculations the
last 12 months have seen
overall hiring activity
in the UK consulting
market running at only
30% of the level seen
right at the peak of the
preceding boom. When you
factor in that over the
last 12 months there
have been more people
job-hunting too, your
odds of landing a role
are seriously eroded.
Looking forward,
we’re projecting only a
modest improvement in
hiring if the economy
fails to recover; with
the more optimistic
scenario of a return to
economic growth we
anticipate hiring
running at about 60% of
the level seen right at
the peak of the
preceding boom. So a
doubling of recent
hiring activity levels,
but still nothing like
the activity we saw
during the 2004-2008
period. With greater
numbers of consulting
jobseekers in either
scenario, what all
readers must be prepared
for is an extended
period when it’ll be
necessary to work a lot
harder and a lot smarter
to secure one of the
consulting opportunities
that are out there. A
reality check, then,
that the trickier
job-hunting conditions
we’ve seen of late are –
to a degree – the new
norm that we all will
need to become
accustomed to until well
into the next decade. | |
| |
| |
|
