|
| | to know what makes a
good consultant -and
that isn’t just
22-year-olds. There are
plenty of people out
there who have been
working for a number of
years in either
professions or industry
who occasionally wonder
if consultancy might be
for them - but aren’t
really sure what skills
are required and whether
they might have them.
Industry recruitment
But people do make
the crossover every year
- and not in small
numbers. “We do a lot of
our recruiting from
industry,” says Sej
Butler, recruitment
manager for IBM Business
Consulting Services,
which is both the UK and
the world’s largest
consulting group. “I’d
estimate that somewhere
between a third and a
half of all our new
people come from
industry - and at all
levels.”
What IBM is looking
for, he says, varies:
“We’re looking for
people who have worked
on transformational
change programmes; those
who have leading roles
or those who have been
project leaders on
large, complex projects;
also people with certain
professional
qualifications.” But, he
adds, if you come in at
a junior level, “it’s a
lot easier for people
without ready-made
skills. At senior levels
you want people who can
hit the ground running.”
What consultancies
look for, says Tim
Robinson, a partner at
Accenture, is a fairly
broad set of abilities:
“The skills include
having personal
credibility with clients
and being able to build
ownership with clients. | |
|
| | Individuals need to have
stature and gravitas,
and good communication
skills.” Moreover, he
adds, empathy is
important too: they need
to be sensitive to the
environment the client
is in, whether that is a
particular corporate
culture or national
culture. “Ultimately
it’s about having good
antennae,” he says.
Robinson says that
there is also a strong
organisational element:
“They need to have good
management skills - to
be able to organise and
direct work, and to
analyse and define
problems.” Consultants,
he explains, “will often
find themselves in a
situation where they
have to filter lots of
information and a myriad
of issues to find out
what the real issues are
and how to address
these.”
Alison Wilcox,
director of development
at the Hay Group, takes
a more personal
approach: “I suppose the
thing that strikes me
more and more is that a
lot of it is just about
building relationships -
building and managing
relationships so you get
to the point where
you’re trusted. It
sounds very simplistic,
but it’s not - you often
have to say ‘no’ to
things people really
want to do. It’s a long
game - you are building
up a trusted advisor
role and all sorts of
emotional intelligence
comes into play.
Basically, it’s all
about trying to get into
the rhythm of the
culture of the client.”
As these three views
indicate, many of the
skills that go to make a
good consultant would
actually be valued in | |
|
| | most situations. Rebecca
Fawcett at Towers Perrin
says that for this
reason potential
recruits are to be found
everywhere: “A lot of
what makes a good
consultant are
relatively soft skills.
If you’re looking at
people to build networks
and relationships, you
could source them from
any sector.” For certain
areas, she adds, it can
be more specific:
obviously a creative
media consultant or a
communications
consultant is likely to
have a background in a
related field. But for
more general roles, the
individual is more
important than the
background. “We’ve even
had a former teacher,”
she adds.
Of course, there will
be some people who are
employed more because
they have a very deep
knowledge in specific
sectors. Ian Jordan,
head of Capgemini UK's
Consulting Services
says: “A good consultant
can be one who has a
depth of knowledge or
experience in certain
areas - finance, wealth
management or even
something as specific as
RFID skills (radio
frequency
identification), for
example - but is also
someone who is able to
bring together facts and
processes to allow you
to drive change.”
Indeed, some of the
people with knowledge of
a specific area at a
very high level will
also be attractive
because of the client
base they can bring with
them. But, at that
level, they will need to
justify their salaries.
There is also, says
Butler, the rather
interesting phenomenon | |
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| | of people in their
fifties who leave the
financial services
industry and take a
substantial pay cut to
go into consultancy:
surprising as it may
sound, the hours are
rather less onerous.
Finally, while all
consultancies look for
fairly bright people -
you have to think on
your feet, after all -
some still have a thing
for ‘rocket scientist’
types.
Whatever their
origin, many of these
recruits to consultancy
find one particular
aspect of their new
environment difficult to
cope with: adapting
their work/life balance.
The reason? Consultants
travel all the time and
this can strain
relationships,
especially for those
with families, where the
partner works regular
hours.
Sej Butler,
recruitment manager for
IBM Business Consulting
Services, agrees. “The
single biggest problem
for people who come to
us from other
industries,” he says,
“is the lifestyle of
consultants - the high
degree of mobility. You
leave work on a Monday,
live in a hotel, and
come home on a Friday.
There’s no routine at
all. It’s the single
biggest issue but,
unfortunately, it’s the
nature of the work.”
Our thanks go to the
MCA and Educate for
allowing us to adapt
this content from
Changing Tracks. For
further details of the
publication and how to
receive a copy, go to:
http://www.changingtracks
.co.uk.
| |
|
| | During the Management
Consultancy Careers Fair
last month, the
Management Consultancies
Association launched a
new publication for
people interested in
pursuing a career in
consulting.
Top-Consultant
provided editorial for
Changing Tracks and
here we highlight some
of the key lessons to
emerge from the book.
First up – what makes a
good management
consultant?
Consultants need to
have good management and
organisational skills,
be able to direct work
and be good at building
relationships, and, most
importantly, be happy to
work irregular hours,
says Rhymer Rigby.
“A few years ago on a
train in Vietnam, my
girlfriend and I were
sharing a carriage with
two recent graduates who
were taking a gap year.
We got chatting and one
of them said that, when
he got back to England,
he’d be starting work as
a consultant. Making
polite conversation, my
girlfriend asked him
what he’d be consulting
in. He looked at her as
if she was mad and
questioning his very
integrity and replied:
‘Why consultancy - of
course!’”
This is a true story
- and the silliness
aside - it serves to
illustrate an important
point: while lots of
people have a vague idea
of what consultants do,
they’d be hard pressed | |
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