management consulting talent study

Jason SandersManaging Director

Global Consulting Executive Search, [email protected]

Consulting Talent StudyExecutive SummaryJanuary 2014

Jason Sanders

Managing Director

Global Consulting Executive Search, LLC [email protected]

Consulting Talent Study - Executive Summary

January 2014

Global Consulting Executive Search recently completed a study about the motivations of consultants,

former consultants and prospective consultants. We were interested in what makes highly-educated

business people join the field, remain in it, leave it and sometimes, return to the profession.

Our findings confirmed a number of motivations considered common knowledge in the field, as well as

some trends that we did not expect. Expected results include:

1. Variety of work is the most significant attractor to consultants.

2. Travel is the most significant downside of the profession.

3. Pressure to sell stands alongside travel as the most significant negative among consultants and

former consultants.

We found some interesting anomalies:

1. Culture: is one of the most significant attractors to students, while former consultants view

culture as one of the least attractive features of the profession. Consultants do not express

particularly strong feelings either way.

2. Access to executives: Students and former consultants list access to senior executives as a

significant benefit of the profession, while current consultants rate this quite low on the scale.

3. Financial reward: sits in second place as a reason for consultants to stay in the field, while it

remains in the bottom half of motivators for students and former consultants.

4. Return to the profession: The vast majority of former consultants would return to the

profession under the right circumstances, and the most list financial reward as an important

attractor. In addition, the intellectual challenge of working with motivated teams ranks high on

the list. Surprisingly, travel is the least significant obstacle among those that would consider

rejoining the field.

Many consultants view corporate experience as a way to get ahead within the consulting field.

More than one-third of those that left consulting did so with the expressed purpose of returning

to the profession.

5. Short vs. long-term career choice: We found that more students view consulting as a short term

career choice than experienced and former consultants did when they joined the profession.

The field has always been viewed as a great training ground, but the decision to leave is being

made at an earlier stage than it has been in the past.

Jason Sanders

Managing Director


Through direct interviews with representatives of the students, consultants and former consultants, we

gained additional understanding:

1. Many students view the consulting profession as an avenue to work with highly intelligent

accomplished professionals. This perspective continues fairly strongly until consultants reach a

level where they are forced to manage and sell in order to remain in the field. These activities

require well-formed emotional intelligence, whereas most consultants are cerebral. This creates

a tension between the natural analytical skills of consultants and the relationship-oriented

demands of senior professionals.

2. Students tend to perceive consulting as an avenue to access senior executives. Former

consultants agree based on earlier experiences, but have watched access decline as the field has

grown more commoditized. Current consultants practice within a more commoditized

environment and experience less access to senior executives than they would like. This suggests

a disconnect between entrants to the field and those experienced with it. Resolution of this

misperception may help increase retention rates among more junior level consultants.

3. Almost all respondents surveyed through follow-up interviews acknowledged that consulting

provides attractive financial rewards. Students offer the most consistent perception of

consulting as a lucrative career, but note that it does not motivate them as much as other

factors. Consultants and former consultants also believe the profession provides adequate

compensation, but have seen a decline relative to other professions, particularly financial

services careers. This has to do with competitiveness and commodification of services creating

fee pressure.

Global Consulting Executive Search has been recruiting consultants at all levels for almost 20 years. We

focus on the front end of the hiring process, and use a data-driven approach to take advantage of the

increasing transparency of social networks.

GCES provides clients with high-quality, vetted candidates and turn relationships over after an initial

introduction. That means a highly-professional, cost-effective solution tailored to the needs of small to

mid-sized consulting firms.

Jason Sanders

Managing Director


Addendum

Total sample size – 442 Average years of consulting experience

Students 182

Consultants 151

Former consultants 109

Consultants 8.5

Former consultants 7.1

**Consultants – attractors to consulting

Variety of work 80

Financial rewards 56

Culture / people 47

Advancement opportunities 44

Prestige 23

Access to senior executives 21

Training opportunities 21

Travel opportunities 18

Job security 5

Former consultants – attractors

Variety of work 88





Prestige 32


Job security 3

Culture / people 2

Students – attractors

Culture / people 77

Variety of work 75






Prestige 27

** Figures represent a percentage of respondents that chose the option listed. There were no limits given to

number of choices allowed.

Jason Sanders

Managing Director


Students – negatives

Work hours 70

Travel 56

Lack of advancement opportunities 17

Type of work 11

Compensation 7

Consultants – negatives

Travel 42

Demand to sell 39

Negative perception 25

Not enough responsibility 24

Poor management 18

Former consultants - negatives

Demand to sell 48

Travel 40

Not enough responsibility for outcomes 35

Poor firm management 30

Negative perception 19

Former consultants only

Under what circumstances would you return to the profession?

42% would need to have a relationship with an influential leader in the firm

37% would return for more responsibility

35% would return for better financial rewards

26% would return for the challenges offered by a different type of firm

21% would return to consulting if there were substantially less travel

15% cannot imagine circumstances that would bring them back to the profession

37% intentionally left as part of a career plan

All three groups

How long did you (do you) intend to remain in the profession upon joining?

Of those that considered long terms careers in or out of consulting, 50% of the sample:

Consultants and former consultants: 61% expressed plans to stay in the field for 5 years or more

Students: 39% expressed plans to stay in the field for 5 years or more

Jason Sanders

Managing Director


Acknowledgements

Hundreds of professionals from a wide variety of consulting firms, corporations and educational

institutions helped make this study a reality. We would like to especially recognize the contributions

made by leaders from the following companies:

Acosta Acquis Consulting Group Alliance Life Sciences A-TEK Aveus Axialent Bayer Business Consulting Blue Stone International Brand Integrity Brightlight Consulting Business & Decision CapCo CAST Management Consultants Cayenne Consulting CGN & Associates Chevo Consulting Citihub Cliff Consulting CMG Partners Corven Deloitte DNV Kema Doblin Group Equation Consulting Ernst & Young Frontier Strategy Group Fuld & Company Gnarus Advisors Guidon Performance Solutions

Impact Advisors Intersource Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group Kurt Salmon Associates Liberty Advisor Group Makosi Meridian Compensation Partners M Squared Neo Group New Market Partners PA Consulting Pariveda Peoplefirm Peppers and Rogers Group Putnam Associates Rightpoint Romulus Advisory Rouse Analytics SAIC Segal Sensei International Slalom SSA & Company Systems Evolution Tata Consulting Services The Waterstone Group Trusted Advisor Associates Vision Consulting Westernacher Wilson Perumal & Company