The Peaks and Troughs of Hiring Management Consultants

Management consulting is often defined as a profession that provides advice in a specific area of expertise. However, another well-established view is that management consultants are people who you pay lots of money to tell you what you already know. It is clear that as the economy changes, so do public opinions, and with them, the need for consulting.

This line of work is one of the first to react to changes in the economy and following the recent drop, the second quarter recruitment figures show a sharp increase in hiring.

According to various management consulting-focussed websites, the consulting industry is steadily accelerating and has been for the most part of the year. More specifically, financial services consulting is a huge industry in its own right and the main focus for many large firms is seeing a dramatic increase in hiring; this is a prime example of the ‘peaks and troughs’ of recruitment.

Financial services topped an consultant poll as the industry leading the way in expected acceleration of hires by consultancy firms. This view is backed up by the Big Four; according to KPMG, the biggest increase in 2010 has been in their advisory functions that “have ambitious growth targets over the next two years”, whilst PwC revealed that “consulting will be a big focus for recruitment again for 2011 with  ambitious growth targets in this area”. Keeping up with the trend, Deloitte announced that they would be recruiting “predominantly in the technology and consulting area”.

Another huge indicator of the current shape of the market are the figures being announced by a number of management consultancies themselves. One specialist financial services consultancy has made over 100 new hires since March, and is in place to continue this massive growth into next year with a further 250 planned, almost doubling in size.

The explanation behind a lot of the growth in the market is mainly a simple reflection of the financial services industry and the economy as a whole. When times are hard in a struggling economy, paying someone lots of money to tell you what you already know is the first thing cut in a bid to save capital, but hiring an experienced management consultant is often the first thing done when a business looks to recover. An MD of a city-based boutique supported this idea, stating that “there’s been so much change in financial services, a lot of it government enforced, that consultants have been having a field day”.

This can be seen as a very basic indicator of market opinion on the economy, which in turn can help to form an outlook for the rest of the recruitment industry.

So, while we are experiencing uncertain financial times at the moment, with not a day going by without another headline from Vince Cable or Mervyn King, perhaps it is not all doom and gloom. 

Often the first sign of a change in fortunes, the aggressive growth acceleration of management consultancies suggests businesses and the economy are also getting ready to grow again. As a result I would now expect the recruitment industry to follow, enjoying the ride to the next peak. 



Andrew Wilde is a Consultant in the Management Consultancy team at Marks Sattin, working across a range of industries. Andrew has a strong portfolio of clients within Financial Services, placing Principals and Senior Managers in high profile Banking, Payments and Capital Markets positions.