Top-Consultant 2012 Recruitment Channel Report

8/2/2019 Top-Consultant 2012 Recruitment Channel Report

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Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy

Recruitment Channel Report 2012
http://www.top-consultant.com/


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TABLEOFCONTENTS

Introductory note 3

Part I - Recruitment and retention trends 5

Part II - Recruitment channel use and Social Media 12

Part III - Historical trends in recruitment channel use

and Recruiter & Media Awards 18Newspapers 19

Internet job sites 20

Recruitment agencies 21

Individual Recruiter Awards 22


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INTRODUCTION

In producing this report or the last decade, weve

served a consulting industry that or the most part has

been used to enjoying double-digit annual growth in

revenues but that has also had to battle with sta

attrition rates that oten breach the 20% mark.

This ten year period has also seen the consulting industry

hit by two downturns, the milder one induced by the

dot-com crash and more recently the more prolonged

and painul reversal o ortunes brought about by the

global nancial meltdown.

Hiring suered during both these downturns, in part

owing to the growth trajectory o the industry but

more so because o the reduced sta attrition that these

economic conditions induced. With ar ewer people

leaving rms, ar less replacement hiring was needed;

and its replacement hiring rather than growth-induced

hiring that is ultimately the bigger driver o hiring demand.

Growth prospects within consulting remain ragile.

By ar the largest practice areas are nancial services

and the public sector. When both are ring on allcylinders the industry powers ahead. At the outset o

the economic downturn, nancial services practices

suered considerably but continued spend by the

public sector helped to sustain the sector. For much o

2011, a broad range o private sector practices enjoyed

a modest rebound in demand, increasingly supporting

the nancial services practices in reviving consulting

rms ortunes. However this private sector recovery

was without doubt dented by the Eurozone crisis that

enguled the economy rom Autumn onwards. To a

degree this has continued into 2012, though the early

signs are encouraging that client demand in the private

sector is picking up once again.

Taken as a whole, the prognosis is thereore that

consulting revenues can be expected to continue their

slow improvement, but that a return to double-digit

growth or consulting as a whole is ex tremely unlikely.

The key thing or candidates, though, is going to be the

degree to which this activity stimulates or chokes o

sta attrition within the industry. I ear grips the industry

and consultants choose to stay put in their existing jobs,

this will signicantly reduce career opportunities in

consulting this year. I, however, sta attrition continues

its upwards trend once again, the hiring landscape will

be signicantly altered.

With pay disparities avouring those who choose to

move on, ears o redundancies and cutbacks in the

industry are the only things that will really hurt hiringvolumes in 2012.

With both monetary and hiring personnel resources

constrained, everyone is trying to determine which

channels are deserving o investment and which are

most likely to produce the required hires.

Continued on next page...


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We very much hope that this report will help to

address these issues or the recruiters amongst you.

Last but not least, our thanks go to the 153

consulting employers / recruiters who took part

in our client survey and the 1,272 consulting

candidates who participated in our candidate poll,

without whose responses this unique data could not

have been produced. We hope you derive valuable

insights rom this report and as always look orward

to serving your needs as the year unolds.

INTRODUCTION

Bryan HicksonManaging Director

Top-Consultant.com

Download the all newsecond edition o

The Defnitive Guide to UK

Consulting Firms

The Defnitive

Guide to UKConsulting Firms

T. Restell & V. A. Kumar (eds)

dition2nd e
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Recruitment and retention ratesData collected from 153 management consultancy recruiters

ONE
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Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2012PAGE 6

Our interactions with clients over the last months, together

with the survey data collected in January 2012, point to a

number o signicant actors that will shape the hiring market

over the coming year:

1. Hiring expectations taken across the UK consulting industry

are positive but more subdued than at this time last year,

when a ull blown recovery in consulting recruitment was

expected - and indeed was largely seen until the Eurozone

crisis erupted.

2. Recruiters are reporting greater competition to hire hot

skills and an increasing problem o counter oers derailing

recruitment eorts. For those skills that are in demand there

is very much a battle being waged to attract and hold on to

the necessary consulting sta.

3. With ee rates continuing to be squeezed, sustaining prot

margins means rms are ever more ocused on utilisation

rates. For recruiters this is translating into increased pressure

to deliver Just In Time recruiting namely ensuring that

new hires are brought on board only at the moment where

project wins mean they will be quickly deployed onto billable

assignments.

Side eects o this are that candidates are nding the hiring

that rms are doing is highly specialised; and the pace with

which recruiting rounds are conducted tends to ebb and ow

with changes in perceived client demand / market sentiment.

4. A particular challenge that recruiters have aced since

Autumn 2011 is overcoming candidates ears o moving

employer. The Eurozone crisis saw the return o hiring reezes

and / or redundancy rounds at some rms. This has made

candidates more risk-averse when considering a move - and is

leaving recruiters with the additional challenge o persuadingcandidates they are not taking an undue risk leaving the

saety o their current employer or the unknown o a new

employer.

SUMMARY
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One o the key questions everyone wants to know is whether

employers expect their hiring to pick up again as the Eurozone

crisis ades. This time last year the results pointed to a very

strong upturn in hiring in 2011 compared to 2010. In essence

this is what came to pass - the rst 8 months o the year saw

hiring very signicantly up on the previous year. It was only

the Eurozone situation that derailed what would otherwise

have been a very strong year o recruiting activity.

Figure 1: 2012 Recruitment targets vs. 2011

Figure 2: Recruitment targets 2008 - 2012

Top-Consultant.coms survey o 153 recruiters clearly shows

that nearly 2/3 o recruiters expect to make more hires in 2012

than were made in 2011. Indeed 85% expect hiring in 2012 to

equal or exceed the levels seen in 2011.

The historical series below shows that our recruiters have

correctly predicted trends in the preceding years. The sharp

deterioration in 2009 hiring was accurately predicted, as

was the rebound in hiring in 2011. The act that these same

respondents are upbeat about 2012 is thereore a source o

reassurance or all those looking to secure a job in consulting

in 2012. Whilst explosive growth in hiring is not expected,

ongoing improvements in the hiring market seem to be the

consensus view.

Expectations point to a hiring upturn

21.3%

42.7%

20.7%

8.7%

6.7% Make considerably more

hires than last year

Make slightly more hires

than last year

Make as many hires as

last year

Make slightly fe wer hires

than last year

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Make

considerablymore hires

than last year

Make slightly

more hiresthan last year

Make as many

hires as lastyear

Make slightly

fewer hiresthan last year

Make

considerablyfewer hires

than last year

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012
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When asked to assess hiring demand by practice area, a

number o insights can be derived.

A score close to 1 in our chart indicates rms expect to

undertake little or no hiring in that practice area; while the

greater the number the more hiring is expected to see gains

compared with the previous year.

The public sector trend is very marked. The strongest area o

hiring demand in 2009, it has been decimated since and the

latest data suggests recruiters see no immediate upturn in

hiring demand within the public sector acing practice areas.

The Financial Services practice area - which like the public

sector accounts or around 1/3 o all consulting spend - has

ortunately moved out o sync with the public sector and sohas kept the consulting industry aoat in more recent years.

Whilst hiring expectations here are not as bullish as a year ago,

this is still the practice area where the industry collectively

expects to be doing the most hiring.

Energy & Utilities practices also look set to have a strong year

o recruiting - and certainly the expected trends indicated

or all three o these practice areas are being mirrored in the

activity levels we are seeing on Top-Consultant during the

rst weeks o 2012.

Likely hiring patterns by practice area

Figure 3: Recruitment activity by practice area

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5

Financial Services

Energy & Utilities

Information Technology

Technology

Telecoms, Media & Entertainment

Healthcare & Pharma

Purchasing & Supply Chain

Retail / Consumer Goods

General Management

Engineering & Manufacturing

Distribution / Logistics

Automotive / Aerospace

Chemicals

Public Sector

Transportation

Facilities Management

Science / Research

Education

Leisure / Lifestyle

2012

2011

2010

2009
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Staf attrition to accelerate urther?

Overall the expectation or 2012 is that sta attrition rates

will hold steady at the heightened rates that were seen in

2011. Thats to say that replacing lost sta will continue to be

a source o considerable hiring demand, but attrition is not

expected to contribute to any increase in hiring over what

was seen in 2011. Instead any acceleration in hiring would

come rom actual growth o practice areas.

O course in some practice areas rms have introduced

retention bonuses to try and reign back the retention

problem; whilst counter oers we have already reerenced

as being a growing source o hiring rustration. Clearly any

worsening o sta attrition beyond whats anticipated here

will give rise to additional hiring demand and put a urtherstrain on recruiters capacity to deliver.

Figure 5: Sta attrition rates 2012

3.3%

20.7%

48.7%

23.3%

4.0%

0% 20% 40% 60%

Staff attrition rates will improve

considerably

Staff attrition rates will improve a little

No change in staff attrition rates

expected

Staff attrition rates will worsen a little

Staff attrition rates will worsen

considerably

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Top-Consultant.com.

Clickhere to nd out moreStaf attrition to accelerate
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11/23


Two interesting ndings rom this years survey are i) that

consulting rms want overwhelmingly to make their hires

rom the ranks o the experienced consultant. Whilst in

parallel ii) theres a continuation o the 2011 trend where

ewer experienced hires will be looking or a new job within

consulting.

Taken in combination, these statistics paint the interesting

picture o an industry where not all rms will be able to hire

in the volumes they need or will have to compromise on

the backgrounds o those they hire and open their hiring up

to a wider range o prospective candidates. Recent history

teaches us that the latter outcome is the more likely and it is

our expectation that hiring must have criteria will soten as

the year progresses and these hiring difculties become more

pronounced.

Market will eel tighter

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Most likely to accept a job with a

consulting employer

Not looking to change jobs in the

next 12 months

Most likely to accept a job with a

client organisation

Most likely to secure some other

kind of role outside consulting

Most likely to accept a job in the

City

Most likely to accept public

sector/ charity job

2012

2011

2010

2009

Figure 6: Desired hiring profle 2010 2012

Figure 7: Candidates career intentions or 2009 - 2012

1

2

3

4

5

Experienced

hires from

other

consulting firms

Experienced

hires from

industry

Experienced

hires from

Government or

Public Sector

bodies

Experienced

hires from the

City

MBA f ina lists University

leavers /

Finalists

2010 2011 2012


12/23

Recruitment channel use and the role of social media

TWO


13/23


The ollowing candidate job search trends we will be

presenting are based on data collected rom 10,000+

management consultancy candidates over the past ten

years. Candidates rom all the major consulting rms have

participated, together with consultants currently working at

niche consulting rms and potential industry hires looking to

move into consulting.

Prole o respondents:

Most this year were Business Transormation / Change

Management consultants (25.6%), Strategy consultants

(21.9%), IT / Technology Consultants (17.5%) and Project /

Programme Management consultants (15.1%).

The sectors that candidates this year had most experience oworking in were Telecoms, Media & Entertainment (31.6%),

the Public Sector (27.7%), Financial Services (Retail Financial

Services ocus) (23.1%), Retail / Consumer Goods (21.8%),

Energy / Utilities (21.5%), and Financial Services (Investment

Banking / Capital Markets) (17.5%).

Survey responses this year were generated via direct mailshots

to the Top-Consultant.com readership; an invitation sent to all

screened consulting candidates on the Get Headhunted

CV database; promotions via Twitter, LinkedIn, Google News

and Yahoo News, Forum posts and by invitations sent to

candidates by recruitment agencies.

Are you a ManagementConsultancy Recruiter?

Once a month the

Top-Consultant.com team

update recruiter contactsregarding all the new

initiatives were planning,

ree reports weve published

and any orthcoming

promotional oers they

could benet rom. I you

would like to be added toour recruiter contact list

please email Bryan Hickson.

Candidate pool
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14/23


Let us now look back at candidate activity over the last 12

months and specically the channels used to look or new

career opportunities. Every year we ask candidates to record

the channels they used and the number o applicationsthat they made through each. Collating that data allows us

to analyse the penetration perormance o the channels

(how many candidates have used each) and the share o

applications achieved rom each o the six major recruitment

channels:

Wed already seen the low application volumes generatedby social media in last years ndings - and this year wanted

to gain a better understanding o this phenomena. The

data breakdown by social media brand shows that LinkedIn

has now reached 90% penetration within the consulting

proession. Facebook is verging on 60% penetration, whilst

Twitter has only just passed the 20% threshold.

Why not try advertising

or consulting

candidates on

Top-Consultant.com?

Our low-priced advertising

packages allow you to see

or yoursel the types o

results that recruiters are

experiencing by placing

their job listings on

Top-Consultant.com.

Clickhere to nd out more

Figure 8: Application channels used last time to apply or a job

Newspapers

Recruitment agencies

Internet job sites

Social media

Personal Contacts / Reerrals

Corporate Websites

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Recruitmentagencies

Personalcontacts /

referrals

Internet jobsites

Corporatewebsites

Social mediasites (eg.

LinkedIn,Facebook etc.)

Newspaperadverts

20122011Candidate activity over last year
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15/23


Given the importance o Twitter as a recruitment channel in

some sectors, this is an enlightening nding or consulting

recruiters. For now this remains a medium that will tap into

only a very small proportion o the consulting audience.

At the other end o the spectrum, the Linkedin ndings are

surprising when one considers that so ew applications

are being generated via social media channels, even with

90% take-up o the leading proessional channel. To try and

better understand this we asked candidate respondents what

they used their social media proles or. The ndings areilluminating.

Social Media

0%

10%20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Expanding my

professional

network

Raising my

profile as an

expert

Participating in

group

discussions

Sharing ideas

and resources

with my

network

Applying for

advertised job

openings

Directly

approaching

recruiters in my

network for a

job

Staying in

contact with

friends and

family

Maintaining

contact with

colleagues

Figure 9: Activities consultants engage in when using their social media profles? (more than one answer allowed)

The picture that emerges is one o consulting proessionals

using social media to expand their proessional networks and

to stay in touch with colleagues, riends and amilies. Use o

social media to proactively approach recruiters or to respond

to advertised vacancies is ar less common.

The most obvious conclusion to draw rom this is that

social media are most potent or recruiters as a channel to

proactively headhunt or approach candidates deemed to be

o interest; and correspondingly are less eective as a channel

to advertise openings and sit back and wait or a response.

Figure 10: Social media on which consultants are active users

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Xing Viadeo MySpace

20122011


16/23


Looking forward

When the number o applications made by channel is actored

in, the picture remains much the same. Social media sites

do not yet account or even 10% o applications, compared

with over 30% or internet job boards. Even corporate sitesproduce greater application volumes.

Overall the conclusion rom this years survey is thereore

rather surprising. Running counter to the hype surrounding

social media, this data supports the view that many

consultants are now heavy users o social media but do

not use social media as a primary source or nding a new

job. It should be emphasised that this survey is o course

primarily a survey o candidates based in the UK and working

in consulting, so there is no suggestion that the same can be

said or other sectors or geographies.

Figure 11: Share o applications generated in last job search

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Internet job

sites

Recruitment

agencies

Corporate sites Personal

contacts /referrals

Social media

sites

Newspaper ads

20122011


17/23


There is o course always a danger extrapolating past

behaviour to the uture. So as well as investigating past

behaviour, we also ask candidates to score the channels they

would expect to use when next hunting or a new job. This isthen a lead indicator or changes we can expect to see appear

in uture editions o this report. In previous years this orward

projection has proven to be very reliable when compared

with the actual results recorded in subsequent years.

As can be seen rom the results, candidates clearly intend to

modiy their job hunt strategies only marginally during their

next job search. There is no widespread expectation amongst

candidates that they will suddenly turn to social media to nd

a job more than they have in the recent past.

Figure 12: Channels most likely to use in uture

Looking forward

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

5.5

Personal

contacts /

referrals

Recruitment

Agencies

Internet job

sites

Corporate

websites

Social media

sites

Newspaper

adverts

1 = Least likely to use 7 = Most likely to use


18/23

Historical trends in recruitment channel useand Recruiter & Media awardsData collected from 1,272 management consultancy candidates

THREE


19/23


O all the channels, newspapers have suered most in the

last ten years with candidate penetration levels having allen

considerably, down to below 15% in this years survey.

The Times and Financial Times newspapers are established

as the newspapers that consultants are most likely to read.

However, as the earlier penetration gures show, consulting

candidates are ar less likely to apply to roles they see in

newspapers than they were a decade ago, reducing their

eectiveness as a recruitment channel.

Newspapers

Figure 14: Newspapers and publications consultants read regularly

Figure 13: Penetration - Newspapers

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

2 00 2 2 00 3 2 00 4 2 00 5 2 00 6 2 00 7 2 00 8 2 00 9 2 01 0 2 01 1 2 01 2

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%


20/23


21/23


Recruitment agency candidate penetration has held up much

better during the recession than it did during the dot-com

downturn. It is now picking up in line with the rebound in

recruiting across the proession and stands at just over 70%.

As well as asking candidates to recommend the best

individual recruiters, we also asked them to eedback to us on

the dierent recruitment rms that they have used. A ranking

o rms that received the most praise and the least complaints

was then produced. Congratulations to all rms listed.

Our special congratulations go to BLT who have secured the

top spot or the ourth consecutive year. Respondents praised

BLT or the qualities that made them stand out rom the

competition:

or having a ocussed and personal service

or their proessionalism, willingness to listen and

commitment to keeping the candidate inormed

throughout the process

or being knowledgeable, very well connected and

avoiding the hard sell

or going the extra mile in helping candidates to prepare

or interview and sharing their knowledge o the market.

Recruitment agencies

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

2 00 2 2 00 3 2 00 4 2 00 5 2 00 6 2 00 7 2 00 8 2 00 9 2 01 0 2 01 1 2 01 2

Figure 17: Penetration - Recruitment agencies

Figure 18: 2012 top recruitment frms by praise

1 Beament Leslie Thomas (BLT)

2 Prism

3 Michael Warwick Nicholls (MWN)

4 Aston Carter

5 Consulting Point

6 Selecture

7 ChapmanBlack

8 Huntswood

9 Comms Point

10= Freshminds10= CNA


22/23


Recruiters - available

throughout 2012

All premium job listings

appearing onTop-Consultant.com will be

added to Jobsite or you at

no additional cost.

Take advantage

by registering or a

trial advertisingpackage

Alongside the rankings o recruitment rms, we asked

candidates to help us identiy the best individual recruiters

they had worked with. We asked them:

I you have been particularly impressed with an individual

recruitment consultant you have worked with in the past,

please provide their name & company so that we can give

them special recognition

Eleven individuals stood out as receiving the most praise and

we warmly congratulate them all or their success. They are

listed in no particular order:

Individual recruiters

Figure 19:

Best individual recruitment consultants 2012

Chris Sale (Prism)

Craig Milbourne (Comms Point)

Darren Head (Selecture)

Don Leslie (BLT)

Genene Cooper (MWN)

Paul Brown (ChapmanBlack)

Pete Nicholls (MWN)

Rakesh Pabbi (Consulting Point)Sasha Kemp (SK Consultancy Solutions)

Stephen Humphreys (Huntswood)

Victoria Barry Woods (Aston Carter)
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23/23

Find out how your rm could attract consulting hires by:

advertising on our websites advertising in our consultancy-ocused publications

accessing our CV databases

running bespoke careers events

participating in the annual Consultancy Careers Fair

CALL TO SPEAK WITH ONE OF OUR TEAMFor more inormation on Top-Consultants services or i you have any questions about

the data in this report please contact Bryan Hickson or Tony Restell on 0207 667 6880

or email them on [email protected] [email protected].

REQUEST A BROCHUREAlternatively, please eel ree to request a PDF brochure detailing our services.

You may do so by clicking here.

EMAIL USFeel ree to email our Customer Services team with any questions

you may have, using the address [email protected].

2012 Top-Consultant.com. All rights reserved.
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Documents

Top-Consultant 2012 Recruitment Channel Report