8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
1/28
Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy
Recruitment Channel Report 2011
Sponsored by
http://www.top-consultant.com/uk/career/appointments.asp?sel_firm=43342http://www.top-consultant.com/uk/career/appointments.asp?sel_firm=43342http://www.top-consultant.com/8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
2/28
TABLEOFCONTENTS
Introductory note 3
Sponsors message from Huntswood 5
Part I - Recruitment and retention trends 6
Part II - Recruitment channel use and Social Media 16
Part III - Historical trends in recruitment channel use
and Recruiter & Media Awards 22Newspapers 23
Internet job sites 24
Recruitment agencies 25
Individual Recruiter Awards 26
8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
3/28
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. During the
last year, weve seen the total role reversal that we
predicted namely a rebound in the health o nancial
services practices oset by a considerable deterioration
in public sector spend.
The pattern so ar in 2011 seems to be that a broad range
o private sector practices are enjoying heightened
demand, increasingly supporting the nancial services
practices in reviving consulting rms ortunes. However
the public sector order book remains precarious and
whilst the climate is more avourable than during 2010
no-one is expecting any dramatic revival in public sector
consulting spend.
Taken as a whole, the prognosis is thereore that
consulting revenues can be expected to continue theirslow improvement, but that a return to double-digit
growth or consulting as a whole is ex tremely unlikely.
For candidates looking to secure a role within consulting,
the ar more positive news is that sta attrition rates
have shot up during the last 9-12 months. Firms are
consequently having to increase their hiring activity
quite considerably. Theres something o a snowball
eect here too the more candidates see consulting
employers looking to hire, the more they consider
whether their careers are better served staying put or
moving to pastures new. With pay disparities avouringthose who choose to move, all the ingredients have
been in place or this sta attrition-uelled hiring revival
to take o and take o it has over the last year, with
campaign volumes in January 2011 some three times
higher than wed seen in January 2010.
Continued on next page...
8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
4/28
Which means o course that our recruiter contacts
are increasingly anxious to know the most eectiveways to source consulting hires; and in an era where
a ar wider range o media are there to be considered.
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. 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 133
consulting employers / recruiters who took part
in our client survey and the 1,216 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
Tony RestellCo-Founder and Director
Top-Consultant.com
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
In Summer 2011 we will be publishing
the all new second edition o
The Defnitive Guide to UK
Consulting Firms.
Submissions are now being accepted rom
consulting employers wishing to have a
ree company prole in the directory o
consulting employers contained within
this guide. The rst edition attracted more
than 160 company proles and more than
15,000 copies o the guide were distributed.
To nd out how your rm can get
involved, please email Sacha Jacksonon
http://www.top-consultant.com/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.top-consultant.com/8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
5/28
As a business that has spent the last 15 years recruiting
management consultants, both into consultancycompanies and into industry, Huntswood is delighted
to be supporting the tenth Top-Consultant.com
Recruitment Channel Report.
I think wed all agree that the market has been
particularly turbulent over the last ew years. Like you we
have watched the nancial services re-bound, and the
public sector consulting decline with interest. Salaries
are on the rise, regrettable attrition rates are on the rise
and hiring needs are growing. There is undoubtedly a
war or talent raging.
Firms that want to attract and retain the best talent needto consider the opportunities, personal development
and working environment they oer. They should also
be willing to oer pay rises to existing talent, and think
careully about the channels they use to source their
new recruits.
This report outlines the rise in company attrition rates,
it conrms the death o newspaper job advertising,
and continues to hint at a rise in social recruiting,
but with some interesting statistics. LinkedIn has
risen up the list o places that potential consultants
look or their next role, but is still ar rom top-dog.
However I would suggest that LinkedIn is becomingthe headhunters tool o choice, and executive search
techniques are becoming more common in contingent
search assignments. Twitter is being used by many as a
listening tool to keep up-to-date on industry news, but
not yet as a real area or recruitment.
Those o you who read the Huntswood ortnightly
editorial in the Top-Consultant.com newsletter will be
very aware o the private sector consulting resurgence;
pharmaceuticals, energy, utilities, consumer goods,retail, telecommunications and o course nancial
services, are all recruiting heavily at the moment. So are
the recruiters that service these markets.
Hiring Managers are united in their opinion that the war
or talent has started, and the majority are clear that
they want to win it. The problem is that a lot o these
rms are turning to a recruitment industry that has
suered rom three years o lack o investment and are
under staed to deal with the rise in requirements. This
report also highlights the crucial role that recruitment
businesses play in the process; choosing the right
recruitment partner is thereore all the more important.
Huntswood has a page in this report where you can see
more about us or yourselves. For now, I will leave you
to enjoy this report, and wish you the best o ortunes as
you look at implementing its recommendations.
We are elated to be partnering with Top-consultant
to publish this report and to guide rms in their
recruiting (and are delighted to see ourselves very
much recommended!). Later in the year, job-seekers
will be given a similar opportunity as Huntswood and
Top-Consultant.com partner up again to produce the
salary benchmarking report, and the second edition oThe Defnitive Guide to UK Consulting Firms .
Find out more here.
SPONSORS MESSAGEStephen HumphreysRecruitment Manager
Huntswood
http://www.huntswood.com/recruitment/ideally-placed.aspxhttp://www.huntswood.com/recruitment/ideally-placed.aspxhttp://www.huntswood.com/recruitment/ideally-placed.aspxhttp://www.huntswood.com/recruitment/ideally-placed.aspx8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
6/28
Recruitment and retention ratesData collected from 133 management consultancy recruiters
ONE
8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
7/28
Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2011PAGE 7
Our interactions with clients over the last months, together
with the survey data collected in January 2011, point to a
number o signicant actors that will shape the hiring market
over the coming year:
1. The threeold increase in hiring activity that weve seen over
the last year broadly in line with our predictions in the last
report is expected to gain urther ground with the majority
o rms expecting to accelerate hiring in 2011. Indeed a
signicant minority o rms oresee very aggressive hiring
activity this year, uelled in part by publicly stated intentions
to gain market share.
2. The data on hiring demand by practice area supports the
view that a hiring upturn is now very much underway across
the majority o private sector consulting practices. Financial
Services is o course a hot-spot, but the hiring revival now
extends ar wider than that. The counter to this o course is
the public sector, where the hiring picture will remain bleak
or much o 2011.
3. On balance rms are expecting a urther deterioration
in the sta attrition rates suered during 2010, with these
rates already approaching 20% or some rms. Osetting
this is candidate data suggesting ewer candidates intend to
move this year. For those practices that do need to hire, this
may make the task more challenging still especially as the
demand is increasingly or very specic hiring proles. There
are several repercussions o this, the most notable being that
public sector consultants cannot easily be redeployed to
other practice areas; and that candidates increasingly need to
seek out those openings where their skills and experience are
a perect match. Simple hiring o high calibre consultants is
now something o a rarity rms have specic roles to ll that
are project-critical and only an exact match will do.
4. As agged in last years report, the capacity available
to support the hiring upturn both within consulting
rms recruitment teams and externally within recruitment
agencies was dramatically cut back during the downturn.
Across the sector we are seeing rms now struggle to hirerecruiting resources ast enough to keep pace with practices
hiring demand. This bottleneck is very serious or the industry
and we are aware o recruitment rms having to be selective
about the rms they take on as clients looking at both their
ee rate agreements and the placement probability being
oered beore committing to service an account.
SUMMARY
8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
8/28
Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2011PAGE 8
Analysis o key metrics or the UK consulting industry allows
us to produce an aggregate hiring prole or the industry. As
the table shows, required hiring volumes as a % o existing
headcount averaged around 33% during the boom years. This
gure ell to around 2% during the recent severe recession,
which explains why the hiring market has seemed quite so
morose in 2009. By contrast, it is rising sharply with every
month o 2011 that passes and or the year as a whole is likely
to have reverted to a hiring requirement o 23% o existing
headcount.
This statistic explains why recruitment agencies have
experienced a rapid change in ortunes in the last months,
particularly when set against the backdrop o a sector that
has shed 1/3 o its pool o recruiters during the downturn. It
also explains why job board advertising volumes have beenpicking up consistently during the last months.
There are a couple o interesting implications to be drawn
rom this table. Firstly we can see that hiring demand is very
largely driven by the worsening in attrition rates - and should
attrition worsen urther still, this will translate directly into
hiring demand increases over and above what is stated here.
Secondly the only thing stopping the numbers rom looking
like theres a war or talent on a par with the 2006-7 era is
the ill health o the public sector market. I we were to look
at the private sector alone we would see a talent crunch not
dissimilar to that witnessed during the last boom.
Figure 1: Required hiring volumes
Boom
years
Recent
past -severe
recession
Modesteconomic
recovery
Market Growth 15% -12% 2%
rom ee rate
increases2% -4% -1%
rom volume growth
(billable days)13% -8% 3%
Growth that can be
ullled through Spare
Capacity
-5% N/A 0%
Recruitment needed
to uel growth8% -8% 3%
Attrition rate 25% 10% 20%
Required hiring
volumes as a % o
headcount
33% 2% 23%
Staf attrition driving demand
8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
9/28
Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2011PAGE 9
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
Market growth
For much o the last decade the UK consulting industry has
enjoyed revenue growth rates approaching 15% per annum.
This has almost entirely been achieved by an increase in the
volume o billable days sold, rather than by ee rate ination
a consequence o the act that procurement departments
have driven an increasingly hard bargain with consulting
providers.
By contrast, many rms in 2009 saw revenues decline by 10%
or more - making this the most distressing year the consulting
industry has ever endured. 2010 has seen a return to very
modest levels o growth - driven principally by resurgence in
Financial Services consulting.
In 2011 we can expect a very similar trajectory to be ollowed.
The private sector rebound is likely to extend across a broader
range o practice areas and provide a boost to growth; but
public sector appetite or consulting spend will only improve
marginally.
Spare capacity
In the boom years a modest volume o new client wins could
be resourced by drawing on employed resources currentlyon the bench; but any sustained increase in demand
translated quickly into the need or additional hires. During
the severe recession we have just endured, the situation was
rather reversed, with consulting rms needing to scale back
signicantly on their consulting headcount to avoid a massive
ballooning in underutilised sta. An interesting eature o
the modest upturn we are now experiencing is that growth
is unlikely to be able to be resourced at all by drawing on
consultants on the bench.
Those whose public sector assignments have been drying
up and who nd themselves lacking a billable client project
to work on do not generally possess the private sector
experience, sector knowledge and commercial acumen
that is being demanded by the rebounding private sector
client base. Hence a growth in private sector client work is
translating immediately into the need or new hires and
hires with very specic skillsets at that.
Staf attrition
The last piece o the puzzle is the expected deterioration in
sta retention rates that the industry will ace in 2011. Given
that career moves or many have been severely restricteduntil just recently, it is no surprise that as recruitment has
picked up more and more consultants have started assessing
their prospects with alternative employers. With attrition
at many rms now close to the 20% mark - and a mild
urther deterioration expected this year - this is clearly the
dominant driver in hiring demand . Any underestimation o
sta attrition rates would translate directly into the need or
greater numbers o hires and that is a actor we must keep in
the back o our minds as the year unolds.
http://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspx8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
10/28
8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
11/28
Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2011PAGE 11
Fundamental to our assertion that incremental project wins
will not be able to be staed by consultants on the bench is
the expectation that public sector demand is tailing o and
private sector demand is on the up. By asking employers
to identiy the areas they expect to be undertaking the
most hiring we have been able to prove that this is indeed
the expectation or 2011 and also to identiy some other
interesting growth projections by practice area.
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 anticipated. Two
signicant changes leap out at you rom this chart. Firstly
we can see that at the beginning o 2009 there was a minute
amount o hiring in Financial Services expected to take place;
yet one year on this has leapt to being the single biggestarea o hiring activity. As the largest source o private sector
consulting spend, this change o ortunes in Financial Services
is particularly welcome as we look to 2011 and hope that the
year will again produce modest growth or the consulting
industry as a whole.
Equally stark though is the collapse in hiring expectations
within the public sector practices. The single largest area
o growth in the 2009 survey, the sector slumped in 2010
and 2011almost the mirror opposite o the trend seen in
Financial Services. It explains why growth expectations or
consulting in 2011 are not more buoyant.
Elsewhere there is a welcome upturn in hiring expectations
across a broad range o private sector practice areas, with
Energy & Utilities, Technology and Telecoms / Media /
Entertainment practice areas leading the way.
Likely hiring patterns by practice area
Figure 4: Recruitment activity by practice area
1 2 3 4
Financial Services
Energy & Utilities
Technology
Telecoms, Media & Entertainment
Healthcare & Pharma
Information Technology
Purchasing & Supply Chain
Retail / Consumer Goods
General Management
Engineering & Manufacturing
Distribution / Logistics
Transportation
Chemicals
Science / Research
Automotive / Aerospace
Public Sector
Facilities Management
Education
Leisure / Lifestyle
2009 2010 2011
8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
12/28
Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2011PAGE 12
When asked to provide the same steer on the types o
consulting expected to be contributing to hiring demand,
the picture was again one o a broad-based recovery. For
the second year running, Business Process Improvement
specialists are likely to be in greatest demand, with Project /
Programme Managers not ar behind.
Most encouragingly or the health o the sector as a whole is
the increased appetite or strategy consulting hires. Strategy
consulting is oten seen as a bell-weather or the state o the
consulting industry as a whole, so the continued resurgence
in hiring expectations here is most welcome.
The notable roller-coaster within the data is in the area o IT
consulting / sotware development. This market remained
buoyant or some time ater the broader downturn inconsulting had taken hold. The resulting hiring cutbacks took
place later than elsewhere in the market and the rebound is
expected to be similarly staggered.
Likely hiring patterns by type of consulting
Figure 5: Recruitment activity by type o consulting
1 2 3
Business Process Improvement
Project / Programme Management
Technology
Strategy
Outsourcing
IT / Software Development
E-Business
CRM
Finance / Accounting
Marketing & Sales
HR Consulting
Economics & Environmental Consulting
2009 2010 2011
8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
13/28
Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2011PAGE 13
Staf attrition to accelerate urther?
On balance, employers expectations are that in the coming
year we will see a modest deterioration in sta attrition. We
would suggest it is a sign o how ar retention rates have
already deteriorated that these expectations are not worse
than they are in essence sta attrition cant get that much
worse now that the 20% mark is looming or many rms. In
some practice areas rms have also introduced retention
bonuses to try and reign back the retention problem, so the
hope that these will have a positive impact is likely also to be
inuencing the results. Clearly any worsening o sta attrition
beyond whats anticipated here will give rise to additional
hiring demand and put a urther strain on recruiters capacity
to deliver.
Figure 6: Sta attrition rates 2011
The ConsultancyCareers Fair 2011
Taking place on 30th
September, this yearscareers air gives your rm
the opportunity to meet
with 2,500+ consulting
candidates.
The brochure will be available on
3rd May. To request a copy please
call the Top-Consultant.com team
on +44 (0)207 667 6880.
7.5%
30.1%
36.1%
18.8%
7.5%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Staff attrition rates will
improve considerably
Staff attrition rates will
improve a little
No change in staff
attrition rates ex pected
Staff attrition rates will
worsen a little
Staff attrition rates will
worsen considerably
Staf attrition to accelerate
8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
14/28
Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2011PAGE 14
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 reduction in the number o experiencedhires wholl be looking or a new job within consulting with
increasing numbers planning to either stay put or to look or
a new role outside o 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 upto 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
Figure 7: Desired hiring profle 2011 vs. 2010
Figure 8: Candidates career intentions or 2009 - 2011
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Most likely to accept a job with a
consulting employerNot 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/ c harity
job
2009 2010 2011
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 inalists University
leavers /
Finalists
2010 2011
8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
15/28
8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
16/28
Recruitment channel use and the role of social media
TWO
8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
17/28
Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2011PAGE 17
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 haveparticipated, 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 (25.8%), Strategy consultants
(23.8%), IT / Technology Consultants (15.9%) and Project /
Programme Management consultants (13.7%).
The sectors that candidates this year had most experience oworking in were Financial Services (45.6%), the Public Sector
(28.5%), Telecoms, Media & Entertainment (25.9%), Energy /
Utilities (24.7%) and Retail / Consumer Goods (23.4%).
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.
Overall 63.7% o candidates have changed jobs within the lastthree years.
Are you a ManagementConsultancy Recruiter?
Once a month the Top-
Consultant.com team
update recruiter contacts
regarding all the newinitiatives were planning,
ree reports weve published
and any orthcoming
promotional oers they
could benet rom. I you
would like to be added
to our recruiter contactlist please email Graeme
Underhill.
Candidate pool
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
18/28
Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2011PAGE 18
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:
When looking at which application channels candidates usedduring their last job hunt, it is striking to see three o the
recruitment channels being used by a ar greater proportion
o candidates than the others. Recruitment agencies had
been used by a greater number o candidates than any o the
other channels; with Personal contacts / reerral schemes and
internet job boards also scoring highly.
Candidate activity over last year
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 9: Application channels used last time to apply or a job
Newspapers
Recruitment agencies
Internet job sites
Social media
Personal Contacts / Reerrals
Corporate Websites
http://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspx8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
19/28
Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2011PAGE 19
Social media sites and newspapers generated applications
rom 30% and 20% o the candidates surveyed respectively.
The lack o impact o social media is quite a nding though.This year or the rst time weve asked our 1,216 consulting
candidates to share which social media sites they are active
users o (where we dened this as having an account that the
candidate makes use o at least once a week). What is very
noticeable is that 81% o candidates regularly use LinkedIn,
56% use Facebook and only 13% use Twitter.
What is interesting here is that most LinkedIn users in the
consulting space are not using the site or the purposes
o making job applications, but rather or networking and
business development. This suggests that recruiters can reach
consulting candidates via this platorm, but will do so moreeectively by using it to approach candidates directly rather
than relying on them to make applications to jobs that have
been advertised there.
Also o great note is the nding that contrary to popular
belie consultants DO nd time to be active Facebook
users but DO NOT engage with Twitter in any great numbers.
Certainly when speaking with recruiters over the last year, the
widespread assumption within our industry has been that
consultants especially IT / technology ocused consultants
would be early adopters o the Twitter platorm. These results
are unambiguous in showing that Twitter has low penetrationamongst consultants.
The implication or recruiters is that this is a medium best
used to start a dialogue with individual candidates / clients
that look o interest, rather than as a medium to broadcast
messages out to a sizeable audience because a sizeable
audience o relevant consulting proessionals are simply not
engaged with the medium as yet.
Figure 10: Social media on which consultants are active users
By contrast, many people have assumed that consultants
simply lead too stressul a liestyle to have time or Facebook.
This data shows that the majority o consultants are active
users o this platorm and so this is a ar more eective platorm
or broadcasting messages or running branded campaigns
in much the same way as LinkedIn can be seen to be.
Social Media
8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
20/28
Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2011PAGE 20
Looking forward
When the number o applications made by channel is actored
in, the lack o impact o social media becomes even more
pronounced. Social media sites in total produced less than
10% o applications, compared with the more than 1/3 o allapplications generated by internet job boards.
Personal contacts and reerral schemes whilst popular
with candidates are limited as an application channel by
candidates ability to apply to all the rms o interest this way.
Sites like LinkedIn may strengthen this route in coming years
by extending peoples networks urther and more importantly
by making candidates existing networks more transparent to
them.
Corporate sites, meanwhile, have stagnated with an
application share o around 15%.
Overall the conclusion rom this years survey is 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 demonstrates that
candidates do not use social media as a primary source or
nding a new job. With barely 5% o applications having been
made via social media sites this last year, rom an audience
where 81% are active users o the leading proessional
social media site, it is hard to argue any dierently. This
nding certainly correlates with the eedback we have had
rom advertisers on LinkedIn that adverts generally attractapplicants rom people outside the UK and / or outside the
consulting industry (whereas this survey is o course primarily
a survey o candidates based in the UK and working in
consulting).
Figure 11: Share o applications generated in last job search
8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
21/28
Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2011PAGE 21
Candidates were asked to score the likely channels they would
use when next hunting or a new job, both to allow them to
change their bias to allow or dissatisactions with their most
recent job hunt and also to actor in new developmentstheyve seen aecting the market like LinkedIn.
As you can see rom Figure 12 candidates clearly intend to
modiy their job hunt strategies only marginally during their
next job search. What is particularly striking though is the
chart below where candidates past activity can be cross-
compared with their intended uture activity the correlation
between the two is unmistakable! Given this, it seems likely
that the share o applications employers will receive rom
each o the hiring channels is likely to remain airly constant
or the oreseeable uture, barring any major change in the
unctionality or appeal o the channels over and above whatis oered today.
Figure 12: Channels most likely to use in uture
Figure 13: Sources o candidate applications 2011/2012
Looking forwardShare of Applications
Low High
Low
High
Future
Use
Job boards
Recruitment
Agencies
CorporateSites
Personal
Referrals
Social
Media
Newspapers
8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
22/28
Historical trends in recruitment channel useand Recruiter & Media awardsData collected from 1,216 management consultancy candidates
THREE
8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
23/28
Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2011PAGE 23
Historic newspaper advertisers, direct employers and
recruitment agencies, continue to switch spend to online
solutions. O all the channels, newspapers have suered most
in the last ten years with candidate penetration levels havingallen considerably, down to just 20% in this years survey.
Some newspapers are countering this and looking to
maintain what remains o their share o applications by
oering a number o agglomerated industry special editions
to advertising clients. Despite this initiative, the share o
applications made through newspapers continues to decline.
The Times and Financial Times newspapers are established
as consultants preerred newspapers when looking or
consulting jobs. However, as the earlier penetration gures
show, consulting candidates are ar less likely to apply toroles they see in newspapers than they were a decade ago,
reducing their eectiveness as a recruitment channel.
Newspapers
Figure 15: Newspapers - Which do you rate above all others as thebest source or fnding a consulting job?
Figure 14: Penetration - Newspapers
Times FT
The Economist
Telegraph Guardian
EveningStandard
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
24/28
Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2011PAGE 24
Internet job sites continue to enjoy a high share o candidate
usage and while there has been some volatility in job
boards market penetration over the last years, the industry
is now mature and over 2/3 o consultancy jobseekers madeapplications or roles that they had seen on job sites in 2011.
Internet job sites
Figure 17: Internet job sites - Which o the job sites do you rate aboveall others or fnding a consulting job?
Figure 16: Penetration - Internet job sites
When asked to name just one job board, the 1,216 candidates
surveyed said that once again Top-Consultant.com easily
retains its lead as the best site or nding a consulting job.
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Top-Consultant
Exec-Appointments
Monster
Jobsite
eFinancialCareers
Totaljobs
FT
ConsultingLadder
Executivesontheweb
TopITConsultant
Consultantsboard
Accountancy Age /
Management Consultancy
MCA
Twitter jobsearch
8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
25/28
Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2011PAGE 25
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 third consecutive year. Respondents praised
BLT or the qualities that made them stand out rom the
competition:
or being genuinely interested in candidates career
aspirations
or going to great lengths to match candidates up to
suitable roles and not doing so in a pushy manner
or ensuring candidates are kept well inormed throughout
the process and or always sticking to commitments
made to candidates
and or having great sta and a strong set o contacts
within the industry.
Recruitment agencies
Figure 18: Penetration - Recruitment agencies
1 Beament Leslie Thomas
2= Michael Warwick Nicholls
2= Selecture
4 Aston Carter
5 Huntswood
6 SK Consultancy Solutions7 ChapmanBlack
8 Prism
9= Korn Ferry
9= Heidrick and Struggles
Rank Recruitment rm
Figure 19: 2011 top 10 recruitment frms by praise
8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
26/28
Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2011PAGE 26
Recruiters - available
throughout 2011
All premium job listings
appearing on Top-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
Ten individuals received the most praise and we warmly
congratulate them all or their success. They are listed in no
particular order:
Individual recruiters
Figure 20: Best individual recruitment consultants 2011
David Lanceeld and Darren Head rom
Selecture
Don Leslie and Sarah Burgess rom BLT
Sasha Kemp (SK Consultancy Solutions), Paul
Brown (ChapmanBlack) and Rachel Snelgar
(Huntswood)
Victoria Barry-Woods (Aston Carter), Pete
Nicholls (MWN) and Chris Sale (Prism)
http://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/choosepackage.aspx8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
27/28
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 Graeme Underhill, Bryan Hickson or Tony Restell
on 0207 667 6880 or email them on [email protected],
[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 US
Feel ree to email our Customer Services team with any questionsyou may have, using the address [email protected].
2011 Top-Consultant.com. All rights reserved.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/Solutions.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/Solutions.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/Solutions.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/Solutions.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/Solutions.aspxhttp://www.top-consultant.com/http://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/Solutions.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/Solutions.aspxhttp://recruiters.top-consultant.com/UK/clientcentre/Solutions.aspxmailto:[email protected]:[email protected]8/6/2019 Top-Consultant 2011 Recruitment Channel Report
28/28
About our Sponsors: Huntswood
Weve always regarded Huntswood as one
o the most ambitious and orward-looking
recruitment rms serving the Management
Consultancy sector. Back in 2000 they were one
o the very rst companies to see the potential
o Top-Consultant.com to transorm the way
that recruiters would source candidates. Whilst
others were worrying about how online would
undermine their businesses, Huntswood were
ocused instead on how the new mediumwould allow them to better serve their clients.
A decade on, it is tting that Huntswood should
be the sponsors o our annual report assessing
trends within the management consultancy
recruitment market. Voted by candidates as
one o the Top 5 recruitment rms serving our
sector, Huntswood is one o the most enduring
and well known brands in the market andagain at the oreront o nding ways to use
the latest online platorms to better serve their
clients and candidates.
Find out more about Huntswood here.
http://www.huntswood.com/recruitment/ideally-placed.aspxhttp://www.huntswood.com/recruitment/ideally-placed.aspxhttp://www.huntswood.com/recruitment/ideally-placed.aspxhttp://www.top-consultant.com/uk/career/appointments.asp?sel_firm=43342http://www.top-consultant.com/http://www.huntswood.com/recruitment/ideally-placed.aspx