Your career
There are many reasons why one would want to leave consulting. And although there are many perks of life outside of consulting, and many other career paths to follow. There are also benefits from staying, which we will highlight below.
SKILLS AND DEVELOPMENT
Consulting skills are extremely transferable. You work with some of the most capable people in the business. The skills you develop are highly sought-after in the job market. These are one of the most attractive aspects of following a career in consultancy.
In consulting, there are also many benefits in learning professional management skills and technical skills in a quick turnover period. Being able to see a lot of different corporate operating environments before going straight into what you want to do is a huge perk. The additional reference points are great perspectives to know what good/bad look can look like. Consulting can also train people well from a comms and upwards / downwards / self-management perspective that sometimes the lack of structure in tech may not provide to the same degree. Many have had a great experience transitioning from consulting to tech.
If you choose to stay in consulting, you also learn tangible business semi-basics (valuation, strategy, financial modelling…) – which is highly relevant in the UK where newly graduated candidates from all degrees can enter consulting. These transferable skills remain as sought after as they ever were.
COMPENSATION
The average senior analyst-level salary in a large consultancy is £52k. If you are a consultant with McKinsey, Bain or BCG, that number is even higher – closer to £60k. If you stay in consulting for most of your career, your pay will gradually increase to over £150k at director level (and over £250k at the same level in McKinsey, Bain or BCG).
In general, consulting earnings are £45-270k, depending on seniority and the type of consulting firm. At junior levels, corporates and consultancies pay better than start-ups. However, the opposite is true at senior levels in a popular industry for ex-consultants such as start-ups. This is driven by the value of equity. Up to Manager level, consulting pay exceeds corporate and start-up pay; eclipsed only by private equity.
Start-ups and scale-ups, for example, have become very popular destinations for consultants to move to. On movemeon growth stage start-ups receiving 24.59% of applications. Although this is a popular option, start-ups are unable to afford to pay the best salaries to ex-consultants. So the pay advantage of staying in consulting is even starker at junior levels than compared to corporates. At Manager level, for instance, pay in start-ups lags consulting by 20%.
FAST TRACK PROGRESSION
Despite the rise in huge tech brands, consulting still remains a fast-track. And certain brands in particular (in a similar fashion to the university/school you attended) are a rubber stamp of calibre. After many years in consulting, you are sought after for opportunities that wouldn’t be thought suitable for those with only a few years of experience elsewhere. Former management consultants can potentially make great CEOs and senior leaders.
If you choose to stay in consulting, you are in a good position to start planning your next move well in advance. Most reputable headhunters are always happy to speak to good candidates even if it’s just to establish a connection or to learn about the market. Look for people who have been working in the sector for a long time and understand the landscape well.
A GREAT CAREER IN ITSELF
Consulting is a great career to follow and develop in. Yes, the majority of people use it as a stepping stone ‘into the industry’, but for many, it becomes a lifelong pursuit. And there are lots to recommend it: the variety of interesting problems to solve, super smart colleagues, travel, constant interaction with (often new) people – clients or colleagues. Our co-founder Rich says “I look back very fondly on my McKinsey days. I worked with great people, travelled the world and learnt a lot – all in a few years! However, given the opportunities on offer, if I had my time again, I’d make sure I got even more out of it.”
Recruiting
Freelance V. Perm – Here is our detailed analysis of the pay comparison between freelance and permanent employees.
Focusing only on day rates, the gap between freelance and permanent pay can look quite large, even if this gap tends to decrease with seniority. However, hiring permanent employees implies hidden costs that need to be considered.
Speak to us or email: [email protected] and we’ll support you through your hiring project.
- Pay comparison: freelance v. permanent
- Data source: 34,945 aggregated, anonymised movemeon.com & payspective.com responses
National insurance & pension contributions
National insurance and pension contributions from the employer represent permanent employee costs that are usually not considered as high as they really are. In value, these contributions represent more than 10% of the total annual compensation for permanent employees.
These costs don’t exist when you hire a freelancer.
The effective number of working days
One of the main differences between freelance and permanent employees is that you pay freelancers based on the actual number of days they work on your project. When it comes to permanent hires, it’s a bit different. You have to consider sick days, paid holidays, bank holidays or even weekends. There are 260 weekdays per year but a permanent employee, on average, will work only 223 days.
Taking this into consideration, the effective average day rate for a permanent employee is £411.
Onboarding and offboarding
You’ll invest more time in the onboarding process for a permanent employee. Also, you’ll have to consider training costs. Because you hire freelancers for their expertise, onboarding will take you less time. A freelancer will be ready to work as efficiently as possible faster than a permanent employee.
Regarding offboarding: freelance contracts can be ended with little to no notice. There are a number of reasons why you may need to let people go. Termination of permanent employment brings costs that don’t apply to freelancers. Hiring freelancers also mean hiring at a lower risk, knowing sunk costs will be minimal if the contract has to be ended.
Time to hire
Freelancers can be hired much faster than permanent employees. Recruiting for a freelancer can take just a few days on Movemeon. Freelance interview processes are generally fast as hiring managers are focused purely on competency, not team fit. In contrast, recruiting for a permanent employee takes a number of months. During this time, businesses may suffer simply because there is nobody in the role. Simply put, there is an opportunity cost to the business.
Looking for freelancers and need some more info?
Recruiting
We’ve written a check-list of what all great jobs descriptions should include. If there’s one tip that will help throughout this section, it’s the first rule of good marketing: always say what the other companies can’t.
Don’t describe a job – sell it!
This is always hard. However, our first advice is to scrap the internal job description.
Job descriptions have traditionally been exactly that – a description. They’re used within a company so that everyone understands what each role does. Or, more cynically, so the business can approve the budget for a hire.
This is absolutely fine when they’re being used in that context. However, there are a number of issues when these documents are used for recruitment! They are often rather hard to understand, with lots of internal company jargon and acronyms. They also miss the simple stuff – what the company does; who the team report to; who’s in the team etc.
The recruitment marketplace is like any other – you need to market your product according to what your customer wants to see. This isn’t hard – every company knows how to sell itself. It’s just ensuring all the basics are there. As such, we’ve produced a check-list that every great job description should have.
The must-haves of any great job description
The hook
What: One sentence that sells the role.
How: Say what others can’t. For start-ups, this is usually how much funding you’ve got, or who your backers are. For corporates, this is growth figures or an idea of how many people use your product.
The sell story
What: A paragraph to elaborate, and further explain, the “hook”. It should also explain why the role is great for ex-consultants.
How: Use the “hook” as an initial prompt – elaborate on each point you made there with a couple of sentences. In startups, talk about funding and traction (e.g., number of users; growth etc.). With corporates, this is the chance to explain why this role is so exciting – if you’ve sold them on P&L ownership, explain how they are going to have real responsibility to make a change. There should always be a few sentences at the end about progression and development: consultants are driven and will want to understand what this role will hold for them over the next few years. Don’t forget, the most common things consultants are looking for are ownership and being able to make a change.
The company
What: A couple of paragraphs explaining what the company does and why it’s great.
How: This is the easy bit. Your company has sold itself (or it’s product) to countless customers. Use a consumer-focused explanation of what makes your company, service or product great. If the company is growing fast, shout about it; mention a few recent accolades. If not, paint the picture on why this is going to be an exciting transformation that people will talk about for years.
The team/company culture
What: The most important part of any job is the team you work with. However, this is the section that is most often missing! A simple description of the team, who they report to and in particular any similar backgrounds (i.e., consulting alumni).
How: Describe who’s in the team currently, and what the purpose of the team/ role is to the business. It’s always helpful to understand who leads the team, who they report to (i.e., reporting into CEO) and their background (e.g., led by ex-BCG partner). It’s always worth highlighting any consulting alumni in the team – these are brands consultants will understand! Finally, don’t forget to describe your culture: what sets you apart (i.e., analytics-driven; Nando’s lunch every Friday!)
The job
What: A further description of the purpose of the role in the business, and an idea of what they’ll actually be doing.
How: A short paragraph to explain the background to the role. Don’t forget, you’re marketing the role – so explain what’s great (especially for an ex-consultant). We then suggest a bullet point list of 4-6 things that the job is responsible for. Any more is too much detail; too few won’t give an accurate picture of what is involved.
The requirements
What: The non-negotiable elements that all candidates must have to apply for the role.
How: Be clear on what the candidates need to have, to apply for the role. We normally suggest not to be too prescriptive, but to be very clear on what you can’t negotiate on: it sometimes helps to split the list into required and useful.
The practicalities
What: Salary banding for the role; whether you can sponsor applicants
How: When you’re a candidate looking at a number of jobs, they all look rather similar. As such, deciphering whether you’re the right level of seniority or whether they’d be interested in you, is extremely hard. Using simple things like salary bandings make a huge difference in the quality of applications you are likely to receive. So we strongly advocate putting a range down – this is non-committal and broad; it just helps to give an idea to potential candidates of who your pitching the role at. We have also found the ability to sponsor candidates, greatly widens your potential pool of talent – the process is very simple, so if you’re focused on getting the best, make sure you check with HR if you can sponsor applicants!
By adding a salary range to your role, candidates can accurately determine if the role is a genuine “fit” for them. Something that is increasingly hard given job title inflation. This helps to overcome the “it’s probably not for me” psyche, as well as reducing inappropriate applications.
The team at movemeon goes through every job posted and offers detailed feedback based on above. We realise someone with fresh, independent eyes, can often help in their curation! It’s all part of the service… so why not post today.
Your career
How to get an interviewer to like you – The interviewer, a potential future colleague, after all, is simply looking to answer the question: do I get on with, and can I see myself enjoying working with, this person?
Once you’ve been asked to interview, you can rest assured that the interviewer is confident that you have the right experience, skills and qualifications to do the job. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have invited you in (they have read your CV and cover letter after all).
Yes, there might be a few “skills” boxes to tick (a case study in a management consulting interview for instance) – but these should be well within your comfort zone given your experience, skills and qualifications. The interviewer will want to get them out of the way quickly and tick that box on their interview sheet.
Much more important to an interviewer is whether or not they warm to you as a person. So try to be yourself and direct the conversation (for at least a small part of the interview) to personal interests, family etc. You’ll likely find some common ground (same interest, same age of kids, live/holiday in the same area) to talk about. The result of this is that you’ll relax and the interviewer will also feel comfortable in your presence.
An important point that’s easy to miss is that: if you don’t get on with the interviewer, it’s worth reassessing whether your personality is a good fit for that company. To many people, the most important aspect of a job is working with people that they get on with – so if you didn’t click with the interviewer but are offered the job, ask to go back to meet them again and also to meet some colleagues so that you can get a better feel for the company culture.
We recently read the following article suggesting 3 ways to build rapport and ace the interview. We’ve highlighted in bold bits we think are particularly useful.
People hire people they like
While your skills and experience are important elements to securing a job offer, just as important is your ability to build rapport that is natural and engaging with your interviewer. The rapport you establish during an interview can greatly impact the impression you leave behind.
Building rapport occurs in many ways. In addition to having subject matter that you both can relate to, it is also very much about body language. The handshake you offer when you first meet your contact, how you stand and sit, your facial expression and eye contact, to where you place your arms, hands, legs and feet is all part of body language to help establish the confident and engaged impression you want to leave with the interviewer. The more engaged you are and the more similarities the interviewer sees in terms of your body language, the easier it is to establish rapport.
Effectively building rapport is what gives many candidates the leg-up in the company’s interview process. Even if the candidate does not have as much experience as another candidate, he is seen as more favourable because he’s been able to connect with the interviewer in a way that is more relatable and can be seen as fitting along with the rest of the people at the company. Those who do the hiring want to know that the candidate is someone they themselves would enjoy working with.
Ace your interviews by applying confident and positive body language with relevant topics that help build effective rapport. You will come out of the interview leaving your contact with the best possible impression for consideration to a job offer.
Topics of relevance to help build rapport during an interview
- Current events on the company and/or industry: Before you go in for an interview, look over the company’s website for news events. Most company websites have a section with press releases. Did the company just sign a significant partnership, bring in a key individual from the industry or launch a new product? These are topics that can help build rapport and show you are on top of what’s going on at the company or industry. It shows you have a sincere interest in the company.
- Challenges of the position and challenges the company faces: Asking questions about challenges and then turning around the discussion to clearly point out how you may have experience handling the issues is an easy way to show your contact that you have a desire to learn, face problems and bring solutions.
- Information about your contact: Establishing small talk with your interviewer may be done by asking questions such how she came to work for the company or her experience with particular projects. If you are conducting an interview in your interviewer’s office, take note of any family photos showing children or locations you may relate you. You may draw up small talk simply by commenting on the beautiful smiles of the children in the photo, asking how old they are, and sharing information on the age of children you may have of your own. You can also ask if a photo was taken at a certain destination and add comment on how it relates to you – whether it’s your hometown or if you went on vacation there recently. Small talk is a time where an interviewer can get a better feel for your personality and a chance to establish a stronger bond by showing how you two may have similarities. Many questions during the interview may be standard and seem a bit rehearsed, so slightly stray from the norm with small talk during the earlier part or latter part of the interview.
There’s generally a clear sense of what is expected out of an interview. The employer wants to know how serious you are about this opportunity by your preparedness for the interview and what you can offer to the company through your skills and experience. Now, just let them know you are someone who can work well with the team and you will be on the right path to acing the interview.
Your career
We met Nika on Monday in central London for a drink after work. We were interested to find out what a fellow Warwick graduate and a new Googler made of the world post-consulting. We chatted about their time at Morrisons Online and how it compared to their role at Accenture and, of course, how is working for Google now
Nika’s story gives some important lessons on how to maximize your development post advisory:
Why did you decide to leave consulting?
I wanted a new challenge and to further develop my expertise in analytics and digital. It was daunting to search for jobs with so many job boards to plough through and recruitment agencies constantly hassling you. I wasn’t sure who was hiring consultants and where I should start looking. A friend in consulting recommended using Movemeon because of its’ niche focus on jobs that require a consulting background. Movemeon was the ideal solution, no-one was hunting me down and putting me forward for roles I had no interest in – it was all driven by me. I applied for roles I liked and had control over the process. I was after this hands-off approach (yet I knew if I wanted to get in touch with someone from Movemeon I could) so this felt like a perfect fit. The application was really straightforward too and I heard back from the employer promptly. This is how I landed my first job out of consulting at Morrisons Online.
How was the transition to Morrisons Online?
I loved working at Morrisons Online! I am very much a ‘yes’ person when it comes to new opportunities so it was great fun just diving in. I wanted to work in digital so being there when Morrisons Online was just launching was incredible. In a way, it felt like I was working for a start-up; the vibe was really exciting and the culture really fitted my personality.
We were starting from scratch, which meant we had to build everything from the grounds up for our analyses and analytical modelling. We were all new, figuring it out and verifying our hypotheses as we went. It was a crash course on how to run a new business – we had to be creative and learn on the job. Looking back at it, it was absolutely the right opportunity to take on after consulting. My team was great and I am still friends with them now (we used Movemeon to recruit into our team due to the positive experience we personally had with it).
What are the differences between working in a consultancy and in industry?
In consulting, you work on so many different projects, especially when you are junior. At Morrisons, I had to become an expert in my area very quickly. I also did not travel that much but that was actually quite nice. I had time to see my friends instead of spending the weekend doing laundry! I’d say consulting is definitely the best first job after finishing university. You learn the skills we now take for granted like work ethic, managing expectations, time management, learning to fail and learning from your mistakes with the safety net of a big company with all the resources you could want in order for you to develop.
How does Google compare to all your experience up to date?
Working in Google is incredibly collaborative. They make it really easy for you to work too; the tech always works and you have all the equipment you need so you can focus on the core of your job. You can call on experts as and when you need which allows you to move fast and really get things done.
I work on conducting analyses and insights for FMCG brands, to help them develop their digital marketing strategies. We try to understand and make sense of online customer journeys and behaviours. I get very undefined problems and briefs and try to make sense of what is actually happening in order to answer how these problems can be tackled. Of course, it is challenging, but that is what I am after! My immediate team is 7 people, but the hierarchy is flat. I really like Google’s ethos around learning and failing fast. It’s about innovating and always trying new things, and if something is not working, then it’s just about moving on to the next solution quickly.
Any tips for our members thinking about moving on from consulting?
1. Choose your manager well – make sure they are someone you want to learn from, and someone who is willing to teach you. Be honest with yourself around what you need and want, and look for a manager who can teach and inspire you to achieve that.
2. I keep an open mind when it comes to opportunities and disregard any preconceived notions you may have. Try as many new things as possible early on in your career, because you never know what you’ll end up enjoying or where your unique skills lie. I spent a lot of time resisting projects in the public sector at Accenture, and they ended up being the most rewarding and enjoyable ones while I worked there. I also recommend to get involved in as many projects as possible – your workload will be crazy, but your learning trajectory will be greatly expedited, take a look at this article to find out how to discover the best opportunities for you
3. Choose jobs according to your potential – you can always learn as you go. The great thing about consulting is that you gain the skills to learn and adapt quickly.
4. Learn by discussing your ideas and theories with your colleagues. I keep checking-in and comparing the way we each think about a problem and often that leads to the most fruitful outcomes.
5. Make a decision and commit to it 100%. This is the way you give yourself the best chance of succeeding (and other opportunities will follow).
6. Make sure you like what you do and don’t take that for granted.
What was best about each company?
I loved that I was surrounded by my peers at Accenture – moving down to London and starting a first job post-uni is made a lot less terrifying that way. Everyone was the same age, figuring it out and making similar mistakes. We had a lot of resources and knew where to go for help. Morrisons was a great business crash course and perfect for developing expertise. At Google, it’s about growing this expertise further and working on a wider variety of problems as you help your clients navigate the intricacies of digital consumers, and just learning as you go. Consulting was a lot more high level whereas at Morrisons and Google I get my hands dirty. Sometimes we have to improvise and move on to the next thing. When it comes to life/work balance the busy periods oscillate with every job – as I grow more experienced I am learning to enjoy the periods between projects and really recharge. At the end of the day, it is your responsibility (and privilege!) to make sure that you are working the way you like and want.
How does one land a job at Google?
It’s about doing all your prep, and then hoping everything works out on the day. I had 5 sets of interviews with 7 different people. They want to understand the way you think and if you fit into the team. Despite the stories you hear, there are no trick questions where someone is trying to catch you out. They were all fair questions which relate to the job, your experience and leadership, and a cultural fit. And everyone was really friendly and responsive throughout the process.
We have a number of interviews with ex-consultants, click here to have a look at some of our most recent inside view based articles.
