What is a Chief of Staff and when and why would you hire one?

Recruiting

Are you looking to hire a Chief of Staff? In this article Movemeon’s co-founder, Rich shed light on how this role can be different depending on the size of your organisation, what salary you need to pay and the most important thing to get right when hiring a Chief of Staff.

Rich movemeon headshot

Author
Movemeon Co-founder, Rich Rosser

The Chief of Staff role is a perfect fit for the consulting skill set. Beyond strategy & transformation teams, it’s a common home for consultants making their first job move out of consulting and into “industry”. It’s a role that can exist in everything from startups to multinationals to public sector organisations, and it’s very commonplace in Private Equity backed portfolio companies too.

Jump to:

  1. What alternative job titles are there for a Chief of Staff?
  2. Startups & scaleups – Why hire a Chief of Staff?
  3. Startups & scaleups – How much do they pay a Chief of Staff and what experience do they look for in candidates?
  4. Large organisations – Why do they hire a Chief of Staff?
  5. Large organisations – How much do they pay a Chief of Staff?
  6. What’s the most important thing in hiring the right Chief of Staff or accepting this position?

1. What alternative job titles are there for a Chief of Staff? 

The job title “Chief of Staff” is enough to put some people off hiring one. Let’s face it: the title is very vague, somewhat grandiose, and conjures up images of the West Wing. That’s why many organisations prefer to use a more descriptive job title, like “Right Hand to the CEO”, for the purpose of marketing this opportunity.

Plenty of larger organisations also have a “Right Hand to” for various senior team members, like the COO, CFO etc. In smaller organisations, the Chief of Staff can be a shared resource for the leadership team (rather than purely for the CEO / Founder). 

What alternative job titles are there for a “Chief of Staff” or “Right Hand to”? 

Other job titles I’ve seen used include: 

  • “Strategic Assistant to”
  • “CEO’s / Founder’s Associate”
  • “CEO Office Lead” / “Head of the CEO’s Office”

Equally, roles such as “Head of Special Projects” or “Head of Strategic Initiatives” tend to have very similar remits. In itself, the “Chief of Staff” job title tends only to be used in larger organisations (including the public sector).

Movemeon insight

The job title “Chief of Staff” is very vague, that’s why many organisations prefer to use a more descriptive job title, like “Right Hand to the CEO”.

2. Startups & scaleups – Why hire a Chief of Staff?

It has become very commonplace for a growing business to hire a Chief of Staff. In these types of startup businesses, the title “Right Hand to” or “Strategic Assistant to” is more widely used, particularly outside of the US (where Chief of Staff is more usual).

The main reason startups and scaleups hire a Chief of Staff is to give the CEO / Founder and senior leadership team more bandwidth. Typically, these organisations are not yet big enough (e.g, 25-250 people) for a fully-fledged strategy or transformation or special projects team. Therefore, the Chief of Staff fulfills that remit and typically, as the organisation grows, goes on to lead a larger team within a more established / formal organisational structure (commonly COO, Strategy & Innovation Director).

The main responsibility of the Chief of Staff is to take ownership of important projects that the members of the leadership team don’t have capacity to deliver, but are important enough to be on the CEO’s to-do list. These projects can range from researching new market entry, to creating organisational processes, to developing an early insights-type function. 

In smaller startups the CEO tends to do multiple roles as the team is not big enough to hire a dedicated COO / CFO / Head of Insight etc, and if there is a Co-Founder, they tend to be technical (i.e, focused on the product). So the Chief of Staff becomes a “mini me”, helping the CEO / Commercially Oriented Founder deliver across all these areas. Simply puts it doubles the CEO’s capacity.

Movemeon insight

The main reason startups & scaleups hire a Chief of Staff is to give the CEO / Founder and senior leadership team more bandwidth.

3. Startups & scaleups – How much do they pay a Chief of Staff and what experience do they look for in candidates?

Startups favour a more junior hire for Chief of Staff than larger organisations. In our experience of supporting 1,000s of startups hires through Movemeon, someone with ~2-5 years of consulting experience is what startup Founders and CEOs look for. 

In joining a startup, consultants are happy to make a sideways (or sometimes slight downwards) move in terms of basic salary. So, in the UK, the basic salary for a startup Chief of Staff is normally between £70,000 – £100,000, depending on the seniority desired.

Equity / options are very much expected for a Chief of Staff and the startups able to recruit the highest potential talent will have these in place. After all, the Chief of Staff often goes on to become a future leader as the business continues to grow (e.g, Commercial Director, Country Manager, Chief Strategy Officer etc).

Movemeon insight

Startups favour a more junior hire for Chief of Staff than larger organisations. In the UK, the basic salary for a startup Chief of Staff is normally between £70,000 – £100,000, depending on seniority desired.

4. Large organisations – Why do they hire a Chief of Staff?

In larger Private Equity-backed businesses, large domestic corporations and multinationals, the Chief of Staff role is typically aimed at a more senior candidate (although hiring for a more junior “strategic assistant” is not uncommon, perhaps in combination with a true “Chief of Staff”). While an element of “special projects” remains, a larger part of the role is to act on behalf of, or deputise for the CEO. The role involves a lot of stakeholder management of other senior colleagues and, as such, CEOs and other Execs hiring for a Chief of Staff typically seek candidates with ~7-15 years of experience.

In the largest organisations, the Chief of Staff will normally manage a team within the “CEO Office”, including analysts to support project delivery & research (to give the Chief of Staff bandwidth). It’s important to note that the Chief of Staff is not typically in charge of the CEO diary and there would be a separate Executive Assistant in that role (not to be confused with the “Strategic Assistant” – a common job title for a more junior Chief of Staff). 

Chief of Staff is normally a stepping stone role performed for 12-24 months before moving into a commercial or operational leadership position. In this way, and similar to how strategy teams can be used for talent acquisition, hiring a Chief of staff every 1-2 years is a way to create a pipeline of high potential “future leader” talent.

Movemeon insight

In large organisations, the Chief of Staff role is typically aimed at a more senior candidate. Hiring a Chief of staff every 1-2 years is a way to create a pipeline of high potential “future leader” talent.

5. Large organisations – how much do they pay a Chief of Staff?

Chief of Staff is not a role confined to the private sector, as it is also commonplace in other types of large organisations (e.g, government, public & charitable sectors). While pay may be lower within non-private-sector organisations, typically the annual basic salary for a Chief of Staff in the UK is between £120,000-175,000. The Chief of Staff would expect a performance bonus in line with other colleagues at the same seniority and to benefit from a long term incentive plan (as is common for leadership tiers within big businesses). 

Movemeon insight

Typically the annual basic salary for a Chief of Staff in the UK is between £120,000-175,000

6. What’s the most important thing in hiring the right Chief of Staff or accepting this position?

Here at Movemeon we support 100s of organisations in hiring a Chief of Staff or similar. We’re fortunate to have kept in touch with candidates and CEOs after they have started in the role and here’s a great summary from the horse’s mouth of the things to think about when hiring / interviewing. 

The piece of advice we are given more than any other is to make sure you get on well with the person you are hiring / CEO you’ll be working with. The nature of the role means that this is a very close working relationship. You’ll be spending lots of time together and in that environment any friction can quickly build into an extremely unhealthy working relationship. So take your time in the interview process, ask lots of questions and make sure you spend some “non interview” time together before making / accepting the job offer.

Movemeon insight

The nature of the Chief of Staff role means that this is a very close working relationship, make sure you get on well with the person you are hiring

Recruiting? Contact Movemeon for strategy and management professionals

Movemeon & Hnry join forces: providing automatic tax payments & lodgments for freelancers in ANZ

Your career

We’re really excited to announce a new partnership with Hnry to offer automated tax calculations, payments, and lodgments for Movemeon’s network of freelance consultants in Australia and New Zealand.

Movemeon members will be able to use Hnry’s app-based service, powered by a team of qualified accountants, that will take care of all the financial admin – including invoicing, expenses, payments, and tax payments – enabling them to get on with the job rather than having to fret about tax and compliance.

“As the world’s home of consulting and strategy talent, Movemeon has seen the popularity of freelance consulting skyrocket over recent years. But working for yourself comes with challenges such as tax and related admin that can be time-consuming and stressful.

So we’re excited to announce a partnership with Hnry, whose platform solves your tax headaches and ensures working as a sole trader has never been easier”.

– Peter Clifton-Smith, General Manager APAC, Movemeon

How Movemeon + Hnry makes your freelancing tax payments effortless

If you’re an ABN / NZBN sole trader, Hnry saves you both time and additional accountant fees – here’s what you get:

  • All your taxes calculated and paid automatically as you earn (Income Tax, GST, Medicare levies, and student loan)
  • All your are returns lodged by Hnry’s accountants (BAS and Income Tax returns)
  • Send unlimited quotes and invoices from the Hnry app
  • Raise deductions on the go (snap a photo of your receipt via the app)
  • Generate reports your on business’ financial performance

The thing that sets Hnry apart from either accounting software or using traditional accountants is they are the best of both worlds. Hnry is a digital tax accountant and the software smarts all in one solution.

As part of the service, the Hnry team of accountants lodge your income tax return – this includes any earnings from employee salary or various contract income sources, not just projects through Movemeon.

All of this is included in Hnry’s fee which is 1% of your initial payments from your clients, capped at $1500. No need for additional software or accountant fees. Nothing is too complicated for Hnry, even if you have crypto or shares and investment properties that require deductions.

‍“Most accounting software is just that – software. It requires you to pay for a separate accountant, maintain spreadsheets, and to spend precious time actively reconciling transactions and ‘doing’ taxes. With Hnry, that’s all done for you, and all included in our incredibly low fee.

Hnry is about helping independent earners get on with servicing their clients and growing their businesses, not getting bogged down with tax and financial admin. Given Movemeon’s network and innovative approach to helping freelance and independent consultants find work, we know there is a natural partnership between the two companies”.

– Karan Anand, Managing Director, Hnry Australia

‍To get started with Hnry and have confidence that you’re always up-to-date on your tax and reporting obligations, head to: https://hnry.com.au/au/movemeon/  

Are you thinking about freelancing? Here’s what to think about if you’re considering making the switch.

We spoke to Sidne about his career and exciting new role at Lufthansa Innovation Hub

Your career

In this interview, we spoke with candidate Sidne about his career path and his new unique role as Senior Business Development Manager at Lufthansa Innovation Hub in Singapore – which he found via Movemeon!

Please tell us a little about your career so far?

I started my career out in China working for an asset management company, following which I co-founded three companies based out of China. I had mixed success with these, but it taught me so much about business development, growing teams and working across the region. 

I then returned to Singapore and joined Grab (Asia’s super app!), where I led business development and partnerships, then two years ago I joined foodpanda where I managed key accounts and was responsible for a significant regional P&L.

You just found a new role with the help of Movemeon! What is the new role about and what excites you about the new opportunity?

I’ll be joining Lufthansa Innovation Hub which is the airline’s digital, innovation and venture capital unit. I’ll be helping to build out LIH’s Asia presence from our Singapore and Shanghai hubs, connecting with exciting startups and fostering partnerships in the travel and mobility tech ecosystem. In terms of career growth, this ticks every single box for me – business development, VC, startups, innovation. I’m super excited!

How did you come across the role with LIH?

The Movemeon APAC team reached out to me directly to highlight this role. Initially reading through it, I was intrigued by the name of the company and decided to investigate further, realising that they were not simply an aviation startup, which was my initial assumption. I’m glad I took that step and decided to apply straight away!

In your opinion, how does Movemeon differ from other platforms/agencies/channels?

I believe that traditional recruitment agencies tend to have a “fill the spaces” mentality, where candidates are simply commodities. I’ve genuinely found that from the first point of contact through to receiving the job offer, the Movemeon team has been extremely helpful and highly communicative and responsive. What you see in the space that’s quite common is the Recruiter “ghosting” the candidate at times, which is extremely unprofessional and a big gripe for many in the recruitment process. I have no doubt that should I not have gotten this role, the Movemeon team would have been equally communicative, and only wish to offer other roles that suit my profile.

Seems to me as well that Movemeon connects candidates with jobs that are out of the norm, focusing largely on fast-growing startups that many candidates wouldn’t even have heard of (like in my case). There’s a vast array of companies out there looking for hires, and awareness is everything, in order to match the right candidate to said companies.

What advice would you give to other Movemeon candidates?

I would be clear in the profile setup on exactly what geographies/ salary range/ skillsets you bring to the table, and let their algorithm work naturally. I’m still receiving many interesting job opportunities pushed to my inbox from Movemeon, many of which are intriguing!

Are you ready for a career change? Click here to become a member of the largest community for consultants and alumni.

From consulting to startups – Dan talks about leaving Bain to join Migo

Your career

We spoke to Dan Connor, who recently hired a Chief of Staff and Director of Growth & Business Development for his team through Movemeon, about his career journey. In this article, Dan, CEO at Migo Indonesia and ex-Bain, shares his experience leaving consulting to join a startup.

Tell us a bit about your early career journey, Dan! 

After completing my Masters degree in politics, I actually had my eye on joining the State Department. I had a job lined up in the USA, but I decided to put it on hold and take some time out and work in Asia, to get that notch on my belt and broaden my horizons a little. 

So I joined Bain in Singapore, expecting it to be a 18-month to 2-year type thing. But I really enjoyed the challenge of consulting, as well as working in Asia, so when I asked to help found Bain’s Jakarta office in 2013, I felt it was an awesome opportunity that I just couldn’t turn down. I was proud to be one of the first five employees for Bain in Indonesia, which I believe is now a team of 70-80 consultants. 

So I guess you can say I was really bitten by the Asia bug. I also learned Bahasa Indonesia and some basic Chinese along the way. 

What was it about working in Indonesia in particular that really grabbed you?

I think ultimately it was about being able to have the most impact and getting up close to the really fundamental issues. As a consultant in Singapore, we’d often (not always) be helping more mature, stable businesses optimise for performance gains. 

Whereas in Indonesia, we were helping our clients grapple with fundamental growth opportunities and the various challenges to navigate. I could really tangibly see and feel the impact we were having, working with really senior decision-makers. 

So talk us through the next phase – leaving Bain and joining Migo.

It was in 2018 when I was thinking about my next step out of Bain. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, but I knew that I chafe at existing systems that don’t make sense – much better to help build something new, effective and fit-for-purpose. Not to mention an opportunity to help launch something much bigger, not just doing the optimising and refining thing. 

Furthermore, I’d always been more interested in companies that make products and services for the mass market, rather than those which look to target the top 5-10% of consumers. 

I had done a bit of work in the telco space while at Bain. Once I heard about Migo and its mission to make a difference to the 90% of Indonesians who have limited internet access, I knew this was a pretty special opportunity.

Migo had done tech trials at that stage, and was ready with the first iteration of our solution, but needed someone to come in as Indonesia CEO to drive our go-to-market and scale the team. So right on three years ago, I joined Migo and have loved being part of this great ride. 

Tell us a bit more about Migo?

For the majority of people living in emerging markets, the promise of high-speed internet is a pipe dream. They have limited cellular data budgets and no wireline internet. Their access to data is limited to the most basic functionality. They are not able to participate in the rich data experience of the few who have real-time access to virtually any service at their fingertips.

Migo levels the digital playing field for 3 billion consumers by bringing the best bits of the internet to the corner store. We offer affordable access to Entertainment, Education, Financial Services, and other digital products and services through a disruptive tech solution that delivers data up to 100 times cheaper than existing networks. 

What’s the trajectory for Migo from here?

It’s been such a great growth story. In two years we’ve built a team from scratch to 200+ people across 4 offices in the country, and we have 1,200 locations across Java. In April we welcomed our one millionth customer in Indonesia, and we’ve attracted multiple rounds of investment from Temasek and leading VC firms along the way. 

We’ll continue to focus on our rollout across Indonesia, while in parallel we are actively looking at other markets in the region where we see huge opportunities for our offering. 

What kind of advice would you give to consultants keen to make the jump into a startup?

Bear in mind that startup life isn’t necessarily going to be all about super-intellectual problem solving, every day, like it is in consulting. Ultimately, it’s about getting your hands dirty, grappling with multiple problems and challenges (and opportunities) quickly and efficiently. You will use your consulting toolkit, but you’ll need to make trade-offs and make decisions rapidly. 

How did you get to know Movemeon?

I think I first heard about Movemeon through the Bain grapevine. I signed up as I was interested in picking up freelance projects while I was looking around for a new challenge. 

It was great to be able to keep an eye on the market for permanent jobs as well as interesting freelance projects. I really liked that I could keep the net super wide across different geographies and role types, but the alerts and jobs highlighted through Movemeon were always relevant, so I wasn’t wasting my time sifting through other channels or platforms.

And we’re thrilled that you’ve recently made some hires through Movemeon!

Yes! I’m happy to have been able to leverage Movemeon to find a great Chief of Staff and Director of Growth & Business Development for my team. 

I’ve been super happy about the quality of candidates that Movemeon have been able to connect us with. Movemeon is proving a great partner as we scale: they can obviously support across Asia-Pacific, but the ability to cover both permanent hires and contract resources is particularly helpful. 

Thanks, Dan for your time and all the best for continued success at Migo!

At Movemeon, we connect (ex)consultants and freelancers with job opportunities, advice & events. 
Register now to view and apply to jobs, for insider advice & networking/industry events.

Recruiting? Contact Movemeon for strategy and management professionals

Strategy recruitment post-Covid – Win the war for strategy and management talent

Recruiting

How have consulting firms changed their employer value propositions (e.g, salary, work-life balance etc) following COVID-19? And – based on Movemeon’s data – what does this mean for employers of all types (from startups to corporates to consulting firms themselves) trying to recruit strategy and management consulting trained professionals in 2022?

Movemeon’s co-founder, Rich answers these questions below and looks into Movemeon’s data & experience supporting 4,000+ organisations and 60,000 professionals in strategy & transformation recruitment.

Jump to:

  1. Why did COVID-19 create a perfect storm for consulting firms?
  2. What impact did this perfect storm have on the consulting workforce?
  3. How the Great Resignation impacted consulting firms & strategy recruitment…
  4. How did consulting firms respond in order to retain their talent?
  5. Why does the freelance consulting market matter?
  6. How can you win the war for strategy recruitment in 2022?
Rich Rosser Movemeon co-founder

Author
Movemeon Co-founder, Rich Rosser

Why did COVID-19 create a perfect storm for consulting firms?

I remember April 2020 vividly – it felt like tumbleweed was blowing through our office (well, as I was working from home, it may well have been). Our monthly revenue fell 90%, as every employer around the world focused on getting their workforces set up to work effectively from home.

Fast forward 3 months to July and we were the busiest we’d ever been. Some sectors were benefiting from COVID-19 and two of these rely on Movemeon for support: tech businesses and consulting firms.

  1. Firstly, they say that consulting firms win in any economy. When everything’s growing, companies need support growing even faster. When there are problems, they ask for help to address them. Covid was a very big problem for many and a growth super-turbo-charger for some. 

  2. Secondly, Private Equity funds (one of the consulting industry’s mainstay client groups) pounced through the latter part of 2020 and into 2021. The COVID-19 pause of Q1 and Q2 had built up even more dry powder and the economy had created some new buying opportunities.

Naturally, the flood gates opened and consulting firms were inundated with due diligence work.

What impact did this perfect storm have on the consulting workforce?

Compared to some other careers that consultants will have considered (e.g. financial services), consulting has never been well paid (particularly from Analyst to Manager level).

Movemeon surveyed consultants as to why they joined consulting firms, the main reasons are:

  1. Variety of work
  2. Travel opportunities
  3. Learning from inspiring colleagues

During 2020, each of the main reasons for joining a consulting firm was either totally removed (travel) or substantially chipped away.

Let’s face it, while we’ve all learned to live with Zoom calls, when it comes to learning and getting energy from your colleagues, it doesn’t come anywhere near being in an office around a whiteboard with your team.

The consultants of late 2020 were stuck at home, working even longer hours (there was LOTS of work) and generally doing less varied work. Some projects are impossible to do well if not at a client site; oh and there was all that well-paying PE due diligence work to get through too…

Cue the Great Resignation…

Yes, there were pull factors at play; many of us took COVID-19 as an opportunity to reassess what was important and kick-start a career pivot. However, if you were consulting at the time, the push factors covered above were very hard to ignore. 

There was arguably no other sector more affected by the “Great Resignation” than professional services

All the while, plenty of attractive companies (e.g. e-commerce) were growing like wildfire and recruiting consulting-trained professionals.

Through platforms like Movemeon, the freelance consulting market had boomed and become more accessible than ever. Also, consultants typically make ~3x the day rate when working for themselves.

How did consulting firms respond?

There was no better time than late 2020 to recruit out of consulting firms into roles like strategy, inights, Chief of Staff, transformation, commercial management and other classic post-consulting homes. Or more smaller consulting firms to attract people from the larger ones. Sadly, those days were short-lived.

Consultancies are only as good as their people. So, you guessed it, they weren’t going to sit back and let their talent walk out the door without a fight.

It’s been widely discussed that one US strategy consulting firm changed their pay at below Partner level three times during 2021. While that may be at the far end of the spectrum, compensation at consulting firms was drastically reviewed during the course of that year. Much of this was planned (i.e, during the standard annual review cycle).

However, an astonishing 40% of consultants reported via a Movemeon poll that they’d also been given an ad hoc pay increase of some description (e.g, salary rise and “thank you” bonus) during the 6 months leading up to the end of 2021.

Consulting firms addressed compensation, and also took a long hard look at their wider employer value proposition. 

  1. Firstly, travel & client site work came back online, but in a more flexible way. Everyone, consulting firms and also their clients, accepted that working from home was as productive, if not more productive, for certain “focus” tasks, like building a model. This change was particularly welcomed by the Manager to Associate Partner cohort, who widely appreciate being closer to home (this is most typically the demographic with young families). 

  2. Secondly, more and more firms adopted flexible working policies – in particular permitting staff to take a period of extended leave (e.g, up to 4 weeks) per year. Logistically, this is easier for consulting firms than most businesses as the work is project-based.

Why does the freelance consulting market matter?

Not only did consulting firms improve their employer value propositions, but more and more organisations looked to benefit from the “professional gig economy”.

Businesses were facing unique opportunities/challenges and needed to solve them with particular expertise they wouldn’t need forever. Other companies in highly growing segments, and also consulting firms themselves, had so much to do that they looked to the freelance consulting workforce, via services like Movemeon, in order to rapidly increase their workforce capacity.

So put yourself in the shoes of a consultant: my current employer has really upped their game, and this new option to safely try self-employment and earn lucratively has also emerged.

What does this mean if you’re looking to hire consulting-trained talent in 2022?

Fortunately, recruiting people with a consulting background is still perfectly possible.

  • Large businesses – Consulting trained talent fits neatly into strategy, transformation and CEO office teams.

  • PE-backed portfolio companies – They are equally famous for joining on a growth/transformation journey, filling mid-senior roles (e.g, Chief of Staff, Transformation/Strategic Initiatives Director) or bringing freelance consulting expertise or horsepower.

  • Startups and scaleups – The third common home, relying on the consulting skill set (often honed outside of consulting in another startup first) to fill General/Country Manager roles, COO, Right Hand to CEO, and so forth.

  • Consulting firms – last but not least, around 25% of consultants looking to make a job move are seeking to stay in or return to consulting.


How to attract consultants requires more focus than ever.

In terms of compensation, fortunately, it’s a small minority of consultants who are looking for a large pay increase when leaving consulting, and they largely focus on joining PE funds. Our data shows that the great majority of consultants are happy to make a sideways move in terms of pay.

However, following that logic, the reality is that you will need to pay higher salaries than would have worked even 6-9 months ago. 

The big plus is that the main reasons (according to the 60,000 Movemeon users) that make consultants want to leave (and they often have gone into consulting always planning to leave) or leave their current consulting firm in search of a new one, have not been changed by COVID-19 or consulting firms’ EVP revamps.

  1. Work-life balance. Let’s face it, very few people enjoy working 60+ hours a week and often on the weekend. But that is the reality still for a lot of consultants.

    So what? If you’re a company – and I very much include consulting firms here – with a more sustainable workload, it’s important to highlight that in your job description.

    Nobody ambitious resents working hard and rarely are consultants seeking a pure 9 to 5, but some consulting takes that to an extreme.

  2. Start doing, stop advising. Coming in a narrow second behind working hours, the main reason to leave consulting firms is to be able to describe to your grandmother what you do and who you work for.

    Tired of PPT decks sitting on shelves getting dusty, consultants want to be closer to – and often in startup and scaleup roles directly responsible for – getting stuff done. They seek the kick of seeing the results of their labours.

Also, this changes slightly depending on the type of company you’re recruiting into:

  • Corporate firms, it’s vital to show consultants a career path into and then out of the classic post-consulting strategy/transformation teams that you will recruit them into. Some consultants will be happy to stay there (don’t worry), but the majority will need it to be an 18-36month stepping stone into a more “operational/commercial” role. The most successful recruiters talk openly about strategy, transformation, internal consulting and Chief of Staff / CEO Office teams being a talent pipeline and can showcase various people across the business who have proven that to be the case.

  • Consulting firms, many previously pure “strategy” firms have added capabilities for implementation. This can often be overlooked as a conversation to have with someone who may be looking to leave. Equally, many strategy firms are thinking about flexing up and down their capacity and using the newly expanded freelance workforce to do that, while often in-so-doing, adding to their diversity (e.g, this option is particularly favoured by parents who wish to pick and choose work to accommodate school holidays).

  • Startups & scaleups, these top 2 reasons for leaving consulting – work-life balance and “doing not just thinking” – really play into your hands. Don’t be scared about consultants who haven’t been in a startup before. They are typically fast learners and just because their job to date hasn’t given them the opportunity to “do”, doesn’t mean that they can’t.
    If you can demonstrate the market potential, seasoned former consultants who also have startup experience will relish the opportunity of a senior role making that growth happen. 

Recruiting? Contact Movemeon for strategy and management professionals