No matter what stage we find ourselves at, we all have thought about career change at some point in our careers. At the same time, this is a daunting topic as it will impact all areas of your life. Whether you are 30 and looking to buy a property or in your 50s preparing to save for retirement, career change is a serious decision. We understand this change can be scary and so big it’s actually stressful to even start thinking about it.
That’s the reason why we have compiled our best tips on this page and in an ongoing series of articles. Our aim is to help you understand what a career change involves, and how to approach it strategically. We also want to guide you through the process. From browsing jobs to the final stage of interviewing for your dream job, we’ll be there. Below, you will find a high-level exploration of your most frequently asked questions, and a list of useful resources we have created to help you. Please note that this page will be updated regularly to keep up to date with the latest changes to the job market. So make sure to subscribe to our monthly newsletter to receive any updates straight into your inbox:
Before engaging in a career change, it’s great to take some time to reflect on yourself. First and foremost, do you know the difference between a job change and a career change? And which one is the right option for you? A job change is when you use your skills and experience to apply to a different industry (or a different company). Whereas a career change is when you look to develop new skills in order to join a completely different industry and job type. Most people who go for a career change will usually look to get training to work in an industry they are passionate about. For instance, take a course in Python to develop your coding skills to work in Tech, or research trends in philanthropy to join an NGO.
You might also hear about career transition. This is essentially the exact same thing as a career change, but also encompasses the process that happens before the actual change. On the other hand, career advancement is quite different as it refers to when you move upward the career ladder. If you are an Analyst and get a promotion or a new job to Manager level, we can speak of career progression or advancement. More often than not, career changers do not experience a progression in seniority as they tend to start this new career from scratch.
Once you have figured out that what you want to do is change careers, you need to find out what career would make you happy. It’s quite easy to think we’d love to be a lawyer, a human rights advocate, or a game developer. But taking the leap to actually become one is a whole different story. The idea might sound attractive, but how can you find out what career would actually fulfil you? That’s when having some experience as a consultant can come in handy. You will have worked on a range of projects with varied clients, and it gave you a glimpse of different industries’ day-to-day.
Pros and Cons of a Career Change
Changing careers is personal – what might be a positive for you might be a deterrent factor for another. For this reason, we decided against listing the pros and cons of a career change. Instead, we answer the three main questions that will help you figure out the balance between pros and cons.
Is it worth it?
The main question to ask yourself is to know whether all your work and efforts will pay off. This is the biggest question and the one that’s the hardest to give a definite answer to. First of all, we only tend to see something as worth it once it’s done. Secondly, this will depend on the change you’re operating and the socio-economic conditions.
However, career changers seem to confirm that this change was the best thing they could have done. They all agree that this was the best thing they could’ve done both professionally and personally. There is a tendency to confess changing careers was not easy and took a long time. It involves some self-sacrifice, but it is all made worth it by global satisfaction in the end. People who changed careers and wish they hadn’t tend to confess a lack of organisation and forecasting before actually taking the leap. Read on below to make sure you prepare as best as you can.
What about my finances?
You need to consider financial implications when you’re thinking of leaving consulting or your current industry. Most of the time when changing careers, you will need to take a step down in responsibility and compensation. You need to ensure that you can sustain your current lifestyle with a lower salary. If not you can use the job-hunting period to revise certain costly habits that you can put on hold for the next year or so. In the meantime, you can progress in your new career and get back to a similar compensation level. Or stick to your new habits if you found them better!
If you quit your current role without anything lined up yet, then you need to prepare even more. You need to make sure you have enough savings to pay all your bills/mortgage/etc. whilst you’re job hunting. It takes on average between 6 and 12 months to find a new role. So the best is to plan how much money you would need to go on for a year without a salary. You can use this period when you’re saving up to prepare for the other aspects of your job change, like upskilling, volunteering, etc.
But perhaps you’re really unsure of your finances, or you’re not in a position where you can take any risk. Then you can consider offering your expertise as a freelance consultant. Going freelance is a relatively easy career change that actually pays well. You can either work on a project for a couple of months or also fill an interim position. The latter would last longer and compensation would be similar to that of a permanent position
Because changing careers can be such a long process, it’s very easy to lose motivation over time. The best way to tackle this is to be super organised from the get-go and plan a very strong strategy to achieve your goal. Make sure the end result drives you, and reward yourself with more attainable goals throughout the process. Maybe you want to be a Product Manager and you set yourself up to upskill, be mentored, etc. Having a multitude of smaller, more easily attained objectives will help you feel fulfilled and see that you’re making good progress.
Build a clear and honest picture of your current situation. Figure out your financial situation and where you’re at in your career.
Research your ideal career and job. Make sure you can forecast the evolution of the role in the next 5-10 years. Talk to people who work in this industry as well as other people who changed careers.
Take your time to ensure you’re doing the right things and divide your move into several smaller stages. That way, you’ll stay motivated and on top of everything. This will help you make sure you commit to the change.
Changing careers is a challenging process that requires a lot of preparation and commitment. Equally, this is a rewarding step to take in order to live a more fulfilling life. It’s completely normal to have a myriad of questions when you’re about to take such a leap of faith. That’s why we are sharing our tips and insights in our Career Change series – to help you navigate through the process as smoothly as possible. The best way to do that? It’s to make sure you are completely on top of market trends and know everything there is to know about your chosen industry and ideal function.
Browse new opportunities to stay on top of current market trends and requirements. Sign up on Movemeon to see what companies in your industry are looking for the most and what skills they require from ideal candidates.
What can a smaller boutique advisory firm offer to attract and win talent over a major player?
When we ask this question the reasons are usually pretty well known. Work-life balance, opportunities for quick progression, more flexibility and a sense of community.
These are all powerful reasons that boutiques can flaunt in the face of their larger adversaries competing in the race for talent…but are these selling points being marketed in the right way? Are candidates looking at the long list of benefits that boutiques can provide and being swayed enough to apply for their next opportunity?
Here are five hiring tips on what boutiques can do to drive home the point that what they offer is more than just a counterweight to lower base salaries
1. 40-HOUR WORKWEEKS DO NOT REPRESENT GOOD WORK-LIFE BALANCE
Sure – some employees are still clocking in 60 hour weeks, but it doesn’t change the fact that you are in competition with a large, large majority of players that stick to a 40-hour workweek policy. If you’re promising great work-life balance and yet, you’re not doing anything to differentiate yourself from other players, candidates aren’t going to take that point seriously.
There are plenty of things that boutiques can do to differentiate their work-life balance proposition, such as having a half-day on the last day of the month, or adding another 30 minutes to the typical 1-hour lunch break. These are small, but significant benefits that boutiques can market to differentiate themselves.
2. APPLY FLEXIBILITY TO YOUR SALARY MODELS
Boutique firms often mention flexibility as one of their greatest strengths and it also functions as a key selling point. The irony is that the same level of flexibility can’t always be shown when it comes to salaries. More than once, we have heard hiring managers tell us that they simply cannot go above a certain amount, or that their internal pricing scheme dictates that XYZ is how much they can pay.
More so than their larger competitors, boutique firms are better placed to bend their own rules. In a market as candidate-driven as this one, they’re going to have to in order to attract the best talent. However, when base salary is not negotiable, boutiques can add a signing bonus, or a hefty commission 6 months in to make their job offer more competitive.
3. SPECIALISM CAN BE YOUR SELLING POINT
At Movemeon we often hear from candidates how much they value the ability to focus on projects they love and find interesting. This is one of the top things job seekers look for when they consider a new role, along with the aforementioned work-life balance and salary expectations. Sometimes, the pursuit of the right development opportunities might even win over a bigger paycheque.
Candidates who are still exploring their options are likely gravitating towards the more generalist range of opportunities offered by larger firms. On the other hand, boutiques are the places where individuals looking to develop certain skills, or interested in working in a specific sector, can really thrive.
When marketing a role, boutiques should keep in mind that this is a big selling point and emphasise their expertise in their sector/niche. Also, we recommend including an overview of their projects and the clients they work with, highlighting opportunities for progression, development and exposure to senior leadership.
4. STOP LIMITING YOUR CANDIDATES BASED ON INDUSTRY EXPERTISE
Boutique advisories are often experts in a particular field, and it’s this unprecedented level of expertise that will give them the edge when competing with the bigger players. As such, they are also well equipped with all of the tools and knowledge to train their talent to become experts themselves. Yet, instead of looking to properly market these aspects, boutiques often expect incoming talent to possess similar capabilities and expertise around the sector. While the best-case scenario is to find someone who already knows what they’re doing, companies are seriously harming their chances at finding great talent by enforcing industry/sector requirements in their search.
A great method would be to have 20-30 minute chats with candidates to gauge why they want to change sectors and why they are interested in the field that the company operates in. Once the interest or passion within the candidates has been confirmed, boutique firms would be better placed to establish a strong training system. This would not only widen the pool at which boutique advisories can draw from, but it would also give them a very enticing and marketable benefit.
5. ELABORATE ON YOUR CULTURE
Boutiques are in a better position when it comes to creating a sense of community in the workplace, due to their size and flexible hierarchy structure. However, it is also true that boutiques will need to work a little bit harder to ensure that their company’s culture and values are conveyed, compared to the well-established brand names of larger companies.
Employees are becoming more and more eager to work for companies that share their own set of beliefs and values, and boutiques are prone to share many of those beliefs and values that candidates are looking for. The key issue is how they are showing it. Simply mentioning that you have ‘a great company culture’ is not showing candidates anything – other than potentially engraving in their mind that you have nothing more concrete to offer benefits-wise. Use the right keywords to better describe your culture. Is it fast-paced? Flexible? Collaborative? Innovative? Fun-loving? If so, give an example of how you promote that aspect of your culture in your benefits.
Recruiting? Contact Movemeon for strategy and management professionals
Congrats on the new role, Saikat! In your own words, could you tell us about your new role?
I’ve just joined IncentiaPay, an ASX-listed group that operates the “Entertainment” business and brand. Founded in 1994, as The Entertainment Book, our company has evolved to become Australia and New Zealand’s premier offers and rewards marketplace.
My role is all about understanding our member and merchant partners’ needs, their objectives and their challenges, and then making sure that Entertainment always puts its best foot forward to help them address these.
How do you view your experience at Accenture as a phase in your early career?
When I was in college, Accenture was the only company I had ever wanted to work for. After completing my MBA I applied to only one company and was lucky enough to spend three years working in the best environment a fresher can ask for. Looking back, I’d say that strategy consulting was a great move for me – everything I learnt during my MBA had a real-world use, and I enjoyed using my skills to make an impact for clients. There’s no other career that provides such diverse learning in such a short time.
I found the skills I honed in consulting set me up really well for founding my own digital marketing business. Which in turn set me up perfectly for this new role at IncentiaPay!
What are you hoping to accomplish in your new role?
I’m looking forward to applying what I have seen and experienced across different industries and business models to help the team find solutions to their particular challenges. I am hoping to accomplish our next phase of growth using the principles I’ve learnt over two decades in similar domains.
When you are not working, what keeps you engaged?
Having moved to New Zealand just a few years ago, I am still discovering the wealth of outdoor activities this country offers. When I’m not working, you’ll find me kayaking or fishing on the waterfront, tending to my garden or trekking on one of the Great Walk routes.
How did you find out about Movemeon?
Through word-of-mouth, I was referred by a friend who had just completed a great freelance project for an Australian company, which he found through Movemeon. It’s a great offering, I’m not surprised the word continues to spread!
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There have been a few ways to name the recruiting trends last year – a ‘candidate’s market’, a ‘talent squeeze’ or ‘The Great Resignation’… Whatever you want to call it, 2021 was a tough market to hire talent in.
The race for top talent is incredibly competitive right now and finding the right person is harder than ever. In this article, we highlight the reasons behind this as well as share a few insights and tips that should help you find the talent you’re looking for.
Why has it been so hard to hire talent?
Salary Expectations
Top-quality consulting talent has always been expensive. Following on from Covid-19, consultants were in high demand; businesses across the globe were looking to pivot to the new normal and consultancy firms were seeing unprecedented levels of business. This naturally has increased the value of top quality consultants.
Unsurprisingly, this has led to robust pay raises from top-tier consulting firms. In October 2021, first-year BCG employees’ base salary increased by $10,000, with more experienced consultants expecting far greater raises in the next promotional cycle. With this trend happening across the industry, this has had a significant effect on what was already a very tight market. As a general rule, you could expect to pay over £10,000 more for a candidate than the previous year. In the near future, this could rise further for candidates with more specialist experience or top-tier candidates.
Less desire to leave consulting in the first place
Although things remain hopeful that the worst of the pandemic is behind us, it’s fair to say that remote working and flexible/hybrid solutions are here to stay. Whilst many of us may rejoice in this relative adoption to flexible working, this has led to more consultants deciding to stay at their firms.
Historically, the lack of work/life balance and constant travel have been some of the most pressing reasons for consultants to search for new roles in industry. However, with remote working, consultants have been able to balance their work hours and their home life, and not have to spend their lives in trains or aeroplanes. This resulted in a significant number of consultants deciding to stay in consulting instead of making their move to an in-house role, coupled with the pay incentive that we previously mentioned.
Competitive job landscape
You might want to hire a consultant who could manage your strategy function, lead company-wide transformation, or even act as your Chief of Staff. After all, they are highly-skilled generalists that are adaptable and knowledgeable. The problem is that consultants are also highly sought-after by other scaling businesses and market leaders. It is true that every labour market is competitive, but none of them is quite as competitive as consulting. Our data shows that the average candidate is now in 4-5 interview processes as opposed to 2-3 processes this time last year. This leads to more dropouts, more counter-offers and even bidding wars between different organisations after the same candidate.
Thankfully, through working with our partners we’re able to share a few promising insights and tips that we recommend to ensure you get the candidates you want.
How can I hire the best talent for my team?
Invest time in the beginning
Interviewing candidates is time-consuming. It’s tempting to set a variety of tasks or a case study at the beginning of a process to ensure that you always end up speaking to the best candidates. However, this is a sure-fire way of getting the best candidates to drop out of the interview process. The feedback that we have received from our platform users is that the first conversation with the hiring manager is the most important factor in determining a candidate’s “buy-in” for a role.
We recommend that hiring managers should meet with candidates before setting any task/case study. Not only is it a chance for you to learn more from each person but it also allows them to get a better understanding of the job. Even by spending 15 minutes with a candidate, you will significantly decrease the risk of dropouts.
Senior candidates are looking for new opportunities
If 2021 seemed dreary when it came to hiring new talents, 2022 is already looking a lot more hopeful. Interest from potential job applicants has seen a huge spike in 2022. Of course, this is quite typical for this time of year, however, we’ve found that candidate activity on the Movemeon platform is at an all-time high with greater numbers of views & applications than any other year. In particular, this seems to be the perfect time to hire Senior Strategy talent – Since the beginning of Q1, we’ve seen search results for Strategy roles at Engagement Manager level or above soar. Whilst the junior market is still tight, the more experienced talent pool are clearly on the lookout for new opportunities.
Hire through Movemeon
At Movemeon, we specialise in partnering with global businesses across all sectors to find top tier consulting talent for your Strategy, Transformation & C-Suite teams. Our platform is able to generate a shortlist of high-calibre candidates within 7 days. By partnering with Movemeon, your roles are visible to a network of over 55,000 consultants & ex-consultants using our platform. We’ve been able to source active candidates as well as tap into the passive candidate pool ensuring you receive a more engaged shortlist. Click the button below to get in touch with our team to know more about our freelance and permanent offerings.
The gender pay gap in UK startups & scale-ups is 25%, way above the national average of 15%. In the past, it was not uncommon that men and women would be paid different salaries despite holding the same role. Now the gender pay gap is driven by two main drivers.
If you’d like to receive a full bespoke benchmarking report covering specific and personalised insights into salaries, pay rises, equity, diversity and much more, click here.
Not enough women in leadership positions
The first of these drivers is a skew in seniority levels; men tend to be in more senior positions than women. In a salary and benchmarking dataset provided by our partner business Payspective, we see that across UK start-ups and scale-ups, the gender distribution across all employees is nearly equal (48% women vs. 52% men). However, once we look at the gender distribution in leadership positions (Director and C-level), the representation of women drops down to 33%.
When only looking at the very top (Founders and C-level), the representation of women drops further down to 19%. A key driver for this is that C-level positions within start-ups are commonly taken up by the founding team, and 80% of start-ups in the UK are founded by men.
A positive trend in the start-up space that’s currently unfolding is that the number of female founders is on the rise, having doubled over the last decade – while 21% of funded UK startups had female founders in 2018, this figure was only 11% in 2011.
Not enough women in tech roles
The second primary driver of the gender pay gap is a skew in terms of role by function that men and women work in, with men more frequently holding highly-paid technical roles such as engineering, software development and data science positions.
This driver holds even more weight in the start-up economy than the wider UK market as a whole as start-ups tend to have a higher proportion of technical roles than traditional businesses and so the gender skew within these roles has a larger impact on the gender pay gap.
What startups and scale-ups can do
So what can you do to close their gender pay gap? There are 4 main levers:
(1) Create transparency
Companies with less than 250 employees aren’t required to report their gender pay gap in the UK, but internal transparency around gender and pay within your business is a positive step to take nonetheless. It’s critical to understand how your businesses pay gap compares to similar companies and what the drivers of this gap are.
Transparency also helps in the recruitment process – including a salary range in job advertisements is not just a good practice in equal recruitment but also increases the number of applications you can expect.
(2) Support equitable progression of men and women into senior roles
Ensure that your culture and processes support women being hired or progressed into senior roles. For instance, think about whether a senior role you’re hiring for could be part-time. Flexibility to work from home and flexibility around working hours help ensure that work commitments can be combined with other duties, and allows candidates from a wider background to apply and be considered.
(3) Hire women into tech roles
Hiring women into tech roles is a challenge that many companies struggle with – and it’s an especially important one for the tech-dominated startup and scaleup scene. What can you do?
Make a conscious effort to recruit female tech talent. Go to women in tech events, focus on diversity and inclusivity on your blog and recruitment pages, and highlight success stories of women in tech roles within your organisation. The effort you put into hiring women into tech roles early on will pay off tenfold in the long run – hiring your 10th woman into a 20 person developer team will prove much easier than hiring your 1st woman into a 20 person developer team.
(4) Ensure you have the right processes for recruiting, salary negotiations and pay rises
Finally, make sure there are no structural or cultural issues with pay differences in your organisation. Men tend to be more comfortable asking for a pay rise than women so you’ll have to make sure that you have robust processes around salary reviews and pay raises in place (don’t just give pay raises to the people who ask the loudest).
Men also have a tendency to apply for a job even if they’re not a perfect fit with the requirements whereas women tend to only send off that application if they’re sure the job is a great fit and they meet all the expectations listed in a job description. So while a man who wants a part-time job may simply apply to a full-time position and try to negotiate it down to 80%, a woman would be less likely to do so. If there’s a potential for a role to be part-time – make sure to include it on the job spec.
Working for a UK startup or scaleup and looking to hire? Get in touch!
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