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’Reversing’ consultants

A tight market requires a creative approach

By Frederik van der Zeeuw

An increasing shortage of highly qualified consultants for professional management consultancy firms forces us to become creative in our search for suitable candidates. The 'consultancy crash', which had dominated the market for some years, seems to be disappearing. The recovering economy coupled with an accelerated market demand for high-level consultants, have actually created a recruitment problem in the advisory industry.

Let us consider the situation. On the one hand, there is great demand for consultants on a partner-level. These have become scarce, as during the recession many seasoned consultants sought refuge in the corporate sector without intending to return to the consultancy trade. On the other hand, reduced recruitment during the past few years has led to the current shortage of internal resources that are needed to keep leverage at the middle management level in balance. In fact, leverage relations – that is, the pyramid of experience structures which a sound consultancy organisation should have – are frequently seriously unbalanced. In particular, there is a shortage of consultants with approximately 7 to 12 years of experience.

Good consultants are scarce at the best of times. The profession attracts many people, but the fact is that few are suited to reach partnership level. This is because the required qualifications are high, and the profession calls for a balanced personal development profile. Consultants should be well versed in the competency area in which they advise clients, should have management and relevant networking skills, and should be able to generate new business. Moreover, every consultant works in a situation in which his/her personal performance is permanently transparent, providing fresh challenges every day. A good consultant is in competition with himself or herself rather than with others. This requires personality traits that are not found in everyone, while the specific professional situation makes the consultant’s position relatively vulnerable and therefore less appealing to many.

Let us return to the problem of the current shortages. To meet market demands, we will have to operate with a great amount of inventiveness and imagination. First, both the consultant’s personal development and his/her professional development within the specific discipline will have to be accelerated, followed by a process of in-depth consolidation. The out-of-the-box recruitment approach, or, to put it somewhat irreverently, the ‘reversing’ of consultants, is a solution that has been proven successful in this context. For example, experienced managers with their own network and exposure in their sector could apply their acquired expertise in consultancy. The crucial conditions for this process consist of having (innate) consulting skills, and the ability to resist the temptation to take over the client’s chair. This way, would-be consultants with their unique perspectives, could valuably contribute to ‘refloating’ the ship and, as a result, would allow innovation, inspiration and creativity to flourish.

The qualities that constitute the very basis of the consultancy profession are a permanent desire for renewal, development of new product-market combinations, and in-depth exploration of special areas of expertise. In short, keeping ahead of the market at all times is the strength and fate of every consultant.