It revolves around which consulting firms are most confident they’ll be hiring again as 2010 progresses… and which are not yet ready to put their necks on the line.

With the Top-Consultant team calling management consultancies to see who is planning on exhibiting at this year’s Consultancy Careers Fair, there’s been a highly polarized response. Some firms are quite certain they’ll be hiring in numbers this year and have been quick to sign up to the event once again – note the confidence of leading brands like Accenture, Ernst & Young and IBM (as well as a number of niche players).

By contrast, many other firms believe they will be recruiting strongly as we enter the second half of the year – but aren’t yet ready to commit themselves to a hiring spree. Note that pretty much every firm says they will be hiring in the latter stages of the year, so the difference is one of conviction.

Commenting on the differing signals, Tony Restell – Top-Consultant co-founder and Director – notes that “across consulting as a whole, hiring activity is picking up considerably. In part this is driven by worsening staff churn, in part by an improvement in client demand – most notably in private sector practice areas like Financial Services. What fascinates us about the conversations we’re having is that every firm feels they should be at the Consultancy Careers Fair but some have greater conviction about their hiring intentions than others. For a significant portion of the industry there’s still the niggling doubt that improvements in the business may not be sustained and so decisions are being delayed as long as possible to see how things unfold. Some firms have an unshakeable belief in their growth trajectories; others seem to lack this conviction.”

There are undoubtedly a number of factors at work here. How exposed a firm is to (short-term) cutbacks in the public sector’s spend on consulting is clearly one consideration. The upswing being seen in private sector consulting spend isn’t universal and so again is benefitting some firms more than others. The likelihood of staff leaving for competitors is another element. Most notable of all is probably how aggressive each firm’s growth strategy is for the coming year. Those committed to gaining market share are likely to recruit almost irrespective of these other factors. Readers will be able to read a great deal into the conviction of firms to pursue their stated growth ambitions as their hiring activities become more transparent over the course of the summer.

“It costs nothing to publish lofty growth aspirations, but unless candidates see firms advertising significant numbers of vacancies, hosting careers evenings and appearing at careers events then the story rings hollow. Within the next months I think we will see which firms are really serious about growth and which are all talk” concluded Restell.

24th September 2010 – save the date of this year’s Consultancy Careers Fair! Recruiters wishing to exhibit should contact the Top-Consultant team on +44 (0)207 667 6880, whilst candidates can keep an eye on who has signed up to exhibit by visiting the Consultancy Careers Fair website.