Slowdown in hiring

Hi there,

You are correct. 

Personal experience

Some of my clients' interviews were already rescheduled for next year.

Impact on hiring

While for all firms fewer people make it through resume screening, only some firms adjust the bar for the interviews. The latter are happy to find enough people to make it through the selection process. In that case, they would extend offers, potentially with starting dates further in the future.

We might even see a full hiring stop, depending on how bad the situation becomes.

Impact on engagements

This is wrong. External advisor spending is usually one of the first expenses to be cut during an economic crisis.

Yes, recovery and transformation projects increase, but every other consulting vertical decreases by much more. I have been told stories from 2008/09, where new hires were not staffed for 6 months and then let go without ever having worked on an actual engagement. 

It all depends on how bad the global economic situation is going to get. My hunch is we see a partial to full-hiring stop by early next year for a couple of months up to 1 year. Let's hope I am wrong :-)

On top of that, keep in mind that tech firms and likely every other industry will start layoffs very soon, which means that the potential supply of job seekers increases even more compared to now lower demand for them.

At this point, it definitely pays off to work very hard to get through as well as have valid backup options available, potentially for industries that are less affected by external events (e.g., pharmaceuticals)

Cheers,

Florian

It really depends on the country, the city and the industry. There will likely be some contractions in the countries which are in the most challenging economic situations, but even in the most contracted economies the firms still need to build their pipelines of consultants to ensure that the firm continues to build their talent. 

I'd try not to worry about this - if you are able to get a role then that's wonderful, if you're not, there are many other fantastic role that you can pursue. Knowing exactly how many roles are being hired for is not going to change your performance or help you to get a role. 

Good luck!

During Covid many companies cut consulting spend and many consulting firms stopped hiring and even laid people off. Toward the end of 2020 business picked up again and consulting firms fired up the recruiting engine to hire people in order to deliver on the project pipeline. So during that time there was particularly high demand and it was comparatively easier as a candidate to land a job since there were more openings. If you are a high quality candidate, however, consulting firms will be interested in you regardless of the current economic environment.

During a slow down, you typically don't see a whole lot of strategy, growth or new market entry projects but more things along the lines of performance improvement, cost-cutting, reorganization, etc. 
Consulting firms that play in that space will still sell projects - the overall budgets will likely be tighter though.

Absolutely NOT. 

MBB are growing at fast pace and they may be some particular practice areas or very specific offices that may slow down, but generally MBB need more people.

Was this answer helpful?

Yes, there's some impact. 

They're are more likely to reduce talent pool (i.e., consider less target schools, be less active in sourcing candidates), postpone interviews to next recruiting cycle, hire candidates for a later entry date, or simply raise the bar.

Hi there,

The short answer is yes.

It is simple supply and demand - yes it will be tougher now then it was a year ago.

What can you do?

Be better than the others. Invest in yourself with coaching. Prep extensively. Network extensively. Maximize your odds without worrying about everyone else.