Recruitment Channel Report 2014 Introduction Part I - Recruitment trends Part II - Recruitment channel use Part III - Historical trends in recruitment channel use and Recruiter & Media Awards Newspapers Internet job sites Personal contacts and referrals Social media Corporate websites Recruitment agencies Individual recruiter awards Top-Consultant.com 3 4 17 18 19 21 22 24 25 26 12 INTRODUCTION Bryan Hickson Managing Director Top-Consultant.com Top-Consultant.com Now in its thirteenth year, this unique report has been produced to help those facing the challenges of the UK management consultancy recruitment market in the coming year, both recruiters and consulting candidates alike.
Part One of the report is based on responses to a comprehensive survey of the Top-Consultant.com consulting recruiter contacts and focuses on recruitment and retention data and trends within management consultancy.
Unsurprising perhaps given the 800+ responses that we have now received to these surveys, the recruiter report has historically proven to be an extremely accurate predictor for what has gone on to occur within the management consultancy hiring market. The picture that emerges this year is of an industry that is looking ahead confidently to a year of strong growth - over 93% of consulting employers reporting they are looking to hire staff this year at least as fast as they did last year with the overwhelming majority saying hiring will accelerate further in 2014.
This positive outlook is only qualified perhaps by the skills shortage and war for talent that many commentators including the MCA already predict. Part Two looks at the appeal and effectiveness of different recruitment channels from the candidate perspective and includes rankings of recruitment agencies, job boards, offline providers and so on. It too is built around a comprehensive survey and with ~12,000 responses it also has been an accurate forecaster of the changing use of the established recruitment channels as well as the new channels that have become available to them.
Taken together, I am confident that we have generated the definitive resource for planning recruitment campaigns and maximizing the effectiveness of candidate applications.
Our thanks go out to all those that have contributed once more to the surveys and we hope that you find this report a valuable resource. As always, the team at Top- Consultant.com look forward to helping you all we can as the year unfolds. Recruitment trends Trend data based on over 800 recruiter responses Part One Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2014 PAGE 5 Expectations are certainly positive for the coming year, in spite of continued unease about the ongoing economic outlook, with over 93% of consulting employers reporting they are looking to hire staff this year at least as fast as they did last year with the overwhelming majority saying hiring will accelerate further in 2014. While hiring expectations taken across the UK consulting industry as a whole are favourable, they are also patchy with the rebound not expected to be felt across all industries and functional areas. Attracting enough candidates with prior consulting experience will continue to be a challenge. Though more consultants are reporting that they would like to stay within the profession this year, recruiters continue to favour experienced consultant hires so there will be increased difficulties in holding onto existing staff as well as poaching new joiners from competitors. Why not try advertising for consulting candidates on Top-Consultant.com? Our low priced advertising packages allow you to see for yourself the types of results that recruiters are experiencing by placing their job listings on Top-Consultant.com. Click here to find out more Top-Consultant.com EXPECTATIONS Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2014 PAGE 6 Surely the most important metric we provide each year is the one we turn to first: how do employers anticipate their hiring volumes for 2014 will compare with those from 2013? We are pleased to report that recruiters' expectations for the coming year are upbeat with the fewest respondents expecting lower hiring levels than at any time since the Lehman collapse.
This year 80% of recruiters polled expect to make more hires this year than last year (up from 67% last year) with over 32% of employers this year looking to increase their hiring aggressively. Figure 1: 2014 Recruitment targets vs. 2013 Figure 2: Recruitment targets 2008 - 2014 Top-Consultant.com 32.6% 47.8% 13.0% 6.5% 0.0% Make considerably more hires than last year Make slightly more hires than last year Make as many hires as last year Make slightly fewer hires than last year Target for the year is to make considerably fewer hires than last year 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Make considerably more hires than last year Make slightly more hires than last year Make as many hires as last year Make slightly fewer hires than last year Make considerably fewer hires than last year HIRING VOLUMES The historical series below shows that recruiters have correctly predicted trends in the last preceding years. The sharp deterioration in 2009 hiring was accurately predicted as was the hiring rebound in 2011 that is until the Eurozone crisis impacted and hiring fell off in the final third of that year. Explosive growth in hiring is not expected but the gap to boom market hiring levels is surely to be cut again this year. Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2014 PAGE 7 Figure 3: What staff attrition rate has your consulting business experienced in the last year? Figure 4: What do you believe will happen to staff attrition rates during 2014? Top-Consultant.com 8.7% 34.8% 41.3% 6.5% 8.7% 0% 20% 40% 60% Staff attrition rates will improve considerably Staff attrition rates will improve a little No change in staff attrition rates expected Staff attrition rates will worsen a little Staff attrition rates will worsen considerably ATTRITION 11% 33% 28% 20% 4% 4% 0-5% of consulting staff left 5-10% of consulting staff left 10-15% of consulting staff left 15-20% of consulting staff left 20-25% of consulting staff left The UK consulting market as a whole is experiencing a median rate of staff loss at just over 10%, which is more or less unchanged from 2008. Naturally some firms have suffered more than others with 4% reporting attrition rates of over 25% compared with 11% of respondents reporting between 0 and 5% of consulting staff had left the firm over the last year.
The rate of staff attrition is of course a significant driver of recruitment activity and it is interesting to note that more firms report an expectation that staff retention will get worse over the next 12 months (43%) compared with those that retention rates will improve (15%). Given this, it is certain that more of the expected recruitment that we have seen reported from employers will be to simply stand still in terms of headcount rather than fuel increased demand for consulting services and growth.
Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2014 PAGE 8 The hiring rebound will not, however, be seen across the board. We ask recruiters to identify the areas they expect to be undertaking the most hiring and in the chart that follows, a score close to 1 indicates firms expect to undertake little or no hiring in that practice area; while the greater the number the more hiring is expected compared with the previous year.
Amongst recruiters the expectation is that the strongest hiring is expected in Financial Services - the largest source of private sector consulting spend by far followed in 2nd and 3rd places by Technology and IT , both leapfrogging Energy & Utilities this year. The forecast demand for candidates that specialise in the Engineering & Manufacturing and Automotive/Aerospace industries is up, while the Public Sector falls back a little. Figure 5: Recruitment activity by practice area Top-Consultant.com LIKELY HIRING BY PRACTICE AREA 0 1 2 3 4 5 Financial Services Technology Information Technology Energy & Utilities Healthcare & Pharma Telecoms, Media & Entertainment Retail / Consumer Goods Engineering & Manufacturing Automotive / Aerospace Purchasing & Supply Chain Public Sector General Management Distribution / Logistics Transportation Science / Research Chemicals Education Leisure / Lifestyle Facilities Management 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2014 PAGE 9 When asked to provide the same steer on the types of consulting expected to be contributing to hiring demand, it is encouraging for the health of the sector as a whole to see the increased appetite for strategy consulting hires. Strategy consulting is often seen as a bell-weather for the state of the consulting industry as a whole, so to record strategy in first place , when it was fourth last year, and top the last time back in 2010, is a positive reflection on market sentiment for the year ahead.
Project/Programme Management and Business Process Improvement stay steady in second and third places and Technology consulting drops from top last year to fourth. The appetite for Outsourcing and CRM hires drops this year. Figure 6: Recruitment activity by type of consulting Top-Consultant.com LIKELY HIRING BY TYPE OF CONSULTING 0 1 2 3 4 Strategy Project / Programme Management Business Process Improvement Technology IT / Software Development E-Business Finance / Accounting Marketing & Sales HR Consulting Outsourcing CRM Economics & Environmental 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2014 PAGE 10 Looking now at who recruiters are aiming to recruit over the course of the coming year, it is clear once more that those most in demand will be candidates that bring prior consulting experience to the firm.
Those from government or public sector bodies remain the least sought-after, with little change in appeal amongst recruiters for those candidates coming from industry and the City.
This year fewer recruiters will look to make their hires from those coming from business schools but theres a continuation of the trend for firms to recruit more candidates from University. Figure 7: Desired hiring profile 2010 2014
Top-Consultant.com 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 EXPERIENCED HIRES INCREASINGLY ATTRACTIVE Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2014 PAGE 11 To consider the other side of the equation the career intentions of the candidates in 2014 recruiters will be relieved that the proportion of consultants most likely to move to another consulting firm this year has started to climb back to pre-recession levels. As employers are increasingly interested in candidates that bring prior consulting experience with them this will be welcome news, but there will be lots of competition to hold onto existing employees and also to poach new joiners from competitors.
Fewer consultants are looking to move client-side but the appeal of taking a role in the City is on the increase once again. 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Figure 8: Candidates career intentions for 2009 - 2014 Top-Consultant.com 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Most likely to accept a job with a consulting employer Not looking to change jobs in the next 12 months Most likely to accept a job with a client organisation Most likely to secure some other kind of role outside consulting Most likely to accept a job in the City Most likely to accept public sector/ charity job CONSULTANTS CAREER INTENTIONS Recruitment channel use Trend data based on ~12,000 candidate responses Part Two Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2014 PAGE 13 Trends are based on data collected from almost 12,000 management consultancy candidates over the last 13 years. Candidates from all the major consulting firms have participated, together with consultants currently working at niche consulting firms and potential industry hires looking to move into consulting. Most respondents this year were Business Transformation / Change Management consultants (26%), Strategy consultants (22%), IT/ Technology consultants (18%), Project / Programme management Consultants (15%), Business Process Improvement (11%), HR consultants (6%), Outsourcing (2%).
The sectors that candidates had most experience of working in this year were Public Sector (26%), Energy / Utilities (26%), Retail / Consumer Goods (25%), Financial Services (Retail Financial Services focus) (24%), Telecoms, Media & Entertainment (24%), Financial Services (Investment Banking / Capital Markets focus) (22%), Healthcare & Pharma (18%), Automotive / Aerospace (14%).
36% of respondents had spent more than 3 years with their current firm, 17% between 2 and 3 years, 15% between 1 and 2 years, 13% between 6 months and 1 year and those that had joined their current firm within the last 6 months accounted for 19% of the responses. Survey responses were generated via direct mailshots to the Top-Consultant.com readership; an invitation sent to all screened consulting candidates on the Get- Headhunted CV database; promotions via Twitter, LinkedIn, Google News and Yahoo News, and by invitations sent to candidates by recruitment agencies. Are you a Management Consultancy Recruiter? Once a month the Top-Consultant.com team update recruiter contacts regarding all the new initiatives were planning, free reports weve published and any forthcoming promotional offers they could benefit from. If you would like to be added to our recruiter contact list please email Bryan Hickson. Top-Consultant.com CANDIDATE POOL Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2014 PAGE 14 Let us now look back at candidate activity over the last 12 months and specifically the channels used to look for new career opportunities. Every year we ask candidates to record the channels they used and the number of applications that they made through each.
Collating the data allows us to analyse the penetration performance of the channels (how many candidates used each channel to make at least one application) and the share of applications achieved from each of the six major recruitment channels: Our candidate respondents confirmed that there are huge variations in the saturation enjoyed by the different application channels with three of the channels being used by a far greater proportion of candidates than the others. Recruitment agencies have been used by a greater number of candidates than any of the other channels, with Personal contacts and Internet job boards scoring very nearly as highly. Social media generated applications from 45% of candidates this year, Corporate websites 39% with Newspapers falling to just 9%. Whats apparent from these channel penetration figures is that no single channel alone will reach all candidates and that a multi-channel approach is essential to saturate the market. Figure 9: Application channels used last time to apply for a job Newspapers Recruitment agencies Internet job sites Social media Personal Contacts / Referrals Corporate Websites Top-Consultant.com 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 2011 2012 2013 2014 % CANDIDATE ACTIVITY OVER LAST YEAR Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2014 PAGE 15 Our respondents were also asked to record how many applications they made through the six major channels. This produces another measure of importance of each recruitment channel within a recruitment strategy the share of CVs produced per channel.
What is immediately apparent is that internet job boards and recruitment agencies are critical in generating candidate applications together they account for 55% of applications made which is very similar to last year. Corporate sites account for a steady 14.9% of all applications made; Personal referrals are up slightly with a 14% share; applications made via Social Media are up slightly again this year at justover 12% and the share of applications made as a result of adverts placed in Newspapers continues to slide this year down to 3.3%, bringing up the rear. 10% Figure 10: Share of applications generated in last job search Top-Consultant.com 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% CANDIDATE ACTIVITY OVER LAST YEAR Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2014 PAGE 16 Candidates were asked to score the likely channels they would use when next hunting for a new job, both to allow them to change their bias to allow for dissatisfactions with their most recent job hunt and also to factor in new developments that they have seen affecting the market such as Social Media. As you can see from the chart, candidates clearly intend to modify their jobhunt strategies only marginally during their next job search. Comparing this years responses with those from past years shows very little change. Given this, it seems likely that the share of applications that employers will receive from each of the hiring channels is likely to remain fairly constant for the foreseeable future. 2 2.5 3 3. Figure 11: Channels most likely to use if currently looking for new job Top-Consultant.com 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 LOOKING FORWARD Historical trends in recruitment channel use and Recruiter & Media awards Part Three Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2014 PAGE 18 In the main the historic newspaper advertisers (direct employers and recruitment agencies) have continued to switch spend to other channels. Newspapers have suffered most in the last 13 years with candidate penetration having fallen very considerably indeed from a figure close to 50% to just 9% of candidates making an application via this channel. Share of applications continues to fall in a similar way with just 3.3% of applications being made last year in this way.
Figure 14: Share of applications - Newspapers 10% 20% 30% Figure 12: Newspapers and publications consultants read regularly Figure 13: Penetration - Newspapers 0% 10% 20% 30% Top-Consultant.com 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% i Independent Telegraph Evening Standard Guardian Metro Other FT The Economist Times NEWSPAPERS Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2014 PAGE 19 Internet job sites continue to enjoy a high share of candidate usage with, once more, just under two thirds of all candidates making approaches to new employers via this channel, just behind referrals and recruitment consultancies. The shape of the evolution of job sites penetration for the last six years suggests a plateauing, as does its share of applications which is also stable with just over a third of all applications coming from online advertising on job boards. It is worth noting here, and as will be seen later, a significant proportion of candidates (23.6% - no change from last year) that make applications direct via corporate websites do so having first seen the role that they apply to advertised on an internet job site. Figure 15: Penetration - Internet job sites Top-Consultant.com Figure 16: Share of applications - Internet job sites 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% INTERNET JOB SITES Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2014 PAGE 20 Figure 17: Websites most regularly reviewed for consulting opportunities Top-Consultant.com Figure 18: Websites preferred for finding a consulting job 0 20 40 60 80 Twitter jobsearch MCA Consultantsboard TopITConsultant Executivesontheweb FT eFinancialCareers Jobserve Totaljobs Jobsite Monster Exec-Appointments Top-Consultant LinkedIn 0 10 20 30 MCA Twitter jobsearch TopITConsultant Executivesontheweb Consultantsboard Totaljobs FT Monster Jobsite eFinancialCareers Exec-Appointments Jobserve Top-Consultant LinkedIn INTERNET JOB SITES Candidates were asked to reveal the jobboards that they regularly review and the jobboards that they rate best for finding a consulting job. LinkedIn and Top-Consultant are easily the leaders in the sector.
LinkedIn's rise seems to have been at the expense of the other major job board brands, all of whom only attract a fraction of the interest and favourable response of the two market leaders. Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2014 PAGE 21 Bounty schemes have consistently achieved high market penetration, generating applications from 68% of candidates this year, a figure that has been stable for the last few years and is now the greatest penetration figure of any channel. Whats more, they have also been the most highly-preferred way for candidates to make recruitment applications in management consultancy. But while personnel referrals will never be able to generate a massive share of applications the natural limitations in the size of individuals personal networks prohibits this - we have seen companies using innovative means such as advertising job referral programmes through 3rd party media to eke the maximum share of applications possible through this channel. This year we have recorded a further if slight rise in share of applications to 14%. Figure 20: Penetration - Personal referrals Figure 21: Share of applications - Personal referrals Top-Consultant.com 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 0% 5% 10% 15% PERSONAL REFERRALS Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2014 PAGE 22 Unlike the other major recruitment channels that we have been tracking in these annual reports, we have only been gathering data on consultancy candidates use of social media for making job applications for the past four years. This makes trend commentary more difficult but a picture is emerging.
The data reflects a continued growth in share of total applications albeit to just 12.1% up from 10.4% last year. The percentage of candidates that make any application through the channel has this year increased to 44.6%, from 37.7% last year. It continues to be the case, for the time being, that only a minority of consulting candidates are using social media to apply for jobs. While the vast majority of consultants have an active profile (defined as being accessed at least once a week) on a social media platform with LinkedIn being the favourite by a clear margin the percentage of active users on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter has grown slightly this year. Figure 22: Social media on which consultants are active users Top-Consultant.com 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 2011 2012 2013 2014 SOCIAL MEDIA 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 2011 2012 2013 2014 0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 2011 2012 2013 2014 Figure 23: Penetration Social Media Figure 24 Share of applications Social Media Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2014 PAGE 23 Given that there is nearly 90% take-up of the leading professional social-media channel and that only 12% of all applications are made via social media as a whole, we asked respondents what they use social media for.
Expanding professional networks remains, unsurprisingly, the most common driver of social medias use. Applying for advertised job positions remains unchanged in 5 th
place this year. Top-Consultant.com 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Figure 25: Main uses of social media by consulting candidates SOCIAL MEDIA Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2014 PAGE 24 Over the last few years we have seen a fall in the number of candidates making applications directly via corporate websites. This year, while we see a slight rise to 39%, the trend over time suggests a continued decline. Whats more, corporate sites seem stuck in a rut of being able to generate only 14-17% of application volumes. This year a figure of 14.9% of all applications made to management consultancy employers through their websites was recorded. But how do candidates find themselves making applications direct via corporate websites? It should not be assumed that all candidates navigate directly to company websites to make their applications. Each year we investigate the different sources of visitor / application traffic that corporate websites enjoy so as to be able to quantify as best possible the indirects that the other channels drive to the corporate sites. Most candidates (53.3%) that made applications to corporate websites already knew the firm and navigated straight to their website to make the application interestingly this figure has dropped from 60% in 2009 when we first asked this question; 23.6% of candidates made direct applications to firms they had seen advertising on internet job sites; nearly 19.9% were prompted to make a direct application by a personal contact (up slightly); just over 15% found their way to the corporate site following a search engine listing; 12% were alerted to opportunities via Social Media adverts before making their corporate website application (unchanged); and 4.3% following adverts seen in newspapers. Figure 26: Penetration - Corporate sites 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Figure 27: Share of applications - Corporate sites Top-Consultant.com 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18% CORPORATE SITES Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2014 PAGE 25 Recruitment agency candidate penetration continues to hold up well and appears to be plateauing at around 70% penetration. Share of total applications made has, however fallen from 26.4% to 24.6% this year though this is, as we have seen, second only to Internet Job Sites when compared with all six recruitment channels. Every year we ask candidates to feedback to us on the different recruitment firms that theyve used. A ranking of firms that received the most praise and the least complaints is then produced. The results were very close indeed so no outright winner has been identified this year. We congratulate all those firms listed. Figure 28: Penetration - Recruitment agencies Figure 30: 2014 top recruitment firms by praise Figure 29: Share of applications - Recruitment agencies
Top-Consultant.com 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% 0% 10% 20% 30% RECRUITMENT AGENCIES BLT Consulting Point Michael Warwick Nicholls Prism Selecture SK Consultancy Solutions Tassell Consulting Top-Consultant.coms Management Consultancy Recruitment Channel Report 2014 PAGE 26 Recruiters available throughout 2014 All premium job listings appearing on Top-Consultant.com will be added to the Management Consultancies Association (MCA) jobs board at no additional cost Take advantage by registering for a trial advertising package Alongside the rankings of recruitment firms, we asked candidates to help us identify the best individual recruiters they had worked with. We asked them: If you have been particularly impressed with an individual recruitment consultant you have worked with in the past, please provide their name & company so that we can give them special recognition. Twelve individuals stood out as receiving the most praise and we warmly congratulate them all for their success. They are listed in no particular order. Figure 31: Best individual recruitment consultants 2014 Top-Consultant.com RECRUITMENT AGENCIES Chris Sale - Prism Craig Milbourne - Comms Point Darren Head - Selecture Don Leslie - BLT Genene Cooper - Michael Warwick Nicholls James Cox - Consulting Point Jonathan Tassell - Tassell Consulting Mark Pierce - Michael Warwick Nicholls Rakesh Pabbi - Consulting Point Ruth Radnan-Skibin - SK Consultancy Solutions Sally Wilson - Penna Sasha Kemp - SK Consultancy Solutions Find out how your firm could attract consulting hires by: advertising on our websites advertising in our consultancy-focused publications accessing our CV databases running bespoke careers events
CALL TO SPEAK WITH ONE OF OUR TEAM For more information on Top-Consultant.coms services or if you have any questions about the data in this report please contact Bryan Hickson on 0207 667 6880 or email him on bryan@top-consultant.com.
REQUEST A BROCHURE Alternatively, please feel free to request a PDF brochure detailing our services. You may do so by clicking here.
EMAIL US Feel free to email our Customer Services team with any questions you may have, using the address customer.services@top-consultant.com. 2014 Top-Consultant.com. All rights reserved.