Consultants in search of work are more and more prone to be chasing ghosts. Job listings for consulting roles with no hiring exercise, also referred to as “ghost jobs,” hit a two-year excessive, in response to information from hiring platform Greenhouse.
Whereas ghost jobs have declined in finance and expertise, these in consulting — a bellwether for the white-collar economic system — rose to 31% within the second quarter, up from 26% two years in the past and effectively above the prevalence throughout the broader job market.
The shift is creating plenty of annoyed jobseekers in an business the place the most effective and brightest traditionally have had their alternative of employers. Consultants have additionally bemoaned the expertise of getting ghosted, a associated phenomenon the place the recruiter ends all communication throughout a hiring and interview course of with none rationalization.
“It can be so awful,” mentioned Michelle Lentz, who’s on the job market after a latest layoff from a boutique consulting agency. Lentz mentioned she has been ghosted a number of instances lately — typically not listening to again in any respect, and different instances attending to the interview course of, just for the recruiter to go silent.
“I don’t care for automated rejection letters, but would prefer that, just to have closure,” she mentioned.
Ebbing demand for conventional consulting companies has prompted job cuts and slower hiring at corporations like Accenture Plc, Ernst & Younger and McKinsey & Co. Uncertainty across the US presidential election and renewed considerations a few looming recession have additionally cooled a market the place profitable jobs have been plentiful simply two years in the past.
Progress within the US consulting market slowed final yr to five.2%, in response to Supply International Analysis, an business researcher, down from 14% the earlier yr, as practically half of corporations that use consultants mentioned they have been scaling again, deferring or canceling initiatives. The researcher forecasts development of about 6% this yr.
Slower Hiring
“When the economy is hot, you have to treat job candidates better and make decisions faster,” mentioned Jon Stross, co-founder and president of Greenhouse, whose prospects put up a median of about 225,000 jobs a month. “When it flips and there are way too many candidates, it slows down decision making. Recruiters can wait for that perfect person, so they treat people worse and get away with it.”
On a Reddit board widespread amongst consultants, one individual complained about making use of for greater than 500 jobs with out discovering something. One other mentioned many roles “have gotten closed or put on hold,” a lot in order that they’re “no longer being picky.”
Such conduct is usually a results of recruiters getting overwhelmed by candidates in in the present day’s slower hiring market, in response to Hung Lee, the editor at Recruiting Brainfood, an business e-newsletter. Different causes of ghost jobs, Lee has mentioned, embody job listings that stay on-line lengthy after the place has been stuffed, a sudden hiring freeze, or when an exterior recruitment company posts a reproduction of a job that’s already been marketed by the employer.
“They’re not fake ads, just clones representing a real job,” he mentioned. “The effort to create a fake job is not worth the cost to do so.”
Shrinking Salaries
It’s not simply job-hunting consultants whose lives are getting more durable, those that are presently employed are additionally seeing slowing wage development.
The business’s wage will increase are projected to say no for the third straight yr, in response to the Convention Board, a enterprise suppose tank. The survey of compensation managers discovered that common wage budgets in consulting are set to rise simply 3.85% subsequent yr, a tick down from this yr and greater than a full share level beneath the practically 5% enhance in 2023.
Synthetic intelligence is driving among the uncertainty within the consulting job market. Companies are exploring the brand new applied sciences and won’t want the total companies consultants have to supply anymore.
“With the advent of new AI technology, what companies need is changing, and smaller, more nimble agencies have taken hold,” mentioned Diana Scott, US Human Capital Middle chief on the Convention Board. “The consulting industry is being disrupted now.”
