Fee fodder versus emotional labour

I attended a focus group last week to help one of the top five global consultancy firms develop their "Employment Value Proposition."

No matter how engaging their proposition, it is unlikely to attract me to work for them. But I was curious about the process, and as I’m naturally a bit gobby; it didn’t seem like a bad way to spend a couple of hours.

Most of the group were about to become second jobbers. A group of bright young things recruited during the milk round at their universities that have cut their teeth over the last 3 years on a graduate training programme with a large firm. A smaller group were well on their way to their third or fourth firm. They had over 10 years experience of time sheets, 60 hour weeks, utilisation targets and budget hotels in provincial towns.

Two distinct views on consultancy clients evolved.

The younger group of my fellow ‘focusers’ were passionate about the act of consulting. They described clients as the ‘key data source’ that should get out of the way when the consulting team are developing their solution. They put consultants on a par with investment bankers based on the importance of their decision making and superior knowledge, and without any sense of irony. (Sub-prime anybody?)

The ‘experienced’ group described their genuine interest in client’s domains and about building an emotional link with clients. They advocated empathy for the client’s desired outcomes and personal agendas

Very little differentiates the big consulting firms, hence the research. Each has had their public success and failures. They are derided by politicians, despite the public sector not being able to function without them. They fight for the same work in what is largly a zero sum gain market.

So why do they persist in recruiting graduates on the promise of becoming a master of the universe?

Consultants bring some subject matter expertise, but mostly they bring their own flavour of problem solving process. Both of which can be copied. Veteran ‘fee fodder’ consultants understand the emotional value of their work that adds real value to this. They are therefore personally successful, employable and more content on a day to day basis.

The first of the big 5 to embrace the ’emotional’ side of their work will attract and retain people that can build a real connection with clients from the get go. They will create better client outcomes, win more business and not need to ask old cynics like me, that would never work for them in the first place, how to brand their recruitment.