Consultants in search of work are more and more more likely to be chasing ghosts. Job listings for consulting roles with no hiring exercise, also called “ghost jobs,” hit a two-year excessive, in response to knowledge from hiring platform Greenhouse.
Whereas ghost jobs have declined in finance and expertise, these in consulting — a bellwether for the white-collar financial system — rose to 31% within the second quarter, up from 26% two years in the past and properly above the prevalence throughout the broader job market.
The shift is creating plenty of pissed off jobseekers in an trade the place the very best 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 clarification.
“It may be so terrible,” stated Michelle Lentz, who’s on the job market after a current layoff from a boutique consulting agency. Lentz stated 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 look after automated rejection letters, however would favor that, simply to have closure,” she stated.
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 issues a couple of looming recession have additionally cooled a market the place profitable jobs have been plentiful simply two years in the past.
Development within the US consulting market slowed final yr to five.2%, in response to Supply International Analysis, an trade researcher, down from 14% the earlier yr, as practically half of corporations that use consultants stated they have been scaling again, deferring or canceling tasks. The researcher forecasts development of about 6% this yr.
Slower Hiring
“When the financial system is sizzling, you need to deal with job candidates higher and make selections quicker,” stated Jon Stross, co-founder and president of Greenhouse, whose clients publish a median of about 225,000 jobs a month. “When it flips and there are means too many candidates, it slows down choice making. Recruiters can look ahead to that excellent individual, so that they deal with folks worse and get away with it.”
On a Reddit board well-liked amongst consultants, one individual complained about making use of for greater than 500 jobs with out discovering something. One other stated many roles “have gotten closed or placed on maintain,” a lot in order that they’re “now not being choosy.”
Such habits could be a results of recruiters getting overwhelmed by candidates in as we speak’s slower hiring market, in response to Hung Lee, the editor at Recruiting Brainfood, an trade publication. Different causes of ghost jobs, Lee has stated, 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 replica of a job that’s already been marketed by the employer.
“They’re not faux advertisements, simply clones representing an actual job,” he stated. “The trouble to create a faux job will not be value the fee to take action.”
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 trade’s wage will increase are projected to say no for the third straight yr, in response to the Convention Board, a enterprise assume 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 proportion level under the practically 5% enhance in 2023.
Synthetic intelligence is driving a few of 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 appearance of latest AI expertise, what firms want is altering, and smaller, extra nimble businesses have taken maintain,” stated Diana Scott, US Human Capital Middle chief on the Convention Board. “The consulting trade is being disrupted now.”