Consulting or corporate experience – which makes for a better candidate?

A question that often comes up when clients of mine are looking to hire a procurement professional is whether to hire someone with direct corporate experience in procurement or someone from management consulting.

The answer to this question is also useful for candidates to know as they plan out their career, since the different experience you will gain, and how that experience is perceived by others, will undoubtedly determine which doors are opened to you come interview time.

There are, of course, pros and cons to each that should be considered carefully.

Management Consulting

Wide-ranging experience. Anyone who’s worked in management consultancy will tell you it’s a bit like drinking from a firehose—you take a huge amount of information in over a very short space of time. Consultants work across a diverse range of projects, industries, situations, and solutions. Sometimes, a year or two will see them working on the array of projects that their corporate counterparts will only see in a decade. Of course, you do get used to this kind of pace and diversity, both of which can be difficult to replicate in a corporate role – this is why we see some former consultants return to their roots after companies have struggled to keep them engaged and interested (see Commitment below).

Customer-centric. Management consultants are results-driven and focus on what’s best for the person or business that hired them. They are good at staying customer-orientated rather than going off track with other issues within a company.

Intellect. Many consultants are known for having strong intellectual capability and analytical horsepower. They’ll have learned how to quickly get their head around a complex problem, place it in context, and develop the best solution to get results.

Perceived Lack of Liability. Often, consultants are seen to “fly in,” implement a solution, and “fly out” again, so they can lack accountability. If they only work on a project for six months, they have no idea if it will be sustainable two years down the line. Nor will they have to deal with the internal politics and the real impact a project can have on multiple stakeholders down the line—and they won’t have to deal with it if it fails.

Travel.  As a side note—and for anyone considering consulting—know that the need to travel extensively is still by and away the most common reason that people look to leave the industry. It can be a lot of fun for a while, but being away from home every Monday through Thursday does wear on you after a while, particularly if your personal circumstances change or you’re looking to start a family.

Corporate Experience

Accountability. A corporate professional takes full ownership of a problem and implements its solution over a more extended period. They will remain accountable if things go wrong and have more experience working out what’s realistic for a company to achieve.

Relationship management. Part of this accountability means they will still have to work with people who are impacted by their decision. Therefore, corporate professionals will frequently have more experience engaging with various stakeholders over a long period, leveraging the relationships they have developed and the influence they have earned to drive sustainable change and resolve conflict.

Commitment. A corporate professional expects to be in a role for several years. While a management consultant is used to switching up projects every few months and may get bored, corporate professionals will likely stay engaged and interested for longer.

Salary. Consultants often command a much higher salary, even after fewer years of experience, than a corporate professional might. It’s worth considering what skills you value, and what your budget is, before making a decision.

Life experience. This brings us to an interesting question. While consultants do learn a lot in a short time, and may have access to more technical knowledge, concepts and/or technology, that rather elusive “commercial maturity” will take time to develop and may be stronger in a corporate candidate who has spent more time on the job, albeit across a far narrower scope of work.

Who to hire?

This question will be increasingly prevalent over the coming years. As procurement becomes an ever more important focus of many companies, we have seen a significant increase in the number of procurement consultants out in the market. Twenty years ago, it was mainly the Big Four consultancies, and a handful of other specialists with procurement specific advisory and outsourcing practices—but now, far more boutique and standalone procurement consultancies are emerging, and thriving. This means that a larger number of candidates will have consultancy experience, or least the option of pursuing it through their career. Who will be a better candidate largely depends on the individual, the role in question, and what an organization can reasonably offer them and their career—both short and long-term.

As a hiring manager, would you hire someone from consulting, or someone who’s worked in the procurement function within an organization directly? Or perhaps you would try find someone who has experience on both sides, and who can draw on the advantages of each?