In a consulting firm, your first year does not depend only on you. It depends largely on the engagements you are placed on: their industry, their length, the quality of the manager, the level of exposure to the client. This assignment has a name, staffing, and yet it remains one of the mechanisms least explained to newcomers. Many discover it through practice, sometimes at their own expense. This article describes what staffing is, who decides, what it changes for your career and your reviews, and how to steer your engagements without damaging your reputation.
What staffing means
Staffing refers to assigning consultants to engagements. For each new engagement sold, the firm has to put together a team: a responsible partner, a manager, and one or more consultants. At the end of each engagement, consultants become available and have to be reassigned.
Two constraints weigh permanently on this mechanism:
- utilisation: a consultant who is not on a billable engagement costs the firm without bringing in revenue. Staffing therefore seeks to limit periods without an engagement;
- the match between profiles and needs: a due diligence engagement in healthcare requires different profiles from a transformation programme in industry.
A development objective adds to these two constraints: a firm has an interest in making its consultants progress, by giving them varied engagements early in their careers, then gradually more specialised ones.
In most generalist firms, the first years are spent in a “pool”: juniors are not attached to a practice and can be assigned to engagements in any industry. McKinsey, for example, states in its Business Analyst posting that new joiners work on multiple engagements across different industries and functions, and that many choose, after two years as a generalist, a year-long rotation with a practice or another office. At EY-Parthenon 🔗, teams can specialise, if they wish, after about four years of experience.
Who makes the decisions
How it works varies from one firm to another, but three players are generally involved.
The staffing manager (staffing manager, resource manager or coordinator depending on the firm). They hold the overall view: who is available, when, with what skills, and which engagements are starting. In large offices it is a full-time role, sometimes held by a team. They propose assignments and arbitrate conflicts.
Partners and managers. They are the ones who sell and lead engagements. They express their needs and, often, their preferences for particular consultants they have already worked with. An influential partner can “ask for” a specific consultant, which weighs heavily in the decision.
The consultant themselves. They express preferences for an industry, a type of engagement or a location, generally through a discussion with the staffing manager or an internal form. Their room for manoeuvre is real, but limited by the other two players.
In small firms and boutiques, staffing is often informal: one or two partners decide directly, as engagements are sold.
What staffing changes for your career
Assignment has effects that go well beyond the content of an engagement.
It determines what you learn. A six-week strategy engagement does not teach the same things as a six-month transformation programme at the client’s site. Both are useful, but their sequence shapes your profile.
It conditions your review. In most firms, the annual review relies on feedback from the managers and partners you worked with. A demanding but fair manager, an engagement where you had visibility in front of a partner, a client who appreciated your work: these elements weigh directly on your progression.
It builds your internal network. Partners who know you will ask for you again. This is often how consultants specialise: through a succession of engagements with the same partners, more than through a formal choice.
It prepares your exit. If you are thinking of one day joining a fund, a company in a specific industry or a given function, the engagements you have done will be your main argument. Our article on presenting engagements on a CV shows how these choices are then read.
One point deserves to be said frankly: an extended period without an engagement (the “beach”, or time between assignments) is not a fault, but it is noticed if it recurs. It is often an opportunity to work on proposals or internal projects, which count too.
Expressing your preferences at the right time
The consultants who best steer their engagements are not those who insist the most, but those who speak up at the right time and in the right way.
Before an engagement ends. Let the staffing manager know a few weeks before your availability date, with clear preferences: an industry, a type of engagement, a skill to develop. Once you are available, the choice is often made in a hurry.
With a development rationale. “I would like to do a due diligence engagement because I have never done one and it is a point in my review” is more convincing than “I do not like operations engagements”.
By maintaining your network. Partners and managers in a practice that interests you can ask for you if they know you. Offer to help on a proposal, attend practice meetings, show your interest.
By staying flexible on the essentials. A consultant who sets too many conditions ends up being seen as hard to staff, which is paid for at review time.
The strategy consultant CV template shows an eighteen-month career with deliberately varied engagements: due diligence, growth, costs. This is the kind of balance staffing tries to produce early in a career.
Can you turn down an engagement?
Yes, but rarely, and never without a serious reason.
The reasons accepted in most firms are well known: a strong personal constraint (health, family, moving house), a conflict of interest (a client competing with a former employer, for example), or an obvious incompatibility with a commitment already made. In these cases, you should raise it early with the staffing manager and propose a solution.
Outside these situations, a refusal is frowned upon, especially early in a career. It is often more effective to accept the engagement and make it known, for the next one, what you want to avoid and why. Several firms also offer the possibility of a discreet conversation with a mentor or career counsellor, who can carry your request.
A special case: a long engagement at a distant client. It can be hard to live with, but it is also often formative and visible. Weigh it up before trying to avoid it.
What recruiters say about it in interviews
Staffing is a good subject for questions at the end of an interview. It shows that you can picture yourself in the job, and the answers teach you a lot about the firm.
A few useful questions:
- How are junior consultants assigned: generalist pool, attachment to a practice, a mix of both?
- From when can you specialise, and how?
- What weight do the consultant’s preferences carry in decisions?
- How are periods between engagements managed?
- What is the typical length of an engagement in your office?
The answers vary greatly. A firm that staffs mostly short strategy engagements offers variety; a transformation firm offers long engagements and more immersion at the client. Our article on advisory at the large networks shows how these logics differ across service lines.
For managers, staffing also becomes a responsibility: they build their teams and stand up for their consultants. The strategy consulting manager CV template shows the trace of this, with reviewing and coaching consultants listed among the responsibilities. And to keep a CV up to date engagement after engagement, ready for a review or an application, the ConseilCV editor keeps the layout from one version to the next and produces a PDF that screening tools can read.
Frequently asked questions
Is staffing the same for interns?
Generally, an intern is assigned to one or two engagements during the internship, chosen before arrival or in the first days. They have little choice, but they can tell the recruiter about their interests.
Can you choose your industry when you are hired?
Some firms hire directly into an industry or functional practice; others have everyone start as generalists. Ask during the process if it matters to you.
What should you do after a long period without an engagement?
Talk to the staffing manager and offer to contribute to proposals, practice work or training. These contributions are visible and count in the review.
Does staffing take into account where you live?
Often, as far as possible, especially for long engagements. But mobility is part of the job, and a consultant who refuses all travel greatly reduces their assignment options.