Consultants looking for work are increasingly chasing ghosts. Job postings for consulting positions with no hiring activity, also known as “Ghost jobs“, has reached a two-year high, according to data from recruitment platform Greenhouse.
While the number of ghost jobs in the financial and technology sectors has declined, the proportion of ghost jobs in management consulting – an indicator of the white-collar economy – rose to 31 percent in the second quarter. Two years ago, the figure was 26 percent, and the proportion is thus significantly higher than the average for the entire labor market.
This shift is leaving many job seekers frustrated in an industry where the best and brightest have always had their pick of employers. Consultants also lament the experience of ghosting, a similar phenomenon in which the recruiter cuts off all communication during a hiring and interview process without explanation.
“It can be so terrible,” said Michelle Lentzwho is on the job market after a recent layoff at a boutique consulting firm. Lentz said she has been ignored several times recently – sometimes she hasn’t received a response at all, and other times she has made it to the interview but the recruiter hasn’t followed up.
“I don’t like automated rejection letters, but I’d rather have one just to have closure,” she said.
Declining demand for traditional consulting services Job cuts And slower setting at companies like Accenture Plc, Ernst & Young and McKinsey & Co. Uncertainty surrounding the US presidential elections and renewed Issue about an impending recession have also cooled a market in which lucrative jobs plenty just two years ago.
According to industry researcher Source Global Research, growth in the US consulting market slowed to 5.2 percent last year. Last year, growth was 14 percent. Almost half of the companies that use consultants said they were scaling back, postponing or canceling projects. The researcher predicts growth of around 6 percent for this year.
Slower setting
“When the economy is booming, you have to treat applicants better and make decisions faster,” said Jon StrossCo-founder and president of Greenhouse, whose clients post an average of about 225,000 job postings per month. “When it tips over and there are way too many applicants, it slows down the decision-making process. Recruiters can wait for the perfect person, so they treat people worse and get away with it.”
On a Reddit plank This method is popular among consultants. One person complained that they had applied for over 500 jobs without finding anything. Another said many positions were “unfilled or put on hold,” so many that they were “no longer selective.”
Such behavior may be a result of recruiters being overwhelmed by applicants in today’s slower hiring market, Hung LeeEditor at Recruiting Brainfood, an industry newsletter. Other causes of ghost jobs, Lee has saidThese include job advertisements that remain online long after the position has already been filled, a sudden hiring freeze, or when an external recruitment agency advertises a position twice even though it has already been advertised by the employer.
“These are not fake ads, they are just clones that represent a real job,” he said. “The effort of creating a fake job is not worth the cost.”
Falling salaries
Life is not only getting harder for consultants looking for a job; those currently employed must also expect wage growth to slow.
The industry’s salary increases are expected decline for the third year in a row, according to the Conference Board, a corporate think tank. The survey of compensation managers found that average salary budgets in consulting will increase by just 3.85% next year, a bit less than this year and more than a full percentage point less than the nearly 5% increase in 2023.
Artificial intelligence is one reason for uncertainty in the consulting job market. Companies are exploring the new technologies and may no longer need the comprehensive services that consultants offer.
“With the advent of new AI technologies, the needs of companies are changing and smaller, more flexible agencies have prevailed,” said Diana ScottHead of the US Human Capital Center at the Conference Board. “The consulting industry is currently undergoing a transformation.”