Why Consulting Partner Recruitment Is Unlike Any Other Executive Search

Why Consulting Partner Recruitment Is Unlike Any Other Executive Search

We often get asked to help place Partners for consulting firms, and it's one of the most interesting challenges in executive search. What makes it particularly tricky is that these searches almost always involve full team moves - which adds layers of complexity we rarely see in other searches.

With my background in both management consulting and executive search, clients often come to me for these searches, and the conversations always reveal just how different this type of recruitment really is.

It's such a specialized area, and we've picked up some insights along the way that might be useful for others dealing with this topic.

Why It's a Completely Different Game

When we recruit a CEO or CFO, we are usually working with a pool of 20+ or even 50+ potential candidates, narrowing down to around 5 solid options. For consulting Partner searches? Success often means finding 2-3 people willing to have serious conversations that carry through. Across the various Partner searches we’re handling, this pattern often holds true.

Here's what makes them so different:

The Motivation Challenge

Most successful Consulting Partners just aren't looking to move. This is the core challenge. If they're doing well, they're either building their case for partnership or already have good client relationships and internal networks. The thinking goes like this:

• If you're on track to make Partner, why restart that multi-year journey somewhere else?

• If you're already a Partner with good client relationships, you've spent years building your internal network - why throw that away?

• If you're a high-performing Partner, you're making good money and have success and status - what would make you leave?

Most successful Consulting Partners just aren't looking to move. This is the core challenge.

And the dynamic is totally different from regular executive searches. In most companies, there's fierce competition for just a handful of top spots on the Board, which is why executives are eager to explore external opportunities. But in Consulting? If you're good at what you do and make your case, you can pretty much work your way up to Partner. The firms are growing and built like pyramids, so there's room for talented people to advance.

There's this German concept of "Wechselmotivation" (motivation to change) that really fits here - basically, why change when things are working?

A Super-Limited Candidate Pool

This means the candidate pool is super limited. Mostly we're looking at:

• Partners being pushed out ("counsel out" in consulting speak)

• Partners unhappy about organizational changes, or who disagree with their firm’s direction

• Partners seeking to boost their career (better “tier”, better brand and story they believe in, promotion hire to next level)

• Partners with personal reasons (wanting to move cities, etc.)

Not a huge pool of people, right? And the few who are interested in a move will be pursued by other consulting firms, too.

Not a huge pool of people - and the few who are interested in a move will be pursued by other consulting firms, too.

Making The Pool Even Smaller: Geography…

The talent pool shrinks incredibly quickly. Tell me you only want a successful Partner with a specific functional and industry focus, only in a small market like Austria, and we might be looking at potential talent in the single digits. Open it up to DACH and we're in better shape, but it's still pretty limited.

… And The Firm Hierarchy Dance

This one's interesting - Partners from top-tier firms (think McKinsey or BCG) usually only move to 2nd or mid-tier firms with really compelling reasons. Also lateral moves between similar tiers need strong stories beyond just money. It's not just about compensation - it's about where your career is heading and how the market sees you. And Partners from lower-tier or smaller firms might be eager to move up, but hiring firms sometimes hesitate.

The Partnership Structure Maze

Every consulting firm has different partnership structures - equity partnerships, limited liability models, corporate structures where "partner" is just a title, different voting rights and governance involvement, totally different capital requirements… This makes comparing opportunities nearly impossible and requires really understanding both where the candidate is now and what the target firm offers.

And Teams Are Everything

Here's the big one that catches people off guard: Successful Partners need their teams to be effective. Unlike other executive roles where someone can come in and slowly build a team, Partners often need to hit the ground running with existing client work.

Successful Partners need their teams to be effective.

The team move is where it gets really complex. In most of our Consulting Partner searches, we end up talking about team moves because:

• Partners just can't deliver value without strong teams

• Starting from scratch internally takes way too long

• Client relationships often depend on keeping the team together

But team moves bring their own headaches: complex processes, many different perspectives, higher costs, integration challenges, legal complexity and timing nightmares. It's like running multiple executive searches at the same time while managing all these moving parts and relationships.

Why We Actually Love This Work

Despite all the complexity (or maybe because of it), I really enjoy these searches. They require understanding not just the candidates and the hiring firm, but the whole consulting ecosystem - competitive dynamics, cultural differences between firms, how client relationships work, team structures, all of it.

Plus, it's taught us a lot about change management and organizational dynamics that we use in other types of executive search too.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

• Marion Heil is the founder and managing director of Board+CEO Advisors. She is based in Vienna.