IT consultants show no hiring slowdown

The report, compiled from data provided by the MCA's 60 member firms, found banks paid an additional 155 million in fees to IT consultants in 2004 compared to 2003, a rise of 62%.

Recruitment firms working in the IT consulting sector say growth in fees is prompting a surge of hiring for IT consultants with investment banking experience. "Most IT consultants in the banking field have been hiring across the board," says Jonathan Ross, of Prism Executive Recruitment. "The market came back in 2004, and it's still buoyant now."

Miles Miller, director of capital markets recruitment at Spring Technology, a specialist IT recruiter, says all IT consultants working with investment banks are hiring: "Banks and asset managers are using IT consultants for everything from project management, systems implementation strategy and the general outsourcing of office processing systems."

IT consultants working in the investment banking market include the big four accountancy firms as well Accenture, Capco, MA Partners, City Practitioners, and Citihub.

The impetus for growth is simple, says John Moore, managing director of MA Partners: banks under-invested in IT during 2003 and 2004 and are now trying to catch up. Hugo Were, a partner at Accenture, says growth should remain strong in 2005: "Financial services companies are under pressure to be more efficient. Investing in technology is part of their response to these issues."

Moore says headcount at MA Partners rose 30%-40% during the last 12 months to around 100 people; he plans to hire additional consultants with five or more years experience of working on investment banking projects in the months to come.

Moving to consultancy? Tighten your belt

However, recruiters point to potential a sticking point in IT consultants' hiring plans, namely that most aim to hire from rival consultants. Miller says they could also hire project and programme managers directly from investment banks, but lower pay means few banking IT specialists want to make the move.

An IT project manager with seven years' experience in an investment bank can earn a total package of 200,000, says Miller. Ross says broad swathes of people with similar experience in the IT consulting market are on total packages in the region of 70,000.

Not all IT project managers in investment banks are suited to making the move into consultancy anyway, says Ross. Project management is usually only part of a consultant's role; consultants also need to develop solutions to problems and to sell their services. Ross says, "It is difficult for a person in a line role to gain the breadth of experience and knowledge to make that difference."