Given the parlous state of the global economy, would we rather be in Blue Chip Companies which has Consulting as part of a wider portfolio, or smaller, more agile niche Consultancies? I only ask because I'm thinking of switching from one to the other. All thoughts welcomed.

bigger is not necessarily better. a friend of mine has just moved from a large firm to a small firm (Qedis) and couldnt be happier. they have more work coming in than they can handle apparently, and things have never been busier. i am thinking of applying myself. however i know of another small firm who are not doing that well (consulting stream) and may be making redundancies. so it does depend on the firm themselves as well.

I wonder if I am smell a hr troll. Why mention the smaller company and not the larger one?

It is impossible to generalise: I’ve just read a thread from someone in a small strategy firm who is both bored out of their mind and terrified because there is no work. You need to do as much due diligence as possible to check out the security of the smaller firm but keep in mind that hundreds, possibly thousands of consultants in large firms lost their jobs from 2001-2003. One really important consideration however is that it is much easier to move from a large firm to a small firm than vice versa. The point is that, while a small firm can be an excellent move it’s something of a one way ticket in my experience. Good luck. Chris Sale, MD, Prism Executive Recruitment

This really depends on at what stage of your career you are at.For a fresh graduate out of school, brand name should have heavier weighting in your decision-making, because you really don't know what sort of work environment/culture is suitable for you. A bigger brand will allow you to jump easier once you have that figured out. (Many of course find their perfect spot for their first job).If you are more experienced, have the brand name already, then just follow the interesting work, the people and the compensation. However, a lot of boutiques are subject to the famine-or-feast syndrome. Exceptions are certain boutiques who just do repeat work for a few very long time clients - which defeats the point of working in MC, since it's variety you are after?