Hi all,Looking for help! Disillusioned analyst with 2 years' experience on MC and Strategy projects with Accenture. Overall I enjoy the work, regularly receive great feedback from colleagues, but am then told I have been "a victim of the system" when it came to a recent promotion period. I am not prepared to accept waiting for the next round (I appreciate a relatively small period in the grand scheme of a career, however it is the overall principle and future career progression I have an issue with) and believe I would be better suited to a more results-driven organisation with a less rigid promotion structure.Any advice or suggestions on smaller, up-and-coming consultancies would be greatly appreciated. I am keen to avoid moving from one large consulting firm to another, which could be equally as frustrating. But if any of them are better than ACN I'm all ears!I'm sure there are other similar threads out there, and apologies if so, however I struggled to find anything recent during a quick search.

What industries have you operated in/are interested in?

hi TomPrevious experience in Pharmaceutical & Healthcare and Transportation & Leisure.No specific industries of interest, other than ruling out public sector.

For smaller firms look at:CorvenMoorhouseBerkeley PartnershipBaringa PartnersDMW GroupBCSThey may not operate in the industries that you have experience in, but depending on what you're after they could be a good place to start.

Hmm. Don't be so quick to rule out public sector work, actually. The government is big - real big. And they waste TONS of money. Day rates are rubbish but the hours are great and the clients are easily impressed. As you become more senior, you can easily put loads of staff into your teams and have a nice little pyramid under you generating tons of cash at a very low margin (for consultancy). Plus, if you ever need to leave consultancy for work-life balance reasons, you can get a good job on a decent salary with very short hours and excellent perks (pension) in the public sector.What I would say you want to avoid is assuming that household-brand employers are the best ones. Sometimes the best companies to work for are the ones you've never even heard of!

Before you jump ship, what was your EOY rating?

Thanks for all the advice everyone, much appreciated that you've taken the time to reply.tom1 - have been approached about BCS before but didn't pay any attention. Bushy - that is a fair response to my statement and I will bear in mind. Only ruled out based on current experience and interests, but I will take what you've said on board.aa - EOY rating was SA/A, split across 2 projectsHave also heard North Highland are a good place to work, and have read the info on offer here. Does anyone have any personal anecdotes/information about whether they're hiring etc they might share?Thanks

Thanks for all the advice everyone, much appreciated that you've taken the time to reply.tom1 - have been approached about BCS before but didn't pay any attention. Bushy - that is a fair response to my statement and I will bear in mind. Only ruled out based on current experience and interests, but I will take what you've said on board.aa - EOY rating was SA/A, split across 2 projectsHave also heard North Highland are a good place to work, and have read the info on offer here. Does anyone have any personal anecdotes/information about whether they're hiring etc they might share?Thanks

If you got SA then won't you be an absolute shoe in for promotion in the next round? So your next opportunity for promotion will be in about 6 months time, right?If you're enjoying the role then it would seem like too much of a reaction for you to leave now..? It will happen many times in your career that you will feel like a "victim of the process". If this has happened to you, speak with your CC early next week and work up a plan for getting it nailed on in 6 months time. You'll just have to cut down on the nights out in Infernos for a little while...

[quote]If you got SA then won't you be an absolute shoe in for promotion in the next round? So your next opportunity for promotion will be in about 6 months time, right?If you're enjoying the role then it would seem like too much of a reaction for you to leave now..? It will happen many times in your career that you will feel like a "victim of the process". If this has happened to you, speak with your CC early next week and work up a plan for getting it nailed on in 6 months time. You'll just have to cut down on the nights out in Infernos for a little while...[/quote]Exactly, sounds like a decent trajectory for next June, not that far away! I think you're taking your non-promotion a little harshly and it will reflect on your CV forevermore if you leave now.Get your head down, get a plan for June and crack on. Spare a thought for the managers who didn't get SM who now have to wait until December 2015 for another crack at it! Already had the phone calls flooding in this week...

I get my performance rating at midday, so be prepared for a rant or hopefully silence whilst I go and celebrate my several percent payrise....and possible promotion.

Frio - you've got me bang to rights on the Infernos line, fair play! President - the issue for me isn't about promotion in June; without being overconfident, I think I would be a shoe-in then. The main point to me is about longer term than that and the fact that the system itself is unfair, and will continue to be so going forward; in 3 years time when going from C to M, and so on. I am therefore mulling over the pros/cons of a larger v smaller consulting firm, and where longer term I might enjoy and benefit from more. Agree that I am taking the decision hard, but that's because I do feel very hard done by to be earning less now than I was 2 years ago, when I have been operating at C level for the past 6 months.It's definitely not worth making any decisions now, and I'll certainly be taking a week minimum to let things settle down, before planning next steps. The decision to stick or twist is a really tough one though, and I don't think I'll ever be 100% whatever decision I come to...Anyway, good luck Frio with your rating news!Any other advice or opinions from others would be greatly appreciated, especially around recommendations/information on smaller firms.

moonpigThere's no harm in starting to look around but, I think the issue is that if you leave now, then you risk being seen later on as someone who didn't make it to promotion and any attempt to explain it in interviews (5-10 years down the track) will come across as whinging.I had a similar experience. I'd advise:1) Formally but politely share you frustration at missing out this time2) Nail it next time3) Leave with the promotion on your CV in black and whiteYou can't believe how many people I interview who tell me "I was just about to make consultant/manager/senior manager/even partner(!) when I decided to leave"I almost never believe them.

+1

+2 These days Analyst to Consultant is about the only promotion point you can really "bank on", obviously with strong rating etc. Anything after that, well, another story!Get the promotion and pay rise in June and then sail off into the sun set...

[quote]There's no harm in starting to look around but, I think the issue is that if you leave now, then you risk being seen later on as someone who didn't make it to promotion and any attempt to explain it in interviews (5-10 years down the track) will come across as whinging.[/quote]What's the definition of "whinging"? Is it when someone who has been working hard -and expected to be rewarded for that- decides to leave a company which does not compensates its employees proportionaly to their contribution? Because that's the explanation I would give if I was asked on an interview...Now if the interviewer had in mind to follow the above example, then it would be best for both of us if we didn't work together after all...

With a persuasive delivery, that approach may well work for junior interviews, but at the more senior end people tend to want to see hard evidence of achievement."I worked hard" is a subjective description of what you put in."I was rewarded with promotion" is a non-subjective achievement.

Most consultants make up their achievements.

That's correct, obviously. I was answering to a previous post of yours however.something that had to with leaving a company if no promotion which might be perceived as "whinging".And I firmly believe that someone has every right to expect to be compensated proportionaly to his hard work. Almost every consultant I know works hard, people who get promoted do not necessarily fall into this category however.And that's whinging :-)

[quote]That's correct, obviously. I was answering to a previous post of yours however.something that had to with leaving a company if no promotion which might be perceived as "whinging".And I firmly believe that someone has every right to expect to be compensated proportionaly to his hard work. Almost every consultant I know works hard, people who get promoted do not necessarily fall into this category however.And that's whinging :-)[/quote]I've seen people work very hard, however their work has been of poor quality and ineffective. Do they deserve to get promoted?

Interesting argument.If someone is motivated to work hard and cannot produce work of high quality then I can only think a couple of reasons:a) he is not trained well enough, so the company has ineffective training processes.b) he is assigned tasks that do not fit their strengths, so the company has misplaced them in a role that does not fit them.b) their supervisor cannot explain effectively what he expects them to do, so the supervisor should haven't been promoted, or should have been better trained etc. (same things apply to the role of the supervisor as well).d) he is utterly stupid and cannot produce work of high quality no matter what. In that case he should not have been hired at the very beginning, so consequently the company has ineffective hiring processes :-pCompanies are systems (or organisations for some). Not Premier League.

Sorry BEP, I seem to have inadvertently reported your comment and the monitor has deleted it!Where is that button when I'm in Steercos!?

Yes, if they're friends with the Partners then they deserve to be promoted. Apparently.