Apologies, as it seems there are a few threads of this ilk, but mine's a slightly different slant.I'm 31, graduated some 9 years ago in Accounting and French from a top tier uni, and 'fell' into project managment. 9 Years later, I'm still in project management, thats spanned across 4 industries. I've been in IT services SaaS solutions for the past year and recently had a bit of a jerry mcguire moment, and wanted to move into consultancy.So folks, I've tried all sorts. Going through the complete spectrum of usual suspects, problem is the big corporates, despite my very best attempts to shout from the hill tops about my 'transferable skillset', will only accept graduates or applicants with a few years commercial experience under their belt in the vehicle of associate consultants - and it ain't easy getting noticed in their ATS (applicant tracking system). As for the more niche ones, they don't seem to be as progressive or 'different' (despite their corporate site credo's) and really would rather stick with the safety of a blueprint profile for an aspiring consultant than something well, a bit different.My question is: are there any sophisticated things i'm not thinking of or shall i accept my fate and move back into project management for another year until I find that eureka idea and exercise commercial world dominance (seriously you heard it here first!)Even considering some social media engagement with a youtube video as an interesting take on a covering note.Brucie bonus points for the most creative/helpful answer - and you'll get a footnote mention in my hugely anticipated autobiography when it comes out in a few years time!Jimbo.

try small companies... small companies more often look at the person rather than the company they worked at previously...

You are thinking about this all wrong. The issue isn't that the consulting firms are not buying into you, its that their clients wont buy in to you - and why should they? Customers of consulting firms are paying for a product and they want to know that product will be well that product. You don't pay for a chocolate ice cream to be told, we thought we would delight and surprise you with this savoury pretzel instead.Not really a Jerry McGuire moment either - unless you mean you woke up in the full glare of the lightbulb moment thinking 'I want to make more money'. Life changing Im sure.Consulting is a conservative career and the hiring parameters reflect that. You wont find 'progressive' there because it doesn't fit your notion of 'progressive' - I suspect that what you actually want is a more Gen Y type environment, so you feel reinvested in what you are doing. My advice, forget consulting, look at the smaller tech businesses around SaaS and focus on their culture - what you really want is that Googleesquey outfit, not KPMG.

Difficult for me to comment as i made the move with a few years of industry exp behind me, non PM that is. what i would say is the big 4 are on a general recruitment binge. Specific targeted apps, you have a skillset but consulting is a whole new ball gameBeware the easy in and cull after a year however, excel and survive as always. ( more a personal note for me)Apologies for cryptic nature of message, 4 very long days behind me.Will post something more useful tomorrow

would appreciate it, thanks DTBunk.

You need to leverage your industry experience, your skill set is different and the big4 need to inject those skills into their talent bank, on occasion.Previous posters are right, getting into the firm is a reflection of their opinion of your sale-ability. In three lines tell us what you want to be doing as a consultant - board regulars, sarky comments to a minimum.

DTBunk, want to get into consultancy for three main reasons. (i) the opportunityy to engage with different customer segments within multi channel projects. (ii) exposure to cutting edge thinking and (iii) it suits my personality.I appreciate I could articulate it a bit better than that, but that's it really.In terms of attacking the big 4, would you recommend just applying through their recruitment system (which ive yet to do) or perhaps trying to get the hiring managers contact details and emailing directly?

James, good to see you thought about the above !-CVWith regards to practicalities, you will come in as an industry hire, so your cv needs to display deep technical knowledge, this then needs to be framed through a consultancy lense, the experiences and skills you display need to be relevant.This isn't me being woolly, but if not clear let me know.-TargetYou need to find the right job! Sounds simple, but with the no. of applicants, if you are an outlier you will drop out quickly. -TailorOnce you have the basic cv it needs to be tailored to the job, if you can't easily identify how you meet the job spec, the recruiter sure as hell won't.- MiscNot to rubbish your direct approach, with the nature of consulting, i'd say it would be difficult to find a manager who would stick their neck out. Soneone on the inside helps, tap your network, see what you can find, a direct internal referral will see your cv jump to the top of a recruiters list, but you still need to hit the job spec.I won't question your desire to get into a big 4 firm, the people/projects/clients are great, so keep going!

With regret, I don't think I can migrate my deep technical knowledge of PM within a SaaS environment towards a management consultancy role, simply because it's not that relevant unless I'm talking about overall skills that can be transferred...Completely agree it seems a backdoor approach would be best as applying through the normal routes will amount to a tirade of rejections. In short it's a bit of a recruiting quagmire! Unfortunately I don't know anyone in the consultancy space, so alas it's back to an innocuous job pm-ing!I appreciate God loves a trier, but I think I've got to accept reality. As you say, line managers will seldom stick their necks out for a left of centre candidate!

Diasgree completely if you are a SME you have the knowledge to consult but not the methods, second bit is your weakness and what you need to acknowledge but show awareness of.View1: Consultants have experience of methods and relevant projects.View2: People from industry have experience of doing the doing. They cant sell you yet, but with a polish and the right projects in the firm, you transfer those doing skills into a pretty powerpoint deck and call yourself a Change consultant specialising in migrations from x to SaaS.Show the right motivations and they will invest in you.If you can convince yourself, everyone else will follow.If you can pm on here drop me a message

Thanks DTBunk, appreciate the alacrity, considering you must be fairly busy yourself. There doesn't seem to be a pm facility on here, but you seem to have quite a comprehensive insight into the market, and it'd be good to get your thoughts (perhaps even send my cv, so you can see the challenges i'm really up against).Appreciate you're doing this pro bono and that's not lost on me, so genuinely appreciate your time. My email address is j_p_u@hotmail.co.ukcheers.