All (and Tony),I currently work in a major consulting firm where things are going well. An opportunity has arisen to move to a smaller, more specialist, consulting player to focus on my preferred service line / industry area.The current economic uncertainties have made what would normally be an easy decision much more difficult. Do you think it's a very risky strategy to trade the security of a large player (which hasn't historically made redundancies in tough times) for the flexibility of a (potentially more vulnerable) smaller organisation at this time?Thanks for your thoughts.

I left a major consultancy 3 years ago for a smaller business. 1 year later they made me redundant. I have had 2 years out of a job with a few interim assignments.So yes it is a risk. Of course you may get lucky. Only you can judge if the upside is worth it.

Depends on what they have in their pipeline. I would actually talk to them to see if they are hiring you in anticipation of upcoming projects or whether there is enough business to keep you busy the next year .I have a friend who joined a boutique and was told after joining that there isn't enough business at present and so everyone needs to take unpaid leave this year. They are anticipating more business in the coming year and want to save on contractors in case this does happen!

Some solid advice here I think. The move is a risk, there's no getting away from this. I can think of one niche consulting firm that went an entire quarter without any billings during the post-2008 crash, despite having entered the downturn with a strong roster of clients. But having said that, larger firms aren't immune either. They have a broader spread of clients and so are less exposed to any one ceasing to engage them, but even so it only needs a few key partners to leave for a practice at a large firm to need to make cuts in some of its offices.I agree with the advice to get as much information as you can from the prospective employer about their order book and pipeline of potential projects. You could also see what their appetite is for lengthening your notice period and removing any probation period as an indicator of how confident they are you'll still be with the business a year from now...Good luck with making the right call. It is crystal-ball gazing time out there at the moment...Tony RestellTop-Consultant.com