Does anyone if its typical for the Analyst bench to be quite large at this time of the year? Understand that it's approaching Christmas, so potentially less work being sold.Anyway, there are quite a lot of Analysts on the bench at the moment (and I've heard that graduate recruitment is frozen and those with current offers are being deferred); does anyone know what usually happens in this situation? I presume its cyclical. Are voluntary redundancies offered to those on the bench, or would it be expected for the bench to thin out in the next month or two?Newbie to the consulting world so your opinions are appreciated.

Bench Consultant...I would not send such a post overhere, not because it's inappropriate but because I doubt it would really help and the last thing you need is wild guess from someone who hardly knows anything specific about your case. I am not working for Accenture, even if I was it would be giving like advice for someone to succeed in china (basically too generic).I believe reputable consulting companies have a number formal advising channels other than your direct or line manager to whom you should raise such concerns. You could also talk to colleagues from your hiring wave and find out there current situation. Discuss with your adviser(buddy) the skills you need, inquire about the existing projects and talk to project managers and let know you are available and have interest in their projects.Being on bench is fine when you know there's an assignment in the horizon or a project has been on hold for some good reasons. But not seeing any opportunities is something that I would take seriously and should be regarded as a risk. There may also be some internal work that is not billable but would count as productive work like bids and tenders that could keep you busy for sometime till a proper project comes up.I cant stress enough on you need to talk to adviser. Make some noise.

Trying to get an analyst at the moment for my project, proving difficult, most of the benched analysts are being snapped up!!!