I don't think you'll see much of a difference from March to April. The vast majority of hiring within the consulting industry at present is being driven by replacement hiring / staff attrition rates - that's to say firms having to recruit to simply replace staff who've decided to move to a competitor (or indeed leave consulting altogether). A year ago at the major firms staff attrition was running at 7-8% per year (ie. 7-8% of staff leaving each year). The comparable figure now is around 20% - so firms are having to recruit 1/5 of their existing headcount just for the business to stand still.There's always a bit of juggling around the time of firms' financial year ends. Sometimes costs can't be incurred until the next financial year has begun; but in some cases departments will also find they are sat on unused budget that they will lose if it is not spent by the end of the financial year end. So it's not even always the case that this date produces a delay in hiring activity.As regards contracting versus permanent, I'd suggest that which way you go here should be a decision taken for long-term strategic reasons and not simply because one is a little more buoyant than the other right now. The two involve different lifestyles and stresses; have repercussions for your long term career options... to such an extent that I would not advocate making the decision of which to opt for based on the state of the market in each.Tony RestellTop-Consultant.com
