I am considering going (back) into consulting, but have a slight financial problem: a retention bonus.If I leave my company, I will have to pay back around £20k worth of bonuses due to the clawback clauses my company put in place (don't get me started).I would be equivalent to manager / senior manager i.e. expecting around £75k salary - however, I don't have the capital to buy-out my bonus. So my questions: How likely is is that an employer would give me a 'welcome bonus' or similar to help manage the transition? Which firms would be more likely to do this? And how would you suggest I go about approaching the subject with them?Thanks in advance!

Sell yourself first, once they have bought that they will talk terms. You can then explain your situation.You will however need to consider that you are in a competitive situation against other candidates adn that you might have to consider taking a loan to bridge the gap.You might get a lawyer to look over your exit clauses too.

Interesting question, and a connundrum more people may start to face as they are becoming more common now that the banks are being forced to use them.Accenture are reasonably well known for giving a sign-on bonus - this would help mitigate. I'm not sure what kind of payments people receive however - someone else may be able to shed light on this for you?

ACN typically only give signing-on bonuses to Grads at Analyst level. Believe it is split over 2 years and has clauses that claw back if the individual leaves under a certain time...

I know someone that went in at C3 and got a 'sign-on' bonus, didn't ask how much it was though.