The Top-Consultant.com report on salaries in the consulting industry has just recently been published – and confirms what many in the industry have long suspected.

The industry is now polarised between the Haves and the Have Nots.

For those whose skills are in demand, earnings, promotion and bonus prospects have rebounded to the levels seen in the years when the industry was booming. Whilst pay rises have accelerated to 5.6% for those who received one, nearly 4 in 10 consulting professionals received no pay rise this last year. There’s a similar pattern to bonus payments too – with significant bonuses being paid to many, but a sizeable minority receiving no bonus payment at all.

Pursuing a career in management consultancy can be a richly rewarding decision, from the perspective of both personal growth and financial reward. The following discussion of the pros and cons of big and small consultancies is part of a serialisation of more than 100 pages of career editorial from The Definitive Guide to UK Consulting Firms. Professionals seriously considering the option of furthering their career in consulting may download the full guide using this link.

Big firms vs.

Early in January this year, I made a series of predictions about the consulting industry that would impact those pursuing a career in consultancy this year. One of my strongest assertions was that “Changing jobs is probably your best chance of (securing) a decent pay hike in 2010”.

Tough times lie ahead for those in the consulting industry, make no mistake. Based on my soundings of both leading global brands and niche consultancies, employees have had enough – and are choosing to show this by walking out the door. All the while, lop-sided client demand means firms can do little to sweeten the pill.

With everyone trying to figure out what the economic downturn means for the consulting sector, I thought you might appreciate me sharing the insights I’ve gained from a series of meetings I’ve had these last weeks as part of the roll-out of the ConsultancyRoleFinder service?

Certainly since my last blog post the recession has started to hurt the UK consulting sector - and to impact the amount of recruitment that's taking place.

"Where did all the consulting jobs go?" -- it's a headline I've had filed away to use whenever the current banking turmoil started to spill over into the consulting sector.

Yet after 2 days spent with 500-odd consulting recruiters, I have to conclude that the consulting sector hasn't yet been that badly impacted. With the exception of a few isolated hiring freezes and practice-specific redundancy programmes, there's been no bloodbath for the consulting industry thusfar.

Just seen a piece that appeared in the Observer this weekend, "The price of dubious advice - £100bn a year".

I'm once again incensed by the reporting of our industry as one built on false promises and deception. Take a read of the article and do post your thoughts on the following forum thread which I've created to allow us to discuss and rubbish this. For what it's worth, here's the reply I've sent to Simon at the Observer - though not holding my breath to see them publish it...

There seem to be really mixed messages out there at present - lots of firms seem to be thriving and recruiting really aggressively. But then can consulting really be escaping any fall-out from the credit crunch and the barrage of doomsday headlines we've been seeing?

So I thought I'd turn to you our readers for the definitive view. Let me know your thoughts on the following 3 questions and the results of the poll will appear on screen when you hit submit.

This week I was invited to write a piece for the Consulting Special that appeared in the Evening Standard on 19th February. It's my take on the yo-yo fortunes of the consulting industry over the last few months - and the more positive landscape that now lies ahead. Would be interested to hear your thoughts on my take, so do submit your comments below...

Many Top-Consultant readers will already know the name Don Leslie. One of the founder-directors of Management Consultancy recruitment specialists BLT, Don is one of our industry's best-known recruiters.