Not even a fifth of all consultants are women!

Consultancy companies are leading the way in demanding and looking for more female employees. Mixed teams achieve better results and clients of consulting agencies also demand women among the consultants: In a study conducted by Source Global Research in 2016, 90% of all female customers of consulting firms surveyed stated that they wanted more women in their consulting teams (found in JuniorConsultant.net).

According to Welt.de, in March, McKinsey announced that they would not only hire 500 new consultants in the DACH region, but that 50% of them would be women.

But it is not easy to find and keep these women. Although the job profile of consultants is becoming more flexible and more attractive that way, a lot of not so female stigmatized skills are necessary to be successful in a consultants career. These are for example negotiation skills, often strong rhetoric and/or sales skills and the emphasis on selling their own expertise which is central to being successful in consulting. No matter whether you are self-employed or an employed consultant. Women, however, typically prefer to have certificates speak for themselves, and tend to find it more difficult to do so in sales and negotiation situations (talking clichés, of course), especially when it comes to selling themselves. This makes it much harder for women to succeed in consulting. And the figures show it: The higher the management level in consulting, the fewer women there are among the managers.

That’s a GAP!

And according to Statista, the gap between the average gross salary of the monthly salary of male and female consultants is 2,661 euros per month. Per month!!! Yep: That’s a GAP! This is shocking and sad because I am a consultant in my heart and with passion and see great opportunities for everyone – not only women from this profession – to create a career of the future that is compatible with our values and rapid change.

Dear women in consulting, take the opportunity to explore this great profession. Use the flexibility, the opportunities in the market, and the demand! Pass on your expertise and let it be paid for. Let us tackle this gap together.