I’ve been triggered in my chats with candidates recently especially with the term work life balance in consulting.
I’ve worked with Management Consultants for 20+ years, and work life balance in consulting has always been one of the reasons strategy candidates explore new opportunities.
Typically, long hours and extensive travel came hand in hand with working for a top tier consulting firm.
Often, whilst consultants were young, this was even seen as appealing. Do 4+ years in a MBB and doors open for you wherever you go.
So, the topic of balance is one I have discussed for many years. Strategy consultants have always endured working long hours since management consulting began.
However, in the current market, with massive shortages in talent in the strategy sector, the inability to hire consultants from overseas and massive attrition in both in consulting and corporate teams, those team members left behind are picking up the slack.
I am constantly hearing from candidates, at all levels, on the verge of absolute burn out and it really worries me.
And sure the term work life balance in consulting is all relative.
But I am talking about driven and ambitious people that still want to be stretched and challenged at work. They want to work hard and do not mind putting in the hours to be successful.
They do not want a 9-5 but crave the ability to have a decent night’s sleep, not working into the early hours, constantly, and having their families pull them aside concerned for their health.
Having suffered from adrenal fatigue myself, I know the warning signs well. (See link below to a podcast where I talk about my personal experience).
It creeps up on you especially if you are in a high performance environment where everyone is working hard and at pace.
At first you feel wired and tired and before you know it, you can no longer function properly.
Chronic fatigue and brain fog are just two of the symptoms that can haunt you for months and there is no quick fix.
Then there is the massive change of identity.
Going from a high performer, with the ability to get sh*t done fast, to forgetting who you are emailing and why, and having to have a nanna nap every day.
It’s just like the story of the frog being put into cold water but the heat being turned up until boiling and the frog not even noticing.
But this is NOT ok.
Line managers may not even realise they are driving their teams to burn out given the remote working environment we have become accustomed to.
High performers may feel embarrassed at not being able to cope.
But trying to solve the problem when an employee resigns does not convey genuine care, it reeks of panic and often promises made in a state of panic will likely fall short in reality.
Whilst managers do have a responsibility to ensure the health of their teams, we are the captain of our own ships. The first step is recognising the signs and being vocal about needing support.
For anyone suffering with this right now, I listened to a great podcast that may help. Link of the podcasts below:
If you are interested in learning more about how Oaktree can help you secure your next strategy role or improve your hiring process, feel free to drop us a line or reach out to Anika for a confidential call. You may also read more about our insights and blogs here.
We are currently recruiting for a Brisbane-based Customer Strategy Manager with a huge focus on customer, for our client who is embarking on an exciting new chapter in their journey.
This organisation is ramping up their core activities and this newly created team will be leading the way in customer experience. They have a stellar Executive Leadership Team with a proven track record of success and deep experience in consumer-focused businesses.
Key Responsibilities:
Identify and develop the end-to-end design of an innovative customer experience proposition.
Develop a customer experience strategy and customer value proposition focusing on the end-to-end journey.
Work closely in partnership with various business and technology owners to support scoping and execution.
Lead the Customer Strategy team effectively by being a mentor, coach, and an inspiration to everyone on the team.
Communicate with stakeholders to design and drive delivery of customer-driven projects.
Manage and support project scoping and delivery.
Continuously improve the overall customer experience through ideation of future experiences.
Background & Experience:
Minimum of 3-7 years management consulting experience (ideally a top tier consulting firm)
Experience driving customer strategies
Execute transformational and strategic customer programs and projects to deliver against agreed KPIs
Has led high performing teams and has experience uplifting capability and engagement
Understands customer’s needs, creates distinctive value, and builds meaningful relationships.
Promotes the team, takes responsibility for its reputation in relation to the larger organisation and stakeholders
Ability to solve complex problems
If this position sounds like your dream role and you have the skills and experience to create the value and take this organisation to the next level, then please contact Amy Savage, email her at amy@oaktreetalent.com, or drop your CV below.
This company is an iconic Australian brand and we recruiting a Sydney-based Senior Strategy Manager to join their Sustainability team to help the company achieve their commitment to minimising their environmental impact.
This job requires you to be a strategic thinker. You will be responsible for leading high-value, high-impact projects that align with the company’s vision. In this role, you will manage teams and conduct detailed analysis of current performance and develop recommendations for presentation to the senior executive team.
Key Responsibilities:
Lead projects that seek to solve complex sustainability problems and present your insights to senior management for use in crafting the company’s strategy.
You’ll make recommendations that will ensure that the company continues to advance as a business and meet their commitment to minimising their environmental impact.
You’ll work with our executive team to develop reports and high-quality output for presentation to the Board, CEO, General Management Committee, and other senior managers.
Build strong relationships within the Group’s business units.
Lead sustainability strategic planning.
Gather external intelligence about relevant trends and identify relevant data to help you make accurate predictions about future trends.
Ensure that the service standards are met by all members of your team.
Background & Experience:
7 years + management consulting from a top tier consulting firm (McKinsey, Bain, BCG).
Proven experience in establishing sustainability strategies.
The ideal candidate has a combination of strategy consulting experience as well as management skills.
MBA/Masters preferred.
Candidate should have a background in providing strategic development, financial, communications and project management support to multinational clients.
Should have demonstrated ability to quickly identify key issues, structure a project plan and develop strategic options is desired.
If you have a background in sustainability strategy and would like to apply for this opportunity, please reach out to Amy Savage or email amy@oaktreetalent.com, or drop your CV below.
This company’s mission is to be the world’s best retailer, and they expect nothing less than the best. They have a vision of what the future of retail will look like, and they’re dedicated to helping their customers get there. They’re embarking on a new journey, and they want you to be a part of it.
This opportunity is being offered to a Strategy Manager who can make a visible difference to the business, developing and executing the most critical strategic initiatives within divisions and across the portfolio. You’ll have the opportunity to work with an experienced team with strong mentorship and development.
The Opportunity
The mandate of the company is to develop high quality strategic plans and projects that take the company to new heights. Their target areas that represent the most significant sources of profitable growth for the company, which are outside the ‘day job’ and require additional resources to help think bigger, faster, sooner.This role will be responsible for managing projects or work streams, and providing strategic advice. You will have a direct line to the Head of Strategy, and you’ll report directly to him/her. You will be responsible for:
You will work with senior stakeholders to define their business challenges and opportunities.
You will structure problems and define plans of action to solve them.
You will extract insights from complex analysis, running client meetings as necessary.
You’ll be in charge of project managing large-scale, high-profile initiatives.
You’ll act as the strategic and innovative voice of the business, influencing key stakeholders to deliver impactful change.
You’ll coach junior team members, solve key business questions, and inject strategic and innovative thinking into the issues that our business faces.
Who we’re looking for
We are looking for someone who will take on a pivotal role in the company, developing strong relationships across the business. You’ll have the ability to manage and develop junior team members, drawing on your structured and rigorous approach. You’re dedicated and results focused with a customer first mindset.
2-3 years of experience from a top tier strategy consultancy, investment bank, private equity firm or corporate strategy team
Outstanding academic record and social achievements
Demonstrated deep experience and knowledge of strategic problem solving and frameworks, project and change management
Superb written and oral communication with excellent interpersonal skills and ability to influence at all levels of the organisation
Analytics and quantitative modelling
Consumer market experience and retail experience is an advantage
If you are looking to make a move into Retail but still want the pace and development of consulting, then please reach out to discuss. #strategy#retail#customer#oaktreetalent
This Sydney-based Strategy Manager which is Exclusive to Oaktree will take home an annual income of $140k Base + Super + Bonus.
If you would also like to checkout other jobs that we are currently sourcing for, you can check it here.
This company provides health services to 3.7 million Australians, and they are integrating the healthcare industry through their innovative health solutions. And they are looking for a Melbourne-based Senior Strategy manager to join their team.
The Melbourne-based Senior Strategy Manager is critical to the company’s strategic direction, as they are responsible for providing a clear vision of what the company should be. They will set strategy, lead the enterprise proposition strategy, work with the proposition architecture and planning teams to develop large cross-functional initiatives in alignment with customer strategy and segmented customer needs. They will be recognized as a problem-solving expert who is the go-to person for internal and competitive knowledge. With their wealth of knowledge, they can influence others to see the value in Crew’s integrated proposition.
Responsibilities:
Achieving end-to-end design and execution of concurrent projects across customer strategy, enterprise proposition strategy, proposition architecture, planning, and development of big cross-functional initiatives, including supporting the Corporate Plan.
Developing customer strategies and propositions through analysis, collaboration, and communication.
Managing senior stakeholder engagement and participation to develop strategies and recommendations.
Collaborating with key stakeholders to create innovative recommendations for the company.
Leading the creation of a roadmap for proposition development. This will include creating a one-year view of the roadmap, which will link to the three-year enterprise strategy and proposition architecture.
Overseeing the development of propositions and ensuring that they meet quarterly performance targets.
Helping junior team members develop their toolkit of business analysis and technical skills
Experience:
Tertiary qualifications in commerce, or other business-related discipline.
Minimum of five years’ experience in top tier management consulting or big corporate business strategy, including projects in insurance, health, finance, product, or customer experience.
Demonstrated success in structured problem solving that includes problem definition, hypotheses testing, analysis plan, facilitating discussion/ workshops and getting buy-in.
Demonstrated achievements in advanced financial, business case and other quantitative analyses (e.g. forecasting, scenario modelling etc.).
Substantial project management experience using robust methodologies Skill.
Familiarity with common strategy development frameworks and methodologies.
Ability to identify and develop ideas and thinking that can substantially add value to Medibank’s businesses.
Identify relevant data sets and interrogating them to provide insight that can shape thinking and answer strategic questions.
Opportunity assessment, business case development & execution.
Developing a relevant project delivery approach and then driving to an outcome using appropriate project management.
Good listening skills and ability to ‘join the dots’ to understand the broader context of strategic issues.
Able to develop high impact written communications which tells the story.
Able to deliver succinct verbal communications to an executive level audience.
If this sounds like something you would be interested in, please reach out to Asha Walsh or email your CV at asha@oaktreetalent.com, or drop your CV below.
