When someone joins a consulting firm, it creates the inevitable day when they will leave the firm.  It may be after just a few months or several years.  We wanted to speak in this week’s podcast about the steps a consultant should take to leave professionally on good terms.

1. What are the major considerations a consultant should think about when leaving a firm:
   
   
   
   1. It often depends on why you’re leaving a firm. I’ve seen people leave on good terms and bad terms and I’ve seen it have ramifications to their career years after they’ve exited the firm.
   
   
   2. People leave a consulting firm for any number of reasons.  They may decide to leave consulting altogether.  Maybe they’ve decided that a consulting career is not for them or that they’re just burned out on it.
   
   
   3. Consulting can be a launching pad for a successful career in some other industry. We’ve talked in the past about how people get a few years of consulting experience serving clients in a specific industry such as Healthcare consulting or financial consulting services.
   
   
   4. Consulting provides excellent experience for them to move into a company in that industry and allows them to be far ahead of people with the same number of years of experience that have been with that company for the same amount of time.
   
   
   5. Some people leave to go to another consulting firm.  When this happens, the firm you’re leaving wants to know the reason or reasons you’re leaving.
   
   
   6. Did a competing firm just make a better salary offer?  Often, a consulting firm will offer you a higher consulting salary to steal you away. If that’s the case, some firms will make a counter-offer to match or exceed the other firm’s offer.
   
   
   7. I’d advise against accepting this.  If you tell a firm that you’re leaving, you should leave.  I don’t believe in bluffing the firm just to get a higher salary.
   
   
   8. I’m also not a big proponent of leaving a firm just because of the money.  There are so many other factors that influence how happy you are at a job.  For instance, the amount of travel, work hours or opportunities to move up and work on more interesting technology.
   
   
   9. You may also leave a firm for another consulting firm because of its size.  Perhaps you’ve been at a boutique firm for a couple of years and would like to give a top tier firm a chance.  Or the other way around.
   
   
   10. People who work for the large firms can feel lost in the shuffle after a while and want to move to a smaller firm or even start their own.
   
   
   
   


2. How do firms usually respond when someone leaves the firm?
   
   
   
   1. It always depends on the situation.  For instance, if you’re in the middle of a critical project, the timing may put the firm in a real bind.
   
   
   2. You can’t always control when you’ll get an offer from another firm, but if you want to leave on good terms, it’s always a good idea not to leave when your current firm needs you the most.
   
   
   3. It also depends on whether you’re leaving to work at a competitor or for other reasons.
   
   
   4. I worked at a firm once where, if you left to go to a competitor, you were asked to leave that day, regardless of how much notice you had given them.
   
   
   5. If the employee left to go to another industry outside of consulting it was usually another story.  They often want to stay on good terms with you because your new company is a potential client.
   
   
   6. I’ve also seen consultants leave their firm to be hired on at their current client.
   
   
   7. Most firms have agreements with their clients that they won’t hire each other’s employees, but when a client hires a consultant, the firm usually allows it to happen in order to stay on good terms with that client.
   
   
   8. I once saw it happen that the client I was working on hired one of our team members.  The consulting firm’s partner had a going away party for him at his house, inviting employees from the firm and the client.
   
   
   
   


3. Some firms make it difficult to leave on good terms.  How does one consider that situation?
   
   
   
   1. Yes.  There are some, what I would consider short-sighted firms, who are only interested in your billable hours.  So no matter what the reason is that you’re leaving, you’ll be persona non grata if you leave.
   
   
   2. We always joked that if you quit to take care of your ailing mother the boss would kick you out of the office.
   
   
   3. But those firms are more the exception than the rule.  I think the key things that cause firms to be upset with you leave are a) when you leave to work at one of their head-to-head competitors and b) when you leave at a critical time in a project.
   
   
   4. Another factor is when they’ve spent a significant amount of time and money sending you to training.  They invested a lot of money in you and now you’re taking it to help another company.
   
   
   
   


4. Is it different when your leaving a firm is not your choice?
   
   
   
   1. Usually. One of the big dependencies is why they’re asking you to leave the firm.
   
   
   2. If you’re an underperformer and they’ve worked with you to improve with no success, you may just want to walk away and try to cut your losses.
   
   
   3. But I’ve seen firms make cutbacks where they need to layoff large numbers of people.  Make no mistake about it, firms don’t enjoy this.  Everyone who is left working at the firm feels that awkwardness and survivor’s guilt.
   
   
   4. It’s like when there’s a death in your family.  Some people avoid contacting you. It’s not that they don’t care. They just don’t know what to say, so they don’t say anything.
   
   
   5. I was part of a large round of layoffs from a firm I worked at several years ago.  Soon after it happened, there were several partners in the firm who called me to tell me how sorry they were and offered to help me in my job search.
   
   
   6. That was something I really appreciated.  It showed me that it wasn’t a performance issue but that they just had to reduce headcount.  The fact that partner-level people were willing to be references for me helped to build my self-confidence back up.
   
   
   7. But there were a lot of my former co-workers who didn’t know what to say, so they didn’t call.
   
   
   8. So I took on the initiative to call them.  They were uncomfortable at first, but I talked to them and told them how much I enjoyed working with them and wanted to make sure we kept in touch.
   
   
   9. Once they realized that I wasn’t devastated and was moving on, they felt much better.
   
   
   10. But that’s a critical step in networking.  Once you bind those ties with your former co-workers, they’ll be more willing to contact you if they see an opportunity in the job market.
   
   
   
   


5. If a consultant leaves a firm and realizes they made a mistake, are firms usually willing to hire them back?
   
   
   
   1. I’ll give you my standard answer: It depends.  It depends on the terms you left under.
   
   
   2. I’ve worked for four different firms, and I’ve seen every one of them hire back employees who had left to pursue other things.
   
   
   3. But if someone left under bad terms and burned bridges, they’re much less likely to consider hiring you back.
   
   
   4. Consulting firms are always looking to hire good people.  If you left to start your own company or you just decided to get out of consulting, they usually understand that.
   
   
   5. Once you get out there and realize the grass wasn’t actually greener, they’ll often take you back.  They know your skill set and they probably won’t have to spend a lot of time in orientation and training you up since you already know their organization.
   
   
   
   


6. So let’s say you want to leave on good terms.  What are some of the specific things one should do?
   
   
   
   1. First, you want to make sure you inform them correctly.  You should tell the person that you directly report to.  That may be a partner or a project manager.  If possible tell them both together.
   
   
   2. I’ve seen situations where people tell a couple of their friends and ask them not to tell anyone.  This never works.  Invariably, they tell other people and ask them not to tell and it just goes viral.
   
   
   3. I’ve heard of bosses hearing through the grapevine before the employee has a chance to tell them and it doesn’t go well.
   
   
   4. When you go to tell them, make sure it’s in as private of a location as possible.  Stop by their office or do it in a conference room where you can have a frank conversation.
   
   
   5. Have a professionally written resignation letter to give to them.  But tell them verbally.  The letter is a formality and should not be used to tell them that you’re leaving.
   
   
   6. They will more than likely ask you why you’re leaving and where you are going to work.
   
   
   7. I always recommend putting this in as positive of a light as possible.  If you’re leaving because you think this boss is a jerk and you hate his guts, you have nothing to gain by telling him.
   
   
   8. It’s better to say that you’ve found a better opportunity and have decided to move on.
   
   
   9. If you’re leaving for a competitor it’s best to tell them.  Often, if you give a 2-week notice and tell them you’re leaving for a competitor, they’ll ask you to leave that day and just pay you for the 2 weeks.
   
   
   10. They figure that’s better than allowing you to have access to critical files and other information before you go to a competitor.