Dear Top-Consultant users,I have been dipping in and out of this message board for a few years now and have found it a useful resource for my own research and also a means of giving something back to new graduates looking to enter the industry. I have, however, become concerned by many of the recent posts. As some have been pointing out, some of the new graduates have been using this board as a way of saving themselves from reading recruiters’ websites. Equally I have been quite taken aback by the caustic and harsh responses of some of the experienced respondents.In an effort to try and maintain this forum as a place where honest and open questions about the consulting industry and individual consulting firms may be posed and answered, may I suggest the following.1) New graduates: please do your research before using this board - most firms provide very detailed descriptions of their recruitment processes on their web-sites. In the event that your question about a particular firm’s recruitment process or approach is not to be found online - call HR. It is what they are there for and they will be more than happy to go through the format of the interviews and their assessment criteria. 2) Experienced People: Can we please be a little more tolerant of our prospective colleagues. The milk-round interview circus is an anxious time; the first step after university is undoubtedly incredibly important. As such I think we should refrain from accusations of naivety and selfishness. A simple correction or direction to a relevant information source is sufficient. 3) Structure and coherence are important. There have been a number of posts that have been rambling at one extreme and not fully formed at the other. Can we please write in fully formed sentences and use paragraphs to structure the various points within a post.4) Be polite. There have been some recent posts that have been rude and insulting. I do not think it is acceptable to question individuals’ competence or intelligence on this board. People tend to pose questions on this board with honest and genuine motivations – this should be respected. There are ways in which to correct people without insulting them.5) Be professional when discussing other firms. I know we all love and cherish our respective places of work ;-) and are consequently fiercely loyal – but let’s avoid bashing other firms. Insulting people collectively is just as bad as insulting them individually. 6) Keep it to management and technology consulting. As much as we may be interested in other types of consulting or other industries, let’s try and keep this board specific to our industry.I hope this proves useful – although I fully anticipate a scathing response from some of you. I genuinely want to maintain this forum as a useful and constructive forum for those involved or interested in consulting.Regards,A concerned consultant

Sir, I totally agree with you. Very well said.

I agree entirely. I thought that a separate board for Graduate Entrants might be a good idea...? And there should be some way for Tony or one of his colleagues to remove any posts that are obviously unacceptable.

I agree people should be generally tolerant of young wannabe consultants and it is good to be polite and professional. BUT… Most people read the forum to get something more than interview formats and recruitment processes or “nice” controlled advice, (as you mentioned this is available on firms websites). I like this place because people say what they think, and they say it as it is. It’s good to learn about the dark side of management consulting too, and if you are naïve, it is better you get to know this world can be tough and things are not all sweet and roses, as some of the recruiters would like you to believe, sooner rather than later. I wouldn’t like too many rules or structures applied to the forum and I am certainly against any form of censorship. If someone is not interested in management consulting and writes inappropriate posts he/she won’t get good answers and he/she will not come back to the site.

First of all allow me to apologise. My initial response appeared as separate paragraphs when I wrote it, only to materialise as one blob of text when I hit submit. Not hypocracy, just a technical glitch!!I am in two minds about splitting the boards. On the one hand it would allow those of us in the industry to stick to more informed and detailed questions. On the other, I fear that no one with any experience would ever venture onto the grad board.What do people think??

I don't think two boards is a good idea. Showing impatience towards new graduates is not the way to go. From experience, I've seen that inclusion of new grads amongst the more experienced consultants is what helps build rapport and understanding, as well as confidence. Excluding them from "the group"is not the way to go. So what if you get the odd oddball who just wants to rant. Let them. Those with real business to do on this board will just skip over their posts.

It is a good board for research and can be used as a good board for putting something back into the industry. There is no need to use rude language on the board. Apart from that I can safely say that I disagreed with all the other points that you made. It was particularly annoying that you tried to restrict strategy consultants from the industry, segregate experienced consultants from graduates, 'dumb-down' intelligence and feel it necessary to have to tell people (that have just graduated) to do their research. My thinking, in response to your last post, is that splitting the board in this way is a very bad idea.

Thanks for your points. Firstly I wanted to say that I was definitely not trying to exclude strategy consultants any more than I was excluding operational or supply chain consultants. I have always used management consulting as a catch all term. I was merely asking people interested in industries which may tack "consulting" on the end (environmental etc.) to perhaps look elsewhere. To your "dumbing-down" point - this was the last thing I was trying to do. I would simply like to see less bitching and more insight. I just feel you can put some one right without questioning their competence or intelligence. Frankly, the slamming some people dole out is rather pathetic and I wonder about the motives of those responsible for it.

It's called freedom of speech. If you're going to get sensitive about the few people who feel that they need to vent in a way you don't find appealing, then perhaps you should be looking for another, more controlled forum to post on. From what I've seen, the more controlled the forum, the less input. This forum has helped many people look for unbiased answers not readily available.

I agree with the previous point about the more controlled the forum, the less input. Indeed if my reseach on Acn was just based on their website, then I would be thinking it was the perfect firm to work for. However, reading some comments from Acn people I realised that it may be more of a burn and churn type of firm, which doesn't appreciate its employees as much as it perhaps should. However, there is never any reason to be rude, or to question the intelligence of people. If you are annoyed by the simplicity of a question, those of you who are civilised would choose to ignore it rather than waste time by insulting people.