If you want to be a consultant, you don’t have to be a man in a suit. You can be a woman in a suit too. OK, that may sound flippant, but industry insiders say women are increasingly in demand.

“More and more clients are demanding [consultants] who work in an environment that looks and feels like their own organisation,” says Sarah Shillingford, a graduate recruitment partner at Deloitte. “They can feel uncomfortable about a load of men in dark suits turning up to tell them how to run their organisation.”

Shillingford says that some clients ask for specific information around diversity, although the practice is relatively rare. But matching consultants and clients is a recipe for success. “The project will always run better if you have empathy between the client and the team,” she says.

This is particularly true when it comes to public sector projects, because of the diversity of the sector. For example, women make up more than 70 per cent of the local government workforce.

“We are being asked to tell clients in our tenders what our diversity policy is,” says Neil Amos, a partner in PA Consulting’s government practice. The company recruits a different diversity sponsor every year and this year Amos is in the hot seat. He says that the firm looks at “diversity in the round”, examining three aspects: diversity of individuals, which takes in gender, age and sexual orientation; diversity of working arrangements, such as flexible working; and working style, which means taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of staff and assessing if people are effective team players. “It’s being increasingly recognised that a diverse team can deliver more,” he says. A survey by PA Consulting last year revealed that 80 per cent of its clients had a specific diversity policy. “On at least two occasions when we have had feedback from clients they have said that [the diversity of our team] is why we won the contract.”

Diversity may make business sense, but retaining women is still problematic. PA Consulting comprises about a third women, but across the industry the numbers get smaller the higher you climb.

“For many years we’ve recruited equal numbers of men and women, but historically have not done as good a job of retaining female talent,” says Sarah Churchman, the director of diversity at Pricewaterhouse-Coopers. Churchman says that the firm has made retention of women a priority, with flexible working, career breaks and a “very active” women’s network all on offer. Graduate recruitment has also benefited from female involvement, she says – a point echoed by Shillingford. “If we sponsor a university football club, we will also look to sponsor the women’s football club or the women’s netball club,” she says. “We don’t make widgets and tables and chairs. What we are selling is people, and [diversity] is very important.”

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