Why the hiring brief is costing consulting firms their best supply chain talent
We asked Rishi Sodha, Partner, Supply Chain & Procurement Consulting at InX, to share his take on why professional services firms are consistently miswriting the hiring brief for supply chain and procurement roles — and why that single error is stalling searches and misplacing talent.
Most hiring problems in consulting aren't talent problems; they're problems with the hiring brief.
I've been placing supply chain and procurement professionals into consulting firms for several years, and one pattern keeps repeating itself. A firm identifies a capability gap, writes a brief for a senior supply chain leader, runs a search, and then either stalls partway through or makes a hire that doesn't stick. Six months later, they're back at the starting point.
The brief says: "Senior supply chain leader with deep operational experience."
What the firm actually needs: someone who can walk into a client meeting, build credibility instantly, scope a complex engagement and bring that engagement home.
Those are two very different people.
Operators and consultants are not the same hire
This distinction sounds obvious when you say it plainly. In practice, firms blur it constantly.
The best supply chain Directors I know have built genuine expertise over careers that span sourcing, logistics, inventory, supplier relationships — the full operational picture. That knowledge is real and it has value, but knowledge alone does not make someone a consultant.
In a consulting context, what you know is only part of the equation. The other part, the part that actually generates revenue, is the ability to sell a point of view. To walk into a room with a client who is sceptical, uncertain or politically cautious and make them believe in a programme before it starts. To build a relationship that generates the next mandate, not just delivers the current one. To scope an engagement that is commercially sound and then close it.
That is a distinct skillset. Not every exceptional supply chain operator has developed it, and there is no shame in that — it simply isn't what their careers have asked of them.
Firms that confuse "knows supply chain" with "can consult on supply chain" end up with brilliant operators who struggle in front of clients. The hire becomes frustrated. The firm becomes frustrated. And the search is repeated.
Why searches stall — and what it signals
When a senior consulting role goes quiet, the instinct is often to assume the market is thin or the timing is wrong. In my experience, that is rarely the full story.
More often, a role stalls because the brief isn't honest about what it demands, the expectations are unrealistic relative to what the firm is prepared to offer, or the market has pushed back in a way that hasn't been properly heard. So, the role gets paused. The underlying capability gap, however, does not pause with it.
In procurement, supply chain and CFO advisory, I'm seeing this dynamic with increasing frequency. Firms know they need to build consulting capability in these areas. The strategic rationale is sound, but there isn't always internal alignment on what "good" actually looks like, whether that's the profile of the person, the seniority of the hire, the kind of client work they'll be expected to lead from day one, or the commercial targets attached to the role.
Until that question is resolved, no search will move at pace.
Define the outcome first
The firms that hire well in this space share one habit: they define the outcome before they define the person.
What does success look like in twelve months? Is this person expected to be generating their own pipeline, or delivering into existing client relationships? Are they managing a team from the outset, or building one? Are they a specialist or a generalist who happens to know supply chain?
Answering those questions with precision changes the brief entirely. It shifts the conversation from credentials, such as years of experience, sector background and firm pedigree, to capability: what this person needs to be able to do, and what kind of environment they need to have come from to do it credibly.
That is a harder conversation to have internally. It requires alignment between practice leadership, hiring partners and sometimes the C-suite, but it is the conversation that makes the difference between a search that moves and one that stalls.
The brief isn't a formality. It is the first leadership decision of the hire.
Rishi specialises in Director and Partner-level appointments across supply chain, procurement and operations consulting, working with firms from the Big 4 to boutique professional services businesses. To discuss a search or hiring challenge, contact Rishi directly or get in touch with the team.