The Cost of Overlooking Experience When Choosing Consultants

When a programme is behind schedule, an operating model is meeting resistance or a critical project needs rescuing, the choice of consultant can make a significant difference. The risk is that the person best equipped to help never makes the shortlist.

AI and automated screening tools can help businesses identify talent more quickly. But for programme leaders, speed is only part of the equation. The real test is whether the selection process finds someone with the expertise and judgement to deliver the outcome the business needs.

Could a process designed to identify the right skills be overlooking the experience that would make the greatest difference?

A strong CV match can miss what delivery requires

Automated systems may prioritise particular qualifications, job titles or conventional career paths. That can help narrow a large pool of candidates, but it can also overlook people whose relevant experience does not fit the expected profile.

Someone who has spent 25 years leading transformation programmes, managing stakeholders and navigating organisational change may have worked under different job titles or across several sectors. A rigid search could miss the connection between that experience and the problem a programme leader needs to solve.

The danger is that organisations confuse a close match to a predefined profile with the ability to deliver a successful outcome.

Stacey Duguid, a former fashion editor, brought this concern into public discussion after reporting that she had spent 16 months looking for work despite an extensive career. Her experience does not establish that AI caused her applications to be overlooked. But it raises a question about whether selection processes recognise the value of experience that falls outside an expected profile.

For programme leaders choosing consultants, the practical question is whether their own criteria could exclude someone well equipped to solve the problem. A different sector background or an unfamiliar job title may conceal directly relevant experience. Before ruling someone out, it is worth understanding what they have delivered and how that could apply to the challenge ahead.

Experience alone does not guarantee effectiveness, and professionals earlier in their careers bring valuable skills and perspectives. The question is what each individual can contribute to the particular challenge.

The commercial cost of overlooking judgement

Technical knowledge matters. But so does recognising risks early, challenging unrealistic assumptions and understanding why previous approaches failed.

These capabilities are often developed through experience, including the experience of things going wrong. A consultant who has encountered similar challenges across different organisations may recognise a delivery problem before it becomes an expensive setback.

For a programme leader, that might mean spotting an unrealistic dependency, understanding why stakeholders are resisting a change or knowing when a recovery plan needs to be challenged. These are practical contributions that can help avoid rework, delays and wasted spend.

Yet they are difficult to capture through keywords or rigid selection criteria. Two consultants might look similar on paper while bringing very different levels of judgement and relevant achievement.

Businesses may be optimising how quickly they identify expertise while weakening their ability to recognise it.

Use technology alongside human assessment

AI can process information, identify patterns and compare defined criteria. Used well, it can support the selection process.

Understanding what makes someone effective in a complex consulting role also requires a conversation about how they think, respond under pressure and work with stakeholders.

For programme leaders, useful questions include: What comparable challenge have they tackled? What did they personally contribute? What went wrong, and what did they change? How would those lessons apply here?

The answers help distinguish relevant experience from a list of familiar terms. They also provide a stronger basis for assessing whether a consultant can deliver what the programme needs.

How B2E identifies the expertise a programme needs

At B2E Consulting, we start by understanding the business challenge. What is the client trying to achieve? What is preventing progress? What expertise and judgement will make the greatest difference?

We work with independent consultants who have developed expertise across different industries, organisations and career paths. Some bring deep specialist knowledge. Others offer perspectives gained from tackling similar challenges in different environments.

Our role is to understand what successful delivery requires and identify the expertise that can help achieve it. We review and discuss every consultant we propose for an individual role or client team. The decision about who best fits the client's needs is a human one.

Technology supports that process. Understanding the challenge, assessing relevant experience and applying professional judgement remain central to it.

Choose for the outcome your programme needs

Before your next consultant search, consider whether the selection criteria reflect the problem you need to solve. Are they testing the capabilities that will matter in delivery, or mainly the words you expect to see on a CV?

The cost of overlooking experience may only become clear once a programme is under pressure. Giving it proper consideration at the outset can help you build a team better equipped to deliver.

If you are looking for expertise to move a programme forward, talk to B2E about the challenge you need to solve. We can help identify consultants with the relevant experience and judgement to support delivery.