McKinley Consulting Acquires Novon Consulting, Positioning Firm as One of the Largest and Fastest-Growing Consulting Businesses in the Twin Cities
The acquisition was fueled by a series of common denominators—strategic, cultural and economical—that will reinforce its commitment to value in services
MINNEAPOLIS, MN, JANUARY 31, 2012 - McKinley Consulting, Inc., one of the Twin Cities top management and IT consulting firms, today announced that it has acquired NOVON Consulting, a firm that provides project management and business consulting to the financial services market.
NOVON boasted revenues of $4 million, a staff of 16 consultants and an enviable roster of clients, making the company an appealing prospect to McKinley Consulting. The acquisition will further strengthen McKinley Consulting’s position in the market by providing the firm with additional resources and capital.
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One of the Twin Cities’ largest executive search firms is going after a new quarry: human resources leaders. The owners of Minnetonka-based McKinley Group, Inc. plan to open a new recruiting company, McKinley Human Resources, Inc. next month, diversifying the firm into a booming field. Tony Sorensen, a McKinley owner, will lead the new venture with the help of two seasoned HR headhunters.
As the economy improves, should businesses be doing anything 
different with their staffing?
It’s a fact: recession is followed by employee moves. In HR circles, everyone is talking about a mass “exodus”. What that means is employees who may have looked content for the past few years are going to start taking advantage of the end of hiring freezes and move, in unprecedented numbers.
To prepare for this, companies need to do three things. First of all, conduct performance reviews to ensure key performers are on rewarding career paths and fairly compensated compared to the competition.
Second, businesses need to open up communications channels with their employees: share details of improved profitability and positive plans for things such as future growth, expansion and new opportunities. A little reassurance goes a long way toward getting staff back on board when the company has gone through an unsettling economic period.
Lastly, it’s always a good idea to keep an eye on the talent market. Work with your recruiter to gain access to market intelligence and potentially profitable hires at all levels of your organization.
Steve Yakesh
Vice President
McKinley Group
Should businesses continue to cut salaries to stay profit-able through the economic recovery?
The financial media is reporting a new trend for leading CEO’s to take a pay cut of several percent in order to trim operating costs. But after almost two years of recessionary conditions and reduced salaries, asking any other employee to do this is either going to be unwise or may be logistically undoable. Many businesses that have been forced to run lean and make staffing or pay cuts may now have little goodwill or flexibility left in either their workforce or their payrolls.
At McKinley Group we advise our clients that whatever the economic conditions, staffing up or down should never be driven purely by the balance sheet. People equal productivity and ultimately profitability – not percentage points. Businesses struggling with staffing for 2011, really need to take a longer term approach and build a 2-5 year staffing and conservative growth model that rewards employee loyalty now but builds an employee base of diverse, flexible skills for the future. A professional recruiter can help think through the process and create an appropriate plan that doesn’t involve pay cuts.
Chris Ohlendorf
Partner
Using temporary employees is on the rise in the economic recovery. What do I need to know as a business owner?
No doubt about it. Personnel can be a large expense on any business’ operating budget. As the economy recovers, consultants are being used to not only bring in a specific specialty skill set to a company but to also provide help while their business is ramping back up.
We’ve seen clients at McKinley Consulting request help with not only the direction of their IT initiatives but also to provide the hands-on experts that do the actual work. During the economic downturn, many companies laid off employees and asked the ones that remained to do more work. With the economy turning to the positive, many employers are opting to bring on consulting help before hiring a full time employee. This gives them expertise and flexibility.
Many companies will try a contract to hire option. This allows the business to see how an individual performs on the job before they would actually commit to them as a full-time employee. As a business, you must make sure that you recruit people that are willing to become a fulltime employee after the initial contract period. Make sure to discuss your goals with your consulting firm. Under the right circumstances, it can be a win win.
Scott Mihelich
Director, Business Development
McKinley Consulting
