WorkAugust 27, 2026via Financial Times Technology
Junior consultants called back to office as AI increases need for human skills
Why it matters
As AI handles analytical and technical work, consulting firms are repositioning junior consultants as relationship-builders and client-facing strategists—a significant shift in how the industry develops talent and values human labor in an AI era.
Key signals
- Junior consultants being recalled to office specifically due to AI capability shifts
- Interpersonal and relationship skills now considered more valuable than technical skills
- Executive sentiment: AI is changing the career development pathway in consulting
- Implication: remote work policies reversing due to workforce-skill recalibration
- Junior consultants recalled to office by major consulting firms
- AI credited with increasing strategic value of interpersonal skills in professional services
- Shift reflects changing skill mix: routine analytical work increasingly handled by AI
- Workplace policy change driven by AI capability in junior-level work (data analysis, research synthesis)
The hook
AI is making human skills scarce again. Consulting firms are calling junior staff back to the office to build the interpersonal chops that machines can't replicate.
Artificial intelligence has made interpersonal skills more valuable, executives say