But the dazzling recent growth of the blue-chip firms, plus a proliferation of new ones, has demanded a broadening of the pool and has arguably produced a deepening. Result: a new career path. Middle managers experienced at decision-making -- and living with the consequences -- are being welcomed into the higher councils of strategy advising and other heady pursuits at consulting firms. The new arrivals -- some shooting for partner, others expecting to return to industry -- seek a course as fast and unpredictable as the world we're all entering.

Booz-Allen & Hamilton is one of the most aggressive recruiters ofexperienced mid-level managers. In 1993, 5-10 per cent of Booz-Allen's consultant hires came from industry. This year 25-30 per cent will have served substantial stretches there; most will head to the firm's IT and operations areas.

Andersen Consulting's recruitment numbers tell a similar story. In fiscal 1994, 20 per cent of the firm's 2,500 new recruits were experienced industry hires. ``This year, we'll hire about 6,000 in total, and about 2,500 of those will be experienced,'' says David Reed, Andersen's director of recruiting. That's 42 per cent.

``Part of what's driving this is, you can't build and grow skills fast enough internally to stay abreast of the market,'' he says. Even venerable McKinsey & Co., which wouldn't discuss recruitment with Fortune magazine, directs pitches at experienced hires in the `Career Opportunities' section of its Website.

Paul Lockmiller, a senior associate in Booz-Allen's IT group, made the jump to consulting after more than a decade at Allstate, where he climbed theladder from tech support to management and strategic planning, finishing up as director of interactive marketing. Making the decision wasn't easy, says Lockmiller, who is 39 and has a wife and two kids. ``I moved my family from Chicago to New York and really left the comfort zone after 11.5 years,'' he says. ``My father had been with one company for 38 years and was forcibly retired, and I was really concerned about overextending my stay at one company.''

Also, one industry. ``Insurance is a great game, but the financial services world is consolidating, and the boundaries are blurring. I felt, what better place to get that breadth and greater depth of experience than the consulting business?'' In addition to bringing his old skills to bear, Lockmiller says he's been given the freedom to acquire new ones. ``They don't just plop me down and hammer me into that square hole,'' he says. ``Working with a lot of these people around here is kind of like getting an advanced MBA or a Ph D in business, if youwill.''

In the few months he's been with the firm, Lockmiller, who helped develop Allstate's E-commerce, has completed a study of the Internet's potential for the insurance industry and is now formulating acquisition strategies for an information-management company.

Not all the big firms are going with the flow. Boston Consulting Group, A T Kearney, and Mercer Consulting Group don't do much mid-career hiring. Industry hires in Bain & Co.'s European divisions have increased, while its domestic numbers in this area actually dropped slightly, from 14 per cent to 13 per cent over the past five years, though the firm's overall domestic hires have risen steadily in that time.

``We tend to hire generalists,'' says Wendy Miller, head of communications at Bain, which emphasises strategic planning over IT. ``We make people start over. Many people who are experts in their areas don't want to do that.''Although Price Waterhouse has culled about two-thirds of its new consultants from industry, it has tended tofavour B-schoolers for change integration and strategy work because of their fresh analytic skills, says Jeannie Mabie, recruitment leader for PW's North American consulting practice.

Integration and retention are huge concerns for firms committed to substantial industry hiring. Says Booz-Allen's Joni Bessler, a partner and 15-year veteran: ``For all the reasons that we are interested in bringing them into the firm -- they've got lots of good experience; they're savvy; they understand the corporate world; they're not newly minted, big-eyed MBAs -- they're stepping into a culture that's different from the one they know. At least with MBAs, all you have to do is teach. With industry hires, you often have to re-teach.''

Lockmiller concedes that the typical senior associate in his or her early 30s may be ``perhaps a little sharper at structuring a problem and some of the analytics'', but, he says, ``maybe my client-handling skills and depth of knowledge'' are superior.

48-year-old Patrick White left hispost as head of advanced technology at Bell Atlantic after 25 years with Bell-affiliated companies to sign on with Arthur D Little, a consultancy with deep roots in high-tech research. He joined ADL in February in the face of certain stern realities. ``The telephone industry is underperforming the market. You see Silicon Valley companies... taking off with huge P/Es,'' he says. ``You're really not in that part of the industry that's at the cutting edge anymore.'' Rather than heading to Silicon Valley, White chose ADL because it offered ``an opportunity to be exposed to a lot of fast-moving, cutting-edge companies''. A principal at the firm, White is leading a team plotting a business plan for a telecom start-up. The pace -- he moves to a new project every two or three months -- has taken some getting used to, he says.

Some will never adjust. But will there be a place for these pilgrims if they decide to go back? ``Typically, we're getting people who have had consulting firm experience and also operatingexperience,'' says David A Rosen, a Bellcore vice-president. ``Our perspective is that great thinking doesn't substitute for strong management experience,'' adds Rosen, who's also managing director of Bellcore's Business Consulting Services.

Few of the new industry consultants profess commitment in the long haul. ``I do know that I'm interested enough to do it for a few years because of the experience I'll gain and the industry contacts,'' says Paul Lockmiller.

ADL's Patrick White concurs. ``I'm having a ball right now. I don't know if I've found my niche or whether there's another niche to come.'' The emphasis for these career shifters seems to be staying light on their feet and keeping options open. These days, you can't do much more.