I’ve written extensively in this blog about how I believe consulting is a great way to make a career. I’m one of those who have chosen to make a career of it. But there are many other career opportunities that consulting can provide.

The primary reason for that is that consulting develops such a wide array of skills in a much more condensed time than many traditional occupations.

Skills That Make Consultants Valuable

Exposure to a variety of clients: When I was interviewing for jobs in college, I focused on a consulting job. The thing that attracted me most to consulting was the opportunity to work for multiple clients. It seemed a lot more exciting and interesting. I figured I’d never get bored for too long.

While that was certainly the case, there were much greater benefits. Working with multiple clients and industries gives consultants exposure to different strategies and approaches to business. You get experience solving a much wider array of problems. This helps consultants develop more experience in a shorter period of time.

Analytical skills: The engagements consultants perform for those clients are often high-profile projects. They are also higher in complexity. Consulting firms lead these projects and expose even novice consultants to opportunities for complex analysis. Early on, they may observe the analytical skills of senior consultants. Before long, they are expected to do strategic analysis to solve problems themselves. Consultants get this experience very early, and more often, than most people in the work force.

Accountability: Consulting is a service industry. Consulting firms do not manufacture a product. They are only as good as the value of the service they deliver to the client. Because billing rates are generally high, clients hold their consulting firms accountable to deliver high-quality work. As a result, the consulting firm holds each employee to a higher level of accountability than traditional organizations do.

Hopefully the firm provides ample support to each consultant in their employ. Deadlines and quality levels must be met in order to have a happy client. Consultants who are held accountable learn to get the job done on time, on budget and to the client’s satisfaction.

Exposure to newer technologies: Because consultants generally work on high-profile projects, they tend to get exposure to newer technologies as well. Consulting firms provide training to their consultants with the intention of being up to date on emerging technologies.

As they take on new projects, they turn their training knowledge into experiential knowledge.

Communication: Since consulting gigs are often high-profile within the client, high-level client executives are involved. Consultants gain experience in both verbal and written communication with client executives and many other stakeholders at the client. Through observation and actual communication, they learn how to consider their audience and deliver the appropriate message.

There are also more opportunities for public speaking. Consultants get experience facilitating meetings and giving presentations to large groups. They develop ease speaking in front of people early in their career.

Leadership: In addition to the above mentioned topics, consultants are put into leadership roles earlier in their career than usual. A young consultant may be put in charge of leading a team of fellow consultants and client employees.

Throughout their consulting career, they will find themselves in leadership roles in each engagement. They will learn how to deal with many different personality types and develop strong leadership skills.

Possible career paths:

Most consultants develop the above skills earlier in their careers than many people in other industries. Additionally, they get those experiences on a more frequent basis, in more varied types of environments.

This experience gives them exceptional opportunities. It all depends on what their career goals and aspirations are. There are generally four categories an experienced consultant may want to pursue.

The Career Consultant: Some consultants love the constant variety of clients and problems to solve. They love the thrill of defining the problem, developing a plan, building the team to execute the plan, and running with it. After several months, when the solution is implemented, it is handed off to the client team to manage. The consultant gets to go to the next client with the next exciting opportunity.

Even if the consultant stays at the same client, chances are he or she will be working on a new opportunity to solve a new problem. It can be high-energy and high-stress at times. But that is what they often find most exciting about it.

Within the consulting organization, there can be many opportunities for advancement. If it is a partnership, aspiring to the Partner level allows them to have an ownership stake in the firm. Firms that are not organized as partnerships have opportunities for roles like Managing Director or Vice President. These levels are usually highly focused on developing new business with new and existing clients.

Entry to the C-Suite: Because of the intense amount of experience consultants are exposed to, they are frequently given opportunities to the C-Suite at client organizations. If you look at the LinkedIn profiles of CEOs, COOs, CFOs, and virtually any other C-level title, there is a high probability that the individual has had some experience in consulting.

Many organizations are attracted to the leadership, communication and problem solving skills that experienced consultants are exposed to. Additionally, the wide range of clients they have worked with provides extensive experience in the ways different clients from different industries solve business problems.

Shopping Around Clients: I’ve talked at length about the number of clients consultants gain exposure to. As a consultant who has been to a couple hundred client sites, I always stop and think what it might be like to be an employee there. There have been some that seemed so negative and political that I relish being an outsider. I can feel the unhappiness of their employees and I feel fortunate for the job I have with my firm.

There have been other clients where I see how well they treat their employees. The leadership actually leads. Everyone understands the company’s strategy and their role in it. These are the clients where, if I were offered a permanent position, I might take it if I didn’t love consulting so much.

Consultants are often offered a permanent position at their client. In many cases, it is just what they were looking for in the next step in their career.

Start your own business: Consulting is a very entrepreneurial environment. The general business model is to “land and expand.” Land a new client with a project and continue to expand the business by selling them additional projects.

In that type of business model, every consultant from the entry level to the highly experienced Partner is responsible for sales. Consultants are trained early in their careers how to identify new client opportunities to bring to the attention of more senior consultants. The higher one moves up the consulting ladder, the more they are responsible for selling new business.

With that type of training, successful consultants realize their potential to work for themselves. Consultants are usually well paid. But when they see the dollar amount their hours are being billed at, compared to how much they are paid, they often realize how much more they could make on their own.

Some start their own consulting firms. Others combine their knowledge and experience from multiple clients and come up with a new product offering that can be a niche industry.

Summary

Like any occupation, consulting is not for everyone. It requires the ability to think on your feet, work long and hard hours, and solve highly complex problems. You may also have to fall on your sword occasionally to make the client look good in front of their management team.

For many, consulting is an exciting career that you may want to do for your entire career. Alternatively, you may want to be a consultant to gain valuable experience to give you the opportunity to do something else that you find exciting. Even if you find consulting is not your thing, having a few years of it on your resume will almost always give you opportunities you would not have otherwise had.

What do you want to use your consulting experience for?

As always, I welcome your comments and criticisms. 

If you would like to learn more about working in consulting, get Lew’s book Consulting 101: 101 Tips for Success in Consulting at Amazon.com 

Image courtesy of ddpavumba at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I’ve written extensively in this blog about how I believe consulting is a great way to make a career. I’m one of those who have chosen to make a career of it. But there are many other career opportunities that consulting can provide.

The primary reason for that is that consulting provides such a spectrum of skills in a much more condensed time than traditional occupations.

Skills That Make Consultants Valuable

Exposure to a variety of clients: When I was interviewing for jobs when I was in college, I focused on a consulting job. The thing that attracted me most to consulting was the opportunity to work for multiple clients. It seemed a lot more exciting and interesting. I figured I’d never get bored for too long.

While that was certainly the case, there were much greater benefits. Working with multiple clients and industries gives consultants exposure to different ways to do business. You get experience solving a much wider array of problems. This helps consultants develop much more experience in a shorter period of time.

Analytical skills: The engagements consultants perform for those clients are often high-profile projects. They are also higher in complexity. Consulting firms lead these projects and expose even novice consultants to complex analysis situations. Early on, they may observe the analytical skills of senior consultants. Before long, they are expected to do strategic analysis to solve problems themselves. Consultants get this experience very early, and more often, than most people in the work force.

Accountability: Consulting is a service industry. Consulting firms do not manufacture a product. They are only as good as the last project they delivered to the client. Because billing rates are generally high, clients hold their consulting firms accountable to deliver high-quality work. Because of this, the consulting firm holds each employee to a higher level of accountability than traditional organizations do.

Hopefully the firm provides ample support to each consultant in their employ. Deadlines and quality levels must be met in order to have a happy client. Consultants who are held accountable learn to get the job done on time, on budget and to the client’s satisfaction.

Exposure to newer technologies: Because consultants generally work on high-profile projects, they tend to get exposure to newer technologies as well. Consulting firms provide more training to their consultants with the intention of being up to date on emerging technologies.

As they take on new projects, they turn their training knowledge into experiential knowledge.

Communication: Since consulting gigs are often high-profile within the client, high-level client executives are involved. Consultants gain experience in both verbal and written communication with client executives and many other stakeholders at the client. Through observation and actual communication, they learn how to consider their audience and deliver the appropriate message.

There are also more opportunities for public speaking. Consultants get experience facilitating meetings and giving presentations to large groups. They develop ease early on in speaking in front of people.

Leadership: In addition to the above mentioned topics, consultants are put into leadership roles earlier in their career than usual. A young consultant may be put in charge of leading a team of fellow consultants and client employees.

Throughout their consulting career, they will find themselves in leadership roles in each engagement. They will learn how to deal with many different personality types and develop strong leadership skills.

Possible career paths:

Most consultants develop the above skills earlier in their careers than many people in other industries. Additionally, they get those experiences on a more frequent basis, in more varied types of environments.

This experience gives them exceptional opportunities. It all depends on what their career goals and aspirations are. There are generally four categories an experienced consultant may want to pursue.

The Career Consultant: Some consultants love the constant variety of clients and problems to solve. They love the thrill of going in and defining the problem, developing a plan, building the team to execute the plan, and running with it. After several months, when the solution is implemented, it is handed off to the client team to manage. The consultant gets to go to the next client with the next exciting opportunity.

Even if the consultant stays at the same client, chances are he or she will be working on a new opportunity to solve a new problem. It can be high-energy and high-stress at times. But that is what they often find most exciting about it.

Within the consulting organization, there can be many opportunities for advancement. If it is a partnership, aspiring to the Partner level allows them to have an ownership stake in the firm. Firms that are not organized as partnerships have opportunities for roles like Managing Director or Vice President. These levels are usually highly focused on developing new business with new and existing clients.

Entry to the C-Suite: Because of the intense amount of experience consultants are exposed to, they are frequently given opportunities to the C-Suite at client organizations. If you look at the LinkedIn profiles of CEOs, COOs, CFOs, and virtually any other C-level title, there is a high probability that the individual has had some experience in consulting.

Many organizations are attracted to the leadership, communication and problem solving skills that experienced consultants are exposed to. Additionally, the wide array of clients they have worked with provides extensive experience in the ways different clients from different industries solve business problems.

Shopping Around Clients: I’ve talked at length about the number of clients consultants gain exposure to. As a consultant who has been to a couple hundred client sites, I always stop and think what it might be like to be an employee there. There have been some that seemed so negative and political that I relish being an outsider. I can feel the unhappiness of their employees and I feel fortunate for the job I have with my firm.

There have been other clients where I see how well they treat their employees. The leadership actually leads. Everyone understands the company’s strategy and their role in it. These are the clients where, if I were offered a permanent position, I might take it if I didn’t love consulting so much.

Consultants are often offered a permanent position at their client. In many cases, it is just what they were looking for in the next step in their career.

Start their own business: Consulting is a very entrepreneurial environment. The general business model is to “land and expand.” Land a new client with a project and continue to expand the business by selling them additional projects.

In that type of business model, every consultant from the entry level to the highly experienced Partner is responsible for sales. Consultants are trained early in their careers how to identify new client opportunities to bring to the attention of more senior consultants. The higher one moves up the consulting ladder, the more they are responsible for developing new business.

With that type of training, successful consultants realize their potential to work for themselves. Consultants are usually well paid. But when they see the dollar amount their hours are being billed at, compared to how much they are paid, they often realize how much more they could make on their own.

Some start their own consulting firms. Others combine their knowledge and experience from multiple clients and come up with a new product offering that can be a niche industry.

Summary

Like any occupation, consulting is not for everyone. It requires the ability to think on your feet, work long and hard hours, and solve highly complex problems. You may also have to fall on your sword occasionally to make the client look good in front of their management team.

For many, consulting is an exciting career that you may want to do for your entire career. Alternatively, you may want to be a consultant to gain valuable experience to give you the opportunity to do something else that you find exciting. Even if you find consulting is not your thing, having a few years of it on your resume will almost always give you opportunities you would not have otherwise had.

What do you want to use your consulting experience for?

As always, I welcome your comments and criticisms. 

If you would like to learn more about working in consulting, get Lew’s book Consulting 101: 101 Tips for Success in Consulting at Amazon.com 

Image courtesy of ddpavumba at FreeDigitalPhotos.net