Job search result on LinkedIn shows that there are 56,993 consulting jobs in India.[i] Naukri.com showed 1,14,116 jobs in India.[ii] These numbers show that there is huge demand for consultants. There is a huge demand for consulting services of freelancers and consulting companies also.
Due to pandemic, there has been job losses and reduction in salaries. There is an opportunity for those who are interested in consulting to make the career move.
Consulting jobs or projects are available across different domains like management, technical and so on. Now let us look at the 5 things that you should know before you consider a career in consulting.
1. Why do clients hire consultants?
It is important to understand why a company, or an individual hires a consultant. You may have qualities to be a consultant though you must identify the market needs. This can help you to look at consulting career objectively. A client hires a consultant either to solve a problem or to seize an opportunity. Consultant can be hired from within the company or from outside the organization. External consultation is looked upon only when the internal resources fall short. Let us now look at the scope of consulting.
2. What is the scope of Consulting?
I would like to explain the scope of consulting with reference to consultant’s role in advising and in execution.
The consultant and the client are jointly responsible for defining the scope of engagement.
If we analyze the scope of the work of a consultant in the execution and advisory on a matrix of two axes, we can classify her involvement into four quadrants. When a consultant’s role is low on giving advice and low on execution also, the consultant is in the quadrant– Struggler. Initially, when the consultant is new in her profession, she is given less involvement in advisory and execution. Based on her efforts, she will move to the suitable quadrant. When a consultant’s role is low on advisory but high on execution, she is in the quadrant– Namesake. To gain experience when she gets involved more into execution, she moves to the Namesake quadrant. When the consultant’s role is high on advisory and execution also, the consultant is in the quadrant– Confused. When she aims to gain experience in advising, while keeping the involvement in execution also high, she moves towards the quadrant– Confused. When the Consultant is high on advisory but low on execution, she is in the quadrant– Maturity. A consultant should always focus more on advisory and comparatively less on execution otherwise there is no point in getting into consulting.
3. What are the ways of becoming a consultant?
You can become a consultant by undertaking suitable training or through employment (where you will get trained) or by education and by Kaizen (continuous improvement). You can undergo a training program either a short term or a long term, which will provide you the know-how about the consulting domain. Some universities also offer consulting degrees and hence you can become a consultant by education.
It is important to note that you remain a consultant only if you polish your skills and hence, to remain a consultant you must undergo a continuous improvement program– Kaizen.
4.What are the qualifications required to be a consultant?
There are various qualifications required to become a consultant. Commonly known qualifications for a consultant are degree/diploma.
In my opinion, consulting is a combination of ability, attitude, experience, and expertise.
When you go for a diploma or a degree in consulting, you have already chosen that as your career path. Whereas, when you rely on ability, attitude, experience, and expertise, you can become a coherent consultant.
5. What Skills are required?
There can be numerous skills required to be a consultant, some of the most fundamental skills are:
Analysis- As a consultant, you need to understand the information to analyze it to solve the problem or to encash the opportunity. Approach – Every consulting engagement needs an appropriate approach. The approach needs to be decided based on the interaction with the client. Control- It is important to control your role in advising as well as execution. Continuous learner- A consultant must learn about the domain and the skills continuously. Effective communication- Communication is effective when it is appropriately understood by your audience. Generalist & specialist- A consultant needs to understand the overall industry sector and the domain of her expertise. Problem solving- This is one of the core skills in consulting. It is important to separate the symptoms from the root cause. Research- The consultant should have practical approach towards research. Visualization- A client is interested in your problem-solving skill. One of the important ways to communicate in this process is through visualization.
6. What are the steps towards becoming a consultant?
First, check your strengths if they are matching the consulting demands. Note that you will have to identify the path to becoming a consultant. Get adequately trained in consulting. Get experience in doing consulting projects.
You’ll observe that you will have to revisit some steps like revisiting your individual path, getting trained in new skills and again get relevant experience.
Would you like to know if you are a good fit for the role of a consultant?
Dr. Sachin Mohan Bhide, Founder & Strategy Designer, Eha Management Consultancy, 9823038828 sachin@ehamanagementconsultancy.com
https://ehamanagementconsultancy.com/
Cross-posted on Linkdinhttps://www.linkedin.com/pulse/6-things-know-before-you-consider-career-consulting-dr-sachin-bhide/