What Does a Consultant Do?

Consultants work to fill gaps and inform best practices in organizations effectively. In this career choice, you lend your expertise to a business or organization to help them meet their objectives and goals. A company seeking to address a weakness or equip itself with tools and staff may benefit from the fresh perspective of a consultant. 

Explore what a consultant is in more detail, including the roles and responsibilities that make up the job and how to start your consulting career. 

What is a consultant?

Consultants are experts in a specific area of business who can offer an outside perspective on how a company can improve performance and implement solutions. They may work as part of a consulting firm or as freelancers. Typically hired to analyze and evaluate an organization's strengths and weaknesses, consultants provide specialized services and advice that are industry-specific. 

Read more: What Is Management Consulting?

What does a consultant do?

The specifics of your role as a consultant may vary depending on certain factors, such as the industry and the client's goal. While the overarching goal of consulting is to improve business operations, multiple paths exist for consultants beyond that goal. 

Explore the typical responsibilities a consultant may have:

• Communicate with clients to address their needs: Communication may include in-person meetings, phone calls, and emails so you can listen and learn about the client. Part of your work as a consultant requires you to understand a client’s situation to inform a plan of action.

• Perform analysis and observations. To further learn how a business operates and how its different systems and processes function, consultants analyze and observe a client’s business. Then, they identify issues or problem areas that may need correcting.

• Implement action plans. You may implement an action plan by informing the client how they can move forward and letting them utilize your ideas as they see fit based on your advice. 

• Coach clients in your area of expertise. You will coach your clients through training practices and tracking results to gauge success and demonstrate impact. It may include factors such as increased productivity or revenue.

• Discover new clients. If you don’t work for consulting firms, you may have to spend time searching and networking for leads and marketing their services to gain new clients, work, and experience.

Why do companies hire consultants?

Companies hire consultants for various reasons, from borrowing their expertise without hiring someone full-time to optimizing processes and procedures. The reasons vary depending on the organization’s goals or challenges. For example, you might come in as a consultant to lend a different perspective than the business’s employees, providing guidance based on your experience handling similar situations. This expertise is valuable in ensuring the company implements suitable solutions, overcomes hurdles, or meets its objectives. 

Hiring a consultant may also benefit a company by lessening the pressures and workloads of staff members who may already have their own responsibilities to complete. You could lighten the load while infusing the organization with your specific knowledge, skills, and expertise. 

What are some of common consultant industries?

As a consultant, you could find work across a broad range of industries, including human resources, public relations, marketing, management, finance, project management, business development, and technology. Explore some consulting industries you may choose to work in:

1. Finance

You could use your financial expertise to collaborate with finance and accounting staff members. You might perform research to maintain compliance with regulations and guide financial decision-making, such as retirement plans, investment options, tax management, and business costs.

Read more: What Is Finance Management?

2. Social media

You could use your experience and success in working with social media to help teach oganizations how to grow their target audience on social media platforms. You’ll likely walk them through developing and implementing branding and social media marketing strategies to help increase engagement and boost web traffic.

3. Information technology

If you specialize in information technology (IT), you can help companies adapt to and learn how to use new and emerging technologies. You may also aid them in improving their data analysis, system integration, or other computer science processes.

Read more: What is Information Technology? Guide

4. Human resources

HR departments require numerous tasks that may benefit from your advice or guidance. As an HR consultant, you might participate in hiring and onboarding, overseeing the implementation of policies and employee contracts, and helping the business optimize its workforce plans. 

Read more: What Is Human Resources (HR)? Description, Duties, and Jobs

5. Legal

If you have a legal background, you might work with organizations to assist with specific situations where legal matters are prevalent. For example, you might oversee real estate transactions or health care matters to ensure the company follows all the proper steps in compliance with regulations and best practices. You might also advise on legal proceedings, such as statutes and laws. 

6. Sustainability

With your expertise in sustainable business practices and government regulations, you could help organizations find ways to reduce environmental impact. As a sustainability consultant, you might also implement policies and strategies to promote energy efficiency, report relevant ecological data, and educate the company’s employees.

Consultant education and training

As a consultant, you could work in various specialties across many industries, and the education requirements to become a consultant can vary. Many consultants have a bachelor’s degree, and earning a more advanced degree—such as a Master of Business Administration—may be helpful for advancement opportunities and gaining experience. 

Specific consulting jobs may require a more advanced degree, such as gaining a law degree to be a legal consultant. Ultimately, entry requirements typically vary depending on your chosen industry and employer.

You could also specialize in a specific area of business, such as human resources or finance. In doing so, you would develop and share in-depth knowledge to inform strategies because companies still need to get this knowledge on hand.

Certifications

Certifications are another way you may gain expertise in an industry-specific consulting field. Employers value certifications because they show you have the necessary knowledge for a career in consulting, and they can boost your reputation and give you credibility as a specialist.

Some popular and valuable certifications for consultants include:

• Project Management Professional (PMP): The Project Management Institute offers this certification, which helps demonstrate your competence in overseeing business projects, including managing people and processes. The certification requires passing a 180-question exam.

• Certified Management Accountant (CMA): If you want to work within the accounting realm, this credential could help establish your competency in planning and managing a company’s finances. The CMA requires membership with the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA), a bachelor’s degree or relevant professional certification, two years of professional financial management experience, and completion of a two-part exam. 

• Certified Manager (CM): Certified Manager verifies your managerial skills and helps prepare you to take on leadership roles. The certification requires the completion of three education modules and their corresponding exams.

Consulting skills

As a consultant, you must remain current with the latest skills and up-to-date on relevant emerging practices, technologies, and advancements in your chosen field. Doing so will require continual education, beginning with some of the standard skills that firms, clients, and employers typically value in a consultant.

• Problem-solving

• Creativity

• Flexibility

• Building relationships

• Communication

• Critical thinking

• Organization and time management

• Leadership

• Analyzing performance metrics

Average consultant salary

According to Glassdoor, consultants in the US may earn a base pay between $67,000 and $125,000 per year, with the average annual salary being $89,318 [1]. Your total salary may vary depending on where you work, with aerospace and defense, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, manufacturing, and energy among the highest-paying industries.

Pros and cons of becoming a consultant

Consulting can be a rewarding career. Not only do you get to face a variety of new challenges regularly, but you also have the opportunity to contribute to projects that can impact the success of companies. You have the flexibility to take jobs that fit your interests and specialty, plus the compensation is typically high depending on your project and client.

Despite the advantages, you could experience some challenges as well. For example, as a consultant, you may experience long stints of downtime between companies’ requests, allowing for infrequent job security. You can anticipate frequent travel, long work hours, and inconsistent working hours. You may also have to balance and adapt since you may swap organizations on a regular basis, and you may frequently have new coworkers or duties to adjust to.

Build your consulting skills with Coursera

A career as a consultant can be rewarding, enabling you to provide organizations with fresh perspectives in any area you specialize in, including hiring, operations, cost efficiency, and meeting regulatory standards. You could work in diverse industries and may be free to set your own schedule and choose your projects.

On Coursera, you can find highly-rated courses to help you become a consultant or gain new in-demand skills and knowledge. For example, the Management Consulting Specialization offered by Emory University is an opportunity to learn more about the value consultants offer organizations and develop the skills and tools consultants use to solve business problems. 

Another option is Dartmouth’s Strategic Leadership: Impact, Change, and Decision-Making Specialization course, which provides an opportunity to learn how to be an effective leader at work and in life and equips you with the knowledge to become a better decision-maker. 

Continued learning is essential on this career path. You’ll find all the courses and programs you need to remain up-to-date in your industry on Coursera.