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How to become a consultant - employed, independent or contract
Everyone in business should have to have a spell as a consultant at some point. It would certainly make those on the client side realise exactly how much better their companies could be run, that a good consultant can do more than look at your watch and tell you the time, and to realise what frustrating customers they sometimes make!
That said it is a lot of fun, you get to meet some interesting people, and if you like problem solving and steep challenges there are always plenty to take on. You might want to go into consulting at any point in your career and, if redundancy has curtailed a job you enjoyed, it is a very common option for business professionals to consider becoming freelance or independent consultants in e.g. IT, HR, Project Management, Marketing, PR or Management Consultancy.
Many of the most interesting boutique consulting practices have begun because talented individuals have broken away from bigger firms or have been made redundant when billings have looked dangerously low. The consulting business always needs new talent and there is quite a lot of competition for the best people. You'll find our top tips here, more detailed information can be found in our popular book "Rebuilding your life after redundancy".
That said it is a lot of fun, you get to meet some interesting people, and if you like problem solving and steep challenges there are always plenty to take on. You might want to go into consulting at any point in your career and, if redundancy has curtailed a job you enjoyed, it is a very common option for business professionals to consider becoming freelance or independent consultants in e.g. IT, HR, Project Management, Marketing, PR or Management Consultancy.
Many of the most interesting boutique consulting practices have begun because talented individuals have broken away from bigger firms or have been made redundant when billings have looked dangerously low. The consulting business always needs new talent and there is quite a lot of competition for the best people. You'll find our top tips here, more detailed information can be found in our popular book "Rebuilding your life after redundancy".
To become a successful consultant 3 things are really important
1. You do need to be really good at something i.e. have real expertise in an industry, sector or a business discipline and have good interpersonal skills or you won't get any initial clients, repeat business or referrals. You need to be able to apply that expertise and knowledge in a setting other than your previous employer whether you have come from the public or private sector. Additionally, you must be able to think in a structured and objective manner, be good at problem solving, have the ability to write proposals that clients will be prepared to read and act upon, and be able to manage your team and your project. Whether you apply for a position in a consulting practice, or set up on your own, you must think about where you already fit or where you'd like to go if someone is willing to train you. Are you Big Four material? Would you fit in the financial consultancy sector? IT? Outsourcing? Engineering? Marketing? HR? Do you have any kind of unique skill, knowledge, contacts, experience or a suitable qualification?
2. You have to be exceptionally good at selling and marketing - selling yourself, selling your ideas, selling your pricing, selling your methodologies. You may be good at what you do but how are you going to get the work? Selling in this context is hard for newcomers especially if you have either no experience or you have only sold to a captive internal audience in your previous role. You have to have the courage to ask for the order, learn how to close and be comfortable networking and looking for business. If you have no idea what we're talking about, get yourself on a course or work for a firm that will provide the right training because you won't survive otherwise.
3. You have to be good at building relationships with clients and understand your accountability to them or you won't get any business the first time or any time after that.
How to get into consulting
- You can join an established practice - there are lots of big players and niche consultancies keen to recruit good people. To look for a job go to the job hunting sites directory - jobs in management consultancy section, or check to see if there are any recruitment events scheduled in our career events section. Top Consultant hold several every year and Vault publishes a very good guide on all the well known consultancies. Use your contacts to find out more if you know people who work for those firms already, Big 4 consultancies often recruit directly through their own networks and websites, smaller ones will go through the types of specialist recruiters you'll find in the aforementioned jobs in consultancy section.
- You could set up your own practice - a pretty tough route if you don't have the experience or the contacts.
- You can check out the interim management route and our page of specialist recruiters in the job hunting sites directory.
- You can become a portfolio worker where you work for a variety of companies concurrently. It means you have several income streams, and client organisations still get access to expertise that perhaps they don't need, perhaps can't afford to employ on a full time basis or beyond a specific event.
- You can become a freelance or contract consultant. This has been a very popular route especially for IT professionals. Essentially you work for, usually, one client or project at a time for the contract duration although you must be very careful of the HRMRC/tax implications of IR35. The best place to go for all kinds of advice and services in this area is The Professional Contractors Group Limited listed in the directory below and Top Consultant is also an excellent place to start - their management consultancy blogspot has some very insightful entries!
- Freelancers often work as associates of other organisations. You may be self employed but 'wear the hat' so to speak of the organisation that you represent. Trainers and management consultants often register for work with several organisations as part of an informal network or bank of 'approved' providers.
- You could also buy into a franchise such as Action International. The beauty of something like the Action franchise is that you buy into a proven network of training, business generation tools and techniques and intellectual capital that it would take forever to build up as a lone operator. Plus, you'll be linked in with other Action coaches so you don't get so lonely either which can be a drawback for those operating on their own who have been used to working in a busy company.
- Check out our selection of top consultancy recruiters here.
Setting up your home office
Actually, if you decide to work for a decent sized consulting firm they will probably encourage or expect you to be working from home sometimes. They will probably pay for your equipment, some offer an allowance for your home office, as you'll probably either hot desk at their offices or at your clients premises. To set up on your own, however, you will need as modest or as deluxe a set of resources you want to fund - these are all detailed in our book "Rebuilding your life after redundancy" .
How much should I charge?
- Established firms will have their own fee structures and will charge different amounts according to the seniority of the consultants they are using. They have to recoup their fixed costs, costs for lost pitches and so on.
- Whether you are a full time employee, a sub-contractor or on your own, you need to know what you can charge and what your competitors are charging.
- Fees can also vary for each industry type - go to your Trade Association for advice on freelance rates both regionally and for London (usually a vast difference), and be careful how much free stuff you do for clients.
- Over 66,000 businesses in the UK are registered with management consultancy as a core activity so there are a lot of players out there, however, don't be tempted to subsidise clients if you can't afford it, or if they don't buy from you in a reasonable manner.
- You should always consider your down-time when considering your fees, build in holiday, admin days, selling days etc.
- A really good independent can earn £50Kpa or more which isn't a bad living but it's not a route paved with gold and Porsches despite what the media would have you believe.
- For more information scroll down download the Top Consultant report or visit their website for the latest updates.
If consultancy isn't for you, you might also want to consider careers in interim management instead.
Useful resources
Useful resources
 | Top-Consultant Recruitment Report 2009.pdf - 3626kb Download this recruitment report here |
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