You may have noticed that the consulting industry is full of high-performing consultant from top schools with great grades and interesting work experience. A business consultant is an expert in a specific field that works as an adviser, either to another individual or a company.

The job of a consultant is to consult; nothing more, nothing less. Because of this, almost anyone can be a consultant in this day and age through the use of resources that are readily available.

So, you may start to ask yourself, what does it take to succeed in such a competitive industry among the best of the best? Let’s find out together.

What makes a Successful Management Consultant?
What is the most Important Competence of a Successful Management Consultant?
What skills and expertise do you need to succeed as a management consultant?
Which type of Consultants make the most Money?
How do you Survive Management Consulting?
How do I get Better at Consulting?
Is Consulting a Stressful Job?

What makes a Successful Management Consultant?

Specific courses do not ultimately lead to success like some might think, but rather a combination of soft-skills and a strong work ethic. Digging deeper, successful consultants typically possess the following characteristics.

Read Also: Starting a Career in Management Consulting

Team Players: Ideal consultants will ‘fight in the trenches’ with their colleagues, are dependable, have a strong willingness to learn, and are receptive to feedback. They are not afraid to challenge ideas but do so productively and with respect.

Professional: Great consultants are able to relate to the client whilst maintaining professionalism. Building professional relationships is critical for project success, and when done effectively, consultants can quickly become a client’s trusted advisor.

Influencers: The ability to instill change is contingent on one’s ability to influence. If a client feels like you have not adequately listened or cannot confidently outline the way forward, they will not be receptive to your solutions. Top consultants listen effectively, perform their due diligence, exude confidence, and continuously deliver on their promises.

Analytical problem solvers: Analysis is at the core of what consultants do – we need team members who can analyze large amounts of data, ask the right questions, and deliver tangible results. Project managers and clients seek consultants who can detect the root cause and provide pragmatic solutions.

Driven and productive: The best consultants are disciplined and work both hard and smart; they are able to deliver measurable results in the shortest amount of time. Exceptional employees have a deep and personal desire to perform; they are constantly driving towards the next best thing rather than simply trying to get the job done.

Take initiative: Great consultants execute beyond their job descriptions or outlined deliverables. They think on their feet, seamlessly adapt to shifting priorities, and are constantly delivering results.

Infinitely curious: The best people are rarely satisfied, somewhat skeptical, and like to continually challenge the status quo – not because it is expectation but because this desire burns in their core.

Balance strategy and tactics: Consultants who can tie the big picture back to the here and now will ensure that the solutions they provide are practical today yet relevant tomorrow.

Quick, organized thinkers: Consulting requires team members to digest large amounts of information, make quick decisions, and disseminate clear communications to their team and the client.

Low neuroticism: Let’s face it – Management Consulting is often a high-stress profession, whether it is driven from having a tough client or tight project timelines. The most successful consultants are resilient, are able to manage their emotions, and ensure anxiety does not hinder performance.

What is the most Important Competence of a Successful Management Consultant?

The education and experience requirements vary depending on which level of management consulting you work in or seek to occupy. In general, there are basically four different categories on the career ladder. Within my firm, we hire in at the first three levels. Regardless of whether you work for a large or small firm, the consulting level you end up in will depend largely on your education and experience and then your competence.

1. The first consulting level is entry level, and it’s typically a business analyst or associate consultant role and usually requires an undergraduate degree with very little (if any) experience.
2. The second level tends to be known as the actual management consultant level. My firm requires an undergraduate degree and four years of consulting experience or a graduate degree and two years of consulting experience for this management consulting level.
3. The third level is what’s known in the industry as a senior consultant or project lead. It usually requires the equivalent of a graduate degree and seven years of experience or an undergraduate degree and 10 years of direct consulting experience.
4. The fourth level is a partner or principal, and this level usually calls for a graduate degree and more than 10 years of directly-related consulting experience.

While we focused here on the most common management consulting jobs where a degree tends to be a minimum requirement, it should be noted that not all consulting jobs require a college degree. Some organizations will permit individuals to substitute relevant work experience in lieu of a degree, and there are also many other types of consulting jobs where college may not carry the same weight.

There are entrepreneurs who have started consulting businesses without a college degree as well. The college degree requirement, however, is more of a factor with traditional consulting organizations where the official work is that of a specialized management consultant or strategy consultant.

What skills and expertise do you need to succeed as a management consultant?

The required skillset varies depending on the different industries and the specific client base that a particular management consulting firm targets and works with.

But you should know that you will be expected to finely tune your functional expertise and specializations around your assigned industries, and you’ll be expected to develop your skills and expertise in any area where you want to deliver consulting services and strategic advice. The higher up the career ladder you go, the stronger skillset you need to have, and the more you need to know.

To reiterate, management consulting work typically requires extensive travel, lots of time with clients and—even still—lots of additional time processing and analyzing work even when you aren’t with clients. In addition to specialized expertise, you will also need many of the following skills, and these will vary depending on the consulting level.

Intellectual competence

• consulting and advising (in your defined areas of expertise)
• strategic thinking
• analytical processing
• action research
• problem-solving and process improvement

Communication competence

• communication (writing, speaking and listening)
• conflict management
• presentations

Leadership competence

• judgment and decision making
• emotional intelligence
• executive presence
• client engagements and relationships
• managing ambiguity

Technical competence

• analytics and data interpretation
• statistical thinking
• critical thinking and analysis
• project management
• business systems
• marketing and sales
• contracting, budgeting and financial management (for senior-level consultants, partners and principals)

If your goal is to build a successful career in management consulting, we recommend you enhance your education, experience, and skills to align with what we have detailed above. We also recommend that you thoroughly engage in interview prep, and study up on the case interview method. This method is often applied during at least one phase of the interview process.

Which type of Consultants make the most Money?

Consultants become accountable once hired to render their expertise, analysis and purpose solutions to minimize risk for an organization. It’s a job that is highly desirable for an organization, especially if they need an outsider’s opinion on the state of their company and where it’s heading. Consulting jobs can be lucrative for employees depending on the area they specialize in and the company they work for.

Here is a list of the top 15 highest paying consulting jobs you can work in. Take note of this list when you’re applying for consulting jobs to earn the highest possible salary.

1. Marketing Consultant

National Average Salary: $56,068 per year

Primary Duties: A marketing consultant works with a company to drive its target audience to their business. They also help improve conversion rates and monitor this metric to find out how many customers browse their website and become buyers of their product. They advise which marketing channel works best to communicate with clients, track leads and retain clients once they’re signed.

2. Associate Consultant

National Average Salary: $58,889 per year

Primary Duties: An associate consultant works for a chief consultant who is their supervisor and leads projects based on the management’s direction. They also draft specified legal documents for different scenarios in addition to providing training for clients and fellow consultants and researches to give calculated advice for companies.

3. HR Consultant

National Average Salary: $63,540 per year

Primary Duties: A human resources, or HR, consultant renders advice on human resources policies for clients. HR policies can include employee training, benefits administration, setting goals and communicating them to lower-level employees and documentation processes for new employees. They also ensure that clients have updated compliance procedures regarding employee information and streamlining workflow for front line managers.

4. Technology Consultant

National Average Salary: $64,898 per year

Primary Duties: A technology consultant makes important decisions regarding the type of technology a company uses to service its clients. The technology they use depends on the industry they work in, but they can set up and maintain frameworks for startup companies, find ways to optimize performance and help with integrations that need to be made for computer hardware.

5. Investment Consultant

National Average Salary: $65,666 per year

Primary Duties: An investment consultant collaborates with other investors on products, advice and discovers their aspirations for the future, so they can meet their financial targets. This type of consultant can have experiences in various positions within the financial sector, including banks and private equity firms. A consultant may be requested to oversee the investments made to see if they’re turning a profit or it’s viable in the long run.

6. Sales Consultant

National Average Salary: $66,862 per year

Primary Duties: A sales consultant sells a client’s product to generate revenue and profit for the organization. They also attract more leads to their business, which enhances the opportunity for them to become paying customers. Furthermore, they can address client issues presented to them and administer solutions based on their needs. Sales consultants may have a strong social media presence because of their ability to drive awareness of a brand.

7. Environmental Consultant

National Average Salary: $67,572 per year

Primary Duties: An environmental consultant can make targeted predictions on the environmental impacts of business decisions for their clients. They also check if current business practices meet environmental standards set up by the state and the federal government. Some of these consultants may already work for the government or small nonprofit organizations to promote sustainable procedures.

8. Software Consultant

National Average Salary: $71,395 per year

Primary Duties: A software consultant is similar to a technology consultant, but they solely work on a company’s software components and procedures. A large company may have both positions working for their company. However, they can collaborate on if software solutions match up with the current technological infrastructure of the organization and how it can speed up an organization’s workflow.

9. Business Consultant

National Average Salary: $71,853 per year

Primary Duties: A business consultant develops a strategy for companies to expand their acquisition of customers and establishes detailed goals to show this result. They may work on HR and marketing procedures listed above if they’re a small company, but their main responsibility to give the proper resources to execute their business plan.

10. Consultant

National Average Salary: $74,997 per year

Primary Duties: A regular consultant can fall under the scope of a business consultant, but this title accounts for consultants who may work on their own and help individuals as well as businesses. They can give ad hoc advice or coach their clients to continue to ensure they reach success.

11. Security Consultant

National Average Salary: $80,652 per year

Primary Duties: Support specialists are responsible for reviewing and solving computer network and hardware problems for a business. They can work in a variety of industries to provide general support to a company’s employees, or they can work at technology or software as a service (SaaS) company and provide technical support on user experience issues that require technical assistance.

12. Management Consultant

National Average Salary: $84,642 per year

Primary Duties: A management consultant comes up with different ways to improve the effectiveness of an organization’s processes. They use industry data and research and apply to practices that solve current problems with workflows, employee performance and how finances are spent.

13. Financial Consultant

National Average Salary: $88,497 per year

Primary Duties: A financial consultant solely works on improving the financial state of a business. They may work with accountants to properly address the organization’s financial situation and address it with stakeholders as well as create financial strategies for savings, retirement and insurance, so they’ll know the number of assets they have leftover to scale their company.

14. Systems Consultant

National Average Salary: $93,956 per year

Primary Duties: A systems consultant helps large businesses and corporations with their IT functionality. They troubleshoot issues and give live technical support to employees when needed. This position is similar to a technology consultant, but a systems consultant can be more specialized in systems currently in place and managing their data.

15. Senior Consultant

National Average Salary: $98,468 per year

Primary Duties: A senior consultant oversees a team of consultants to ensure that tasks can be carried out appropriately and efficiently. They’ll usually be the main point of contact on client calls, as they’ll speak face-to-face with the company executive team. Also, they may take the lead more on sales cycles, so their clients keep generating profit while their teams work on troubleshooting operational issues that arise.

How do you Survive Management Consulting?

In order to succeed in this role and more importantly to actually have fun and enjoy the work, there are several things you can do:

1. Don’t stress it

It is completely okay that you have no idea what you are doing. The first three months are a probation period for you. The team, the partners, and your project manager know this. They don’t expect a lot (in fact, everything you do, your teammates can do a lot faster and better probably) and will not let you catch a falling knife. Be aware of your own limitations and communicate with the team in an open manner.

2. Seek guidance

Your team and especially the project manager is there for you. Ask for help if you don’t know something or need input. Discuss analysis and slides before you start working on them as chances are high that the team will have valuable input.

Discuss learning goals with your team and block frequent feedback sessions with the project manager, senior leadership, and other analysts on the team. The latter can often give you very valuable feedback that others can’t.

3. Work smartly

Make sure to learn how to leverage the resources of your firm right from the start. This will save you a lot of time and improve the end-product. Top firms usually take away a large amount of work from the consultants at the client site and outsource it to numerous support functions within the firm.

This includes people doing or improving the slides, researchers, expert networks, or even quantitative analysts. For IT matters, IT helpdesks usually can work wonders.

4. Pick up the basic consulting skills

Learn the tools of the trade from your peers. This includes the ability to communicate both verbally and visually in a clear and concise fashion, grasping problems, breaking them down and analyzing to arrive at an actionable conclusion, basic Excel and advanced Powerpoint skills as well as good 80/20 (focus on the 20% that make 80% of the impact = efficiency), strong logic and people skills.

5. Get used to quick iterations and feedback cycles

Consulting work is very iterative in nature. Usually, you define a problem, come up with a hypothetical answer, and then test the answer with number crunching or expert opinions. Quite often, there are several iterations in analysis and slide production needed before they reach a client-ready state.

Get used to this way of working and share your planned analysis and intermediate results with the team for feedback early before you move on. This way, you ensure that everyone is aligned, you are working in the right direction and not for the bin. This is the bread and butter of the typical McKinsey, BCG, and Bain work.

6. Pick your battles and learn to say no

Work can be very tough at times. In this environment, it is important to establish personal boundaries early in the process. If you don’t look after yourself, no one else will. In order to do this, pick your battles and learn to say no.

Even though there are certain elements that come with the job such as long hours, travel, and pressure, the team leadership, and project manager are usually happy to compromise on some to keep the team happy. This could be the need to be on the client site 4 days a week, late-night work, personal commitments and you name it.

7. Use the training and resources

Top strategy firms will usually put you through extensive training once you start your consulting career. A lot of training will be formal and mandatory. On average you can expect to have 1 to 3 weeks of on-site training per year. However, in addition, you can select a lot of voluntary training to develop certain hard and soft skills. Make use of this as much as possible.

The offered training is usually of very high quality and pretty unique for professionals with limited working experience. Other organizations usually only put senior managers through similar training. Also, make sure to pick up and internalize the typical consultants working mode from your daily life in the team room.

8. Build a network and find your mentors

You can never start early enough to build your network in the firm. Your network includes your peer group, the people you started, and can share common learnings with, leadership and project managers, the people that will guide and pull you along on your successful trajectory through the firm.

So make sure to socialize with your teams and to visit the training and social events of functional or industry practices. Lastly, make the effort to get to know people from your office since you will spend 90% of your time somewhere else.

9. Triple-check your analysis and slides

Lastly, even though you are in a probation period, make sure the products you deliver such as analysis and slides are triple checked and correct. It is completely fine if it takes longer for you to solve a question, however, it is less fine to deliver work flawed with mistakes. Always work with an end-product (usually slides) in mind that is readily client-sharable.

As time progresses other skills such as developing personal spikes, knowledge development, etc. will become more important, however, this is for another day. Apply at least some of them and you will get a step closer to becoming a badass consultant.

How do I get Better at Consulting?

Do you have an area of expertise to advise on? Follow these steps closely and you’ll build a strong foundation for future work, repeat clients, and expanding your reach and reputation.

1. Identify your area of expertise

Be honest about where your strengths and expertise lie — and consider strengths outside your nine-to-five focus. Maybe you have a landscaping side hustle with enough client demand to take it full time. Or perhaps you’re good at closing difficult deals in the medical sales industry — so good that your colleagues are always asking for help.

Ask yourself three questions to identify your niche:

1. “Do I have a unique point of view?“
2. “Do I have the experience necessary to be authoritative in this field?“
3. “Is there demand for this service?“

Being a consultant requires you to be organized, self-motivated, and good at boundary setting. Before launching your website and accepting your first client, consider your ability to meet these demands. You might identify the perfect niche, but if you can’t meet independent deadlines or manage a billing cycle, you might not be ready to become a consultant.

To find your consulting specialty, consider areas you excel in at work, projects you’ve gotten high marks on in performance reviews, or hobbies you’ve mastered outside the office. You should also factor in what you enjoy — if you’re doing this full-time, it needs to be an activity you’re passionate about.

2. Set goals

Setting goals helps you know what you’re working towards. Do you want this to stay a nights-and-weekends project? Do you hope to turn it into a full-time business? Do you want to hire employees someday? Answer these questions and plan accordingly.

Once you’ve identified broad goals for your business, narrow your focus to more immediate needs. To do this, make sure your goals are SMART:

• Specific: Clearly define what you want to accomplish
• Measurable: Identify targets and milestones to track progress
• Attainable: Keep goals realistic and manageable
• Relevant: Set goals that fit with your business model
• Time-Based: Identify deadlines for your goals

As your consultancy grows, so will your plans. Revisit your SMART goals on a monthly or quarterly basis and adjust them as needed.

Maria Marshall, an associate professor at Purdue University, researches small and family-owned businesses. She recommends including visionary goals for your business as well. Marshall outlines four main areas of focus for visionary goals:

• Service: How can you improve customer satisfaction and retention?
• Social: How can you give back to the community through philanthropy or volunteering?
• Profit: How can you increase profits by X percent?
• Growth: How can you expand your company (i.e., new employees, more clients, office space)?

3. Make a website

Think you can get by without a website? Think again. A recent Local Search Association report finds that 63% of consumers use websites to find or engage with businesses, and 30% of those consumers won’t consider a business without a website.

Also, if you have a site, Google gives your business more authority in local rankings. Creating a Google My Business profile isn’t enough. A website that’s optimized with backlinks, domain authority, and views will encourage Google to display your website in relevant searches.

Don’t think website creation is in your wheelhouse? Services like WordPress and Squarespace make it easy to build a website, and GoDaddy allows you to lock down a domain name.

And if you want a tool that’ll help you do everything from tracking incoming leads to booking meetings and will grow with your business, try HubSpot. Your website is the first impression of your business. Invest time here and see the returns for years to come.

4. Get certified

Are there certifications that will give you an edge? For example, if you’re a consultant for medical sales professionals, consider pursuing accreditation in one of HIDA’s Medical Sales programs. If your specialty is coaching teams to be better at outreach, consider getting an Inbound Sales Certification from HubSpot.

Whether software, skills, or subject matter-specific certifications, find out what’s important in your industry and invest in expanding your knowledge base. As a consultant, it’s crucial to remain cutting edge and competitive in your niche, and certifications are a concrete way to demonstrate your drive.

5. Choose a target market

Once you’ve identified your niche, be clear about who your target audience is. For example, if you help startup sales teams navigate early-stage scaleup, hone in on your target market by answering these five questions:

1. “Where is my target audience located?” (Will you serve local clients only? Will you accept national or regional clients? Will you exclude international clients?)
2. “What are their biggest pain points?” (What has driven them to search for your help? What are their daily roadblocks to suggest? What are their scaling challenges?)
3. “Who is competing for their business?” (Who are your biggest competitors and how do your services measure up? What sets you apart?)
4. “Am I targeting startups themselves the individual sales managers?” (Will you reach out to businesses or network to individuals through local meetups or LinkedIn outreach?)
5. “What motivates my target audience?” (What is your audience’s end goal by choosing your services? What do they hope to achieve for their team and for themselves?)

Getting specific about who your customer is and what’s important to them allows you to provide superior service and reach clients who are the perfect match.

6. Decide where you’ll work

You probably won’t need a designated workplace while getting your consultancy off the ground. But if you’re becoming a full-time consultant, it might be helpful to have an office. Before you start booking office tours, ask yourself a few questions:

1. “Can I afford office space, and if so, how much can I afford?“
2. “Will a workplace enhance my business or help it grow?“
3. “Why do I need this space?” (i.e., do I meet with clients? Am I hiring some part-time help?)

Once you’ve decided that office space will truly benefit your business, consider what kind of space is right for your needs. Coworking spaces like We Work and Galvanize are staples of many urban environments.

They give you access to shared or small workspaces, as well as meeting rooms and amenities, at a lower monthly rate than traditional office spaces. They also give you another way to network and benefit from those around you.

7. Create your offerings

How will you be providing your consulting services? What kind of delivery models will you use? Will you be traveling to them and providing your services on-site, or will you provide your services virtually? Will you be performing actual work for them, or will you simply be guiding them to do the work themselves?

Here are some popular consulting models:

• Done For You
• Done With You
• Coaching (One-on-One)
• Group Coaching (One-to-Many)
• Online Program (On-Demand)

Even though it’s the least scalable, it’s often advisable to being with the “Done For You” type of model so that you have proven experience and success stories to better sell the other types of products.

8. Set your rates

Deciding how much you’ll charge clients can be the hardest part of starting a consultancy. It’s tempting to charge less than you’re worth because you haven’t proven your results yet.

Research what comparative consultants are charging in your area (sites like Glassdoor.com are great for this). And decide which of these common types of consultant pricing would most fairly compensate you for the work you’re doing.

Is Consulting a Stressful Job?

Of course, every industry has its own particularly quirks – the things you don’t know about the job until you actually begin the work. Consulting also has some of them, we listed them below.

You work for two companies

Sure, anyone who with a client-facing position answers to both their boss and their customers. But consultants describe a more polarizing environment. Unlike bankers, management consultants will often spend much of their time at a client site. While many clients will stay out of the way, this isn’t always the case.

“On a personal level, you can feel like you’re working for someone who’s more demanding than your real boss, but they weren’t the ones who hired you,” said one Big Four consultant. “If they get on your boss, you then have two people riding you.” And you get a new set of bosses with every client.

For one assignment, the Big Four consultant and his team were actually drug tested at the behest of the client before getting started, despite working for the firm for many years. It never happened to him before or since, but it’s certainly something to keep in mind.

Of course, there is the other side of the coin. The stars can align where clients leave a team to do their work and the big boss is back at the main office. “Those are dream scenarios,” he said.

The unpredictability of travel

One consultant based out of Florida told us of a time when he was working for a particularly “anal” hedge fund in Connecticut that housed his team in a completely different building than their main office due to security concerns. Still, the fund wanted them on site Monday through Friday until the project was finished.

Recently the father of twins, he would fly home every Friday and return late Sunday night. The project went on longer than anyone expected, and he spent nearly three months on the road. Meanwhile, other assignments involve little or no overnight travel. But the volatility can change things at home.

Being “on” all the time

Again, this depends greatly on if you’re working regularly at a client site. “Small things you take for granted like joking around with colleagues and loosening your tie don’t really happen if you’re constantly on-site,” said a current director at a New York consulting firm. “Always having to be ‘on’ can be subtly exhausting.” He compared it to the feeling of starting a brand new job, over and over again.

Rarely seeing outcomes reach completion

In most jobs, employees who don’t jump ship early get to see the results of their work. This rarely happens in management consulting, where the outcomes to solutions that were implemented or suggested only become clear long after the firm moves on.

This wasn’t an issue for anyone we interviewed except one: a former Big Four consultant who said she didn’t like the lack of gratification, both externally and personally. “It can be unfulfilling,” she said. On the other hand, not having be there if a solution ultimately backfires doesn’t sound like the worst option.

Seniority adds a strange new role

Reaching the upper rungs at a consulting firm – director and MD – often adds a new responsibility that years of hard work may not directly prepare someone for: being a salesperson. “The more senior you are, there are pressures to generate new business while continuing to execute,” said one Wall Street recruiter.

Read Also: How to Become a Successful Career Woman

Consulting finished sixth in our recent ranking of the most stressful jobs in financial services – right in the middle of the pack. But almost every role considered to be more stressful had a revenue-generating component to it. Risk management was the only outlier. Adding business development responsibilities dramatically raises the ceiling on compensation, but it can also increase a person’s blood pressure, particularly when it’s a new role.

Plenty of exit opps

Working at a top-ranked consulting firm can provide near unlimited exit opportunities for those who don’t want to stay in the industry forever. Consultants told us that many of their former colleagues went on to work for ex-clients, if not directly than within a year or two, depending on their non-compete.

However, this can be a double-edged sword. Those who have stayed in the industry complain about the high turnover rates in consulting, due to people using it as a jumping board for a different career path as well as the large number of employees who leave to go back to business school. The general consensus is that a given consulting firm can see an annual turnover rate of about 20%, mostly at the junior ranks.

For senior consultants, this means a constant string of fresh faces and lots of on-the-job training. “You’re prepared for it and you get used to it, but the lack of continuity year-to-year is always a challenge,” said the director.