Management Consultant

What is a Management Consultant?

Management consultants have to be accomplished analysts, attentive listeners, and firm but tactful communicators. They are thinkers and problem solvers who know how to convince others that change is needed. Compensation is at the higher end of the spectrum, but hours are correspondingly longer and frequent travel is typically required. Satisfaction is generally high in this career, despite its demands.

In the course of their jobs, management consultants typically fulfill the following responsibilities:

• Gather and organize information about the client in order to identify the problem(s) at hand and create solutions
• Make improvements to the existing procedures or recommend new systems or organizational changes
• Conduct onsite observations and interview personnel to determine the particular needs of the client, from methods to implementation, inventory and personnel
• Analyze data, including but not limited to revenue, employment reports and expenditures

Day in the Life

Management consultants provide strategic and dispassionate advisory services to assist companies in improving productivity and overall performance. Advisory expertise includes areas such as HR, financial performance, marketing and business restructuring, with an emphasis on calculating risks versus costs. Consultants generally work in teams while on assignment, with each team consisting of a partner, a manager or senior consultant, associates (typically experienced consultants or those with a MBA) and analysts (typically those without MBA postgrad degrees).

Regardless of self-employment or the size of consulting firm, the day-to-day work of a management consultant varies enormously from assignment to assignment. Some projects will necessitate an entire team of consultants, each specializing in a particular area. Other times, consultants must operate independently from one another and/or in close contact with the client’s managers.

A typical project will involve meeting with clients, assessing needs, research, analyzing data and subsequently giving recommendation to the clients, after which a time table is set to implement improvements.

Typical Work Schedule

Management Consultant usually have to work beyond the standard working hours of about 40 hours almost all the time especially for larger projects with tight deadlines. This makes the job quite demanding as it often requires working on evenings and weekends. Also, the job includes constant travelling, sometimes for extended periods of time, between the office and the clients to provide consultation when required. However, some firms try to provide options to achieve the work-life balance by offering benefits to alleviate stress like offering part-time schedules and conditional leaves when necessary. Independent freelance work is also a choice with more flexible working schedules, but it requires enough experience and large network of clients to prosper.

Projected Job Growth

According to the US bureau of labor statistics, the employment of management consultants is expected to increase by at least 11 % in the period between 2019 to 2029 which is much faster than the expected growth of other jobs. The growth rate is expected to be especially strong in specific fields like healthcare to be able to efficiently handle hospital costs and health insurance. Other fields include IT technology which is expected to demand more management consultants to be able to provide higher levels of cyber security and increase the efficiency of the IT systems. Accordingly, graduates should not find much difficulty to start their career in the field. You will need to continue your financial education and improve to analytical skills and specialized expertise to be enough to secure an advantage in the midst of the competition for higher position.

Typical Employers

Management consultants work for management consultancy firms which can range from the large fortune 500 firms to smaller and medium firms. These firms provide services ranging from strategy consulting, human resources, IT and outsourcing when necessary, smaller firms often focuses on a particular service. These firms can be a good steppingstone for any consultant considering to run his/her own business. Management Consultants Can also work for many industries and corporations. The most famous management consulting firms including McKinsey & Company, The Boston Consulting Group, Inc., Bain & Company, and Deloitte Consulting LLP.