15 Popular Consulting Careers

The 5 Main Types of Management Consulting Careers

Management Consulting is what most people think of when someone says “consulting.” This field is dominated by large consulting firms like McKinsey, Bain, and Boston Consulting Group, which are hired to help enterprise businesses improve strategy and operations or manage significant business events like mergers and acquisitions.

Management consultants make some of the highest salaries in the professional world, and as you would expect with such a lucrative career, getting into the field is extremely difficult and ludicrously competitive. You need top-tier grades, you need to make the right connections at networking events, and you need to absolutely nail each stage of the interview process.

And things don’t ease up once you’re in. You will need to be a top performer at each level in a promote-or-be-fired progression system.

Management consulting can be further broken down into a number of career tracks, the following five being most popular:

1. Strategy Consulting Careers

Business strategy or “strategic management” is the uppermost level of decision making that drives a business. This is the domain of the C-suite and takes a top-down view of the business. It’s where the most fundamental directional choices are made that affect every aspect of the business.

Strategic management asks questions like:

• What is our long-term vision and trajectory?
• Should we allocate resources to entering a new market?
• Should we drop certain departments/businesses or retain our current portfolio?

Answering these questions requires in-depth data analysis and market understanding. These are huge decisions for a large business, and doing “due diligence” on the potential directions and outcomes is an intensive process.

This is why business leaders will often bring in strategy consultants who specialize in a particular industry or type of business decision. The consultants will be able to look at every possibility and probability and provide a thorough, unbiased brief the C-suite can then use in their decision-making.

From a career standpoint, strategy consulting is considered the most prestigious and difficult to access track in management consulting. In order to get your foot in the door, you will need to be at the “top of the class” in every conceivable metric and have an exceptional capacity for data analysis.

2. Operations Consulting Careers

The operational processes of a business are what drives the business itself. Operations covers things like:

• Process management
• Procurement
• Outsourcing
• Supply chain management

Businesses are always looking to better optimize their operational processes in a variety of ways, like increasing efficiency, cutting costs, improvement quality, etc.

In certain scenarios, however, such as economic downturns, changes in management, or technological rollouts, operations consultants will be brought in to advise on significant changes to a business’ operational processes.

Operations consultants work closely with senior business executives to extract the most value from a business’s operations. They primarily ask ‘how’ questions, like:

• How can we reduce costs in this plant?
• How do we increase efficiency in this factory?
• How can we reduce bottlenecks in this supply chain?
• How do we improve quality control in this manufacturing process?

Unlike strategy consultants, operations consultants will often work with a business beyond just giving advice, in many cases being involved through implementation and deployment. But like all management consultants, operations consultants are problem solvers, and getting into this career field is highly competitive.

3. Financial Advisory Consulting

To survive and thrive, businesses must make objective and informed financial decisions. And, these decisions must take into account a huge number of complex variables.

This is why the market for financial services is so vast, including:

• Corporate finance
• Transaction services
• Restructuring
• Risk management
• Forensics and litigation
• Real estate

Financial Advisors work closely with clients to provide financial advice and expertise specific to the individual company. And, the benefits are easy to grasp: One study found that a good financial advisor can increase investor returns by 3.75 percent.

Financial Advisors ask questions like:

• How can we legally and ethically reduce the tax bill of this corporation?
• How can we improve cash-flow in this business?
• Which investment opportunities will provide the highest return, for the least amount of risk?

Financial Advisors must attain specific qualifications and a licence to provide financial advice.

In the US, for example, you will need to pass a demanding exam administered by the U.S Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), in order to gain a Series 65 or 66 license.

4. Human Resources Consulting

“A company is only as good as its people,” said Kathryn Minshew, founder, and CEO of The Muse.

So, the need to manage employees effectively is crucial to a business’s long-term success. And, there’s a lot to take into account. Businesses need clear and effective processes in place to manage things such as:

• Training and development
• Employee engagement and satisfaction
• Conflict resolution
• Employee benefits and pensions
• Talent mobility

The human resource consulting industry emerged from general management consulting to help companies address these more specific tasks and decisions.

Human Resource Consultants ask questions like:

• Are these policies and procedures in-line with state/federal laws and regulations?
• How can we best implement these HR policies and procedures?
• Do we need to create and implement training sessions related to HR programs?
• How can we improve employee satisfaction and effectiveness?

Essentially, Human Resource Consultants work to ensure that an organization is using its personnel as effectively as possible.

These consultants must have a broad knowledge of many other fields, including accounting, marketing, IT, finance and labor laws. This enables them to fully understand a company’s HR issues and how to best remedy them.

Also, HR Consultants typically need a Bachelor’s Degree in a subject like human resources management or business administration, and a specialist HR certification administered by an organization like the HR Certification Institute (HRCI).

5. Risk & Compliance Consulting

All organizations need to adhere to laws, regulations, standards, and ethical practices. And, compliance is the process of ensuring they do.

Enforcing compliance using company policies helps to detect and prevent any violation of governance, such as fraud, abuse, or discrimination. In turn, this can protect the organization from fines and lawsuits.

In other words, the purpose of a compliance program is to protect an organization from risk.

Risk and compliance consultants ask questions like:

• How can we conduct an in-depth analysis of this organization’s compliance programs, in relation to applicable regulations and ethical standards?
• In order to minimize exposure, what are the business or industry-specific risks that we need to establish internal controls for?
• How can we improve this compliance program and integrate it into the company?

Risk and compliance consultants advise senior management on these issues. And, they often work to develop programs that ensure organization-wide assimilation and compliance.

These consultants must possess a broad knowledge of legal regulations and organizational management, but they also need an in-depth understanding of compliance parameters specific to their industry or niche.

Risk and compliance consultants will virtually always need a Bachelor’s Degree. Many also possess an advanced qualification such as a Master of Business Administration (MBA) or Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

The 5 Main Types of Corporate Consulting Careers

Like the word “consulting,” the category of corporate consulting covers a massive spectrum of job descriptions and focuses.

This is more of a catch-all category for those with a “consulting” job description in the corporate world. This can look like in-house consulting services, implementation teams, B2B consulting businesses, and a host of other things.

As a general rule, people in this category have pursued the corporate track and often have at least a decade of experience in their industry. The following five career types represent the most popular areas of corporate consulting.

1. IT Consulting Careers

Technology is developing at a rapid pace, and businesses need to keep up if they want to achieve their goals and maintain a competitive edge.

Information Technology (IT) has ballooned into a massive part of commerce and includes components like:

• Systems integration
• Enterprise architecture
• Software management
• Data analytics

The need for expert advice in creating, implementing, and managing these systems has catapulted the IT consulting industry – $408 Billion – to nearly double the value of the management consulting industry – $229 Billion.

Unlike management consulting, which tends to be the realm of enterprise businesses, IT consulting is relevant and even essential for businesses of virtually every size.

IT Consultants ask questions like:

• How can we use new technology to help us reach our strategic goals?
• Can we optimize the existing IT setup, or do we need to replace it?
• How do we effectively integrate changes into the existing framework?

IT consulting is incredibly demanding: “We live for our clients,” says Gerard Verweij, U.S. technology consulting leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers. “That sometimes means we have to make sacrifices because our clients are in need. Over-time, weekend work and travel are all part of the job.”

IT consultants need to possess a detailed knowledge of leading applications, analytics software, security practices, cloud computing, etc. They also need to keep abreast of emerging technologies. It’s a challenging field, but the ever-growing demand also means it’s fairly easy to get into.

2. Business Consulting Careers

‘Business consulting’ is an umbrella term that encompasses many types of consulting — from employee training, to difficult tasks such as laying off employees.

Put simply, business consultants analyze a business’s practices and then recommend improvements. They will usually have some form of specific expertise that they are hired to leverage on behalf of the company.

Organizations may hire a business consultant if they need:

• Someone who can look at the business objectively to identify problems and provide solutions.
• Specialist expertise to solve a specific problem or capitalize on an opportunity.
• Someone neutral and objective to handle controversial issues like layoffs or conflict resolution.
• Extra horsepower to supplement the existing staff.

Business consultants ask questions like:

• What are this business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT)?
• Can we re-allocate resources to produce better returns?
• At this moment, should this business focus on acquiring more customers, increasing the average order value (AOV), or retaining customers for repeat purchases?

Business consultants are hired for their experience and track record rather than their credentials. If you can consistently solve a specific problem that many businesses face, you can succeed as a business consultant.

That said, unless you find a way to start a consulting business outside the usual channels, a minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree is going to be required to get a foothold in the corporate world. Business consultants typically end up in consulting after several decades of experience within an industry, and they usually have advanced expertise in a specific niche.

3. Environmental Consulting Careers

Companies are no longer free to simply reshape large areas of land at will. Large organizations must accurately predict the environmental effects of their activities, find ways to limit the damage, and ensure that they remain compliant with environmental laws and regulations.

These environmental laws and regulations apply to a huge number of industries — from construction to waste management to energy development and city planning. Before starting a project, companies in these industries and many others must hire an an Environmental Consultant to analyze the effects of their proposed plans and submit their findings to local government.

Environmental consultants ask questions like:

• How will this business activity impact the environment?
• Does this activity comply with local, state, and federal environmental laws and regulations?
• How can we reduce the negative impact of this proposed activity?

Environmental consultants will often work for large consulting firms, but they can also work as independent consultants as a part of smaller firms or government agencies. The success of an environmental consultant typically relies on their ability to get proposals accepted by highly knowledgeable biologists, which means they will need to have a similar level of training and understanding.

4. Software Consulting Careers

Computer software is a powerful business tool — but, only when used effectively.

When businesses purchase large, complex software suites that are fundamental to their operations, it’s crucial that they successfully implement the software and optimize their workflows around it.

These types of large software suites are often focused on the following business processes:

• Customer relationship management
• Enterprise resource planning
• Content management system
• Supply chain management
• Human resource management

The largest, most complex software solutions are rarely effective “out of the box” and must be tailored to each business’s individual needs, which is often handled by the business selling the software.

Yet even when we move past the bespoke tier, we still see a high degree of complexity, which is why there’s usually a thriving 3rd party market of niche experts dedicated to helping businesses implement software.

Software consultants ask questions like:

• How can we solve workflow inefficiencies with this software?
• How can we implement this software to solve the specific challenges this organization faces?
• How can we best train employees to use this software effectively?

Corporate software consultants must be highly skilled in a particular software niche and adept in analytical thinking and problem-solving processes. They will usually need a Bachelor’s Degree in software engineering or software development.

5. Sales Consulting

Sales is generally considered the most important part of a business, and EVERY business on the planet wants to improve their sales team’s performance. This makes sales the perfect field for corporate consultants.

The role of a sales consultant is typically focused on training salespeople, but they can also be hired to advise on workflows, choosing or using a CRM, and methods for managing the sales team more effectively.

“A sales trainer should be brought in when you need an outside party to bring your team a fresh perspective on how to qualify, progress, and close better,” said Matt Belitsky, SVP of Global Sales & Marketing at Komiko.

Sales Consultants ask questions like:

• How can we improve this business’s current sales process?
• Which sales strategies are working best, and how can we leverage them?
• How can we better incentivize our sales team?
• How can we build and effectively manage a sales team?

The path to becoming a sales consultant is pretty straightforward. You need to have excelled at sales and then excelled at managing a sales team. The more sales teams you’ve managed successfully, and the higher up the corporate ladder you’ve climbed, the more attractive you will be as a consultant hire.