Interview of a consultant

Most of the duties carried out by consultants are similar albeit the titles may differ based on the size of the firm. It is the size of the firm that determines the stages and hierarchy in consulting. Large firms have more specialists since they are the best working alone and some generalists and this also depends on the types of clients received by the firm in most cases. The frequent job titles in consulting are the analysts, engagement manager, consultants, principal, partners, and directors according to Altonji, Kahn and Speer.

Top consulting skills and competencies for employment. One has to cooperate with his colleagues and clients from day one if they want to be affiliated with the management consultant. However, specific competence and skills are needed for employment in this lucrative field. Communication skills, for example, are one of the necessary skills needed. Effective and strong communication skills are needed for passing information and continuous sharing of information in this field with the clients and the teams. Creativity is necessary since consultants continuously face unfamiliar topics which pose as new challenges that they have to focus on. Intellectual energy helps in the provision of advice to clients since consultancy involves creativity which must be based on specific evidence which can be practical or proactive a times. Consultants must be able to intrigue by new ideas in their surrounding and apply them to the challenges of then clients. Finally, Critical thinking is also of great significance since it involves challenging the status quo.

Pro’s and Con’s of a Consulting Career

Like any other career, Consulting is not any different. It got both the advantages and the bad sides too. One main advantage for the career minded individuals is that in this career, there is easy and rapid advancement within the career field. Most of the workers escalate the job ladder within a year or two (Altonji, Kahn and Speer 49). It also helps a person to build a strong and powerful network which is quite appealing to the industry insiders. One is continuously learning new ideas in this career besides traveling from one region to the other. Besides the high compensation, consultants are capable of managing life around work other than managing work around life.

On the flipside, however, being a consultant involves a lot of turnover and a plenty of early career schedule that requires many sacrifices besides the good salary. It involves teamwork in most cases and individualism is not encouraged. The traveling can also be considered extensive especially to those who don’t fancy or have problems with traveling.

The highest source of failure associated with which consulting behaviors. The highest source of failure in consulting is individualism. We understand that among people, there are those people who can never or hate working with other people. They have never found teamwork to be any beneficial to them. Such individuals would like to do their work on their own without the inclusion of other fellows which is not possible as a Consultant. The career involves sharing of information and researching wide for the success of an individual in this field

Internships are very important especially for the people who consider consulting as a career. Most fresh graduates consider internships where they get to be paid in return for their services. However, in a case that such internships are not available, individuals are asked to even volunteer their time and dedications in some firms which may end up offering them job sometime in future. Internships are meant for the acquisition of experience in the field and prepare an individual of what he or she should expect in the market when employed (Altonji, Kahn and Speer 62).

Domain Areas in Marketplace generating the Demand for Consulting Services

There have been recent increases in the demand for consulting services in the market mainly because most clients believe that it is only through the consultants that they can get the specific expertise they require. Some employers need the consultants to help in the identity of problems within their organizations or even to supplement the staff of the company to help them save some finance that they could have otherwise lost. They are also needed to be catalysts for change and objective on lookers.

Generalist versus Specialist in terms of Practicing Consultants and Career Advancement

The specialists have in most cases chosen to focus their efforts more on a specific and narrow field such as the finance, IT and energy. Others may be diverse into pharmaceuticals and healthcare (Moraru and Stelea 78). On the other hand, generalists are considered to b e broadly speaking and in most cases tend to be employed in smaller firms. In most scenarios, they are the best working as a team. Considering that teamwork is of great significance in consulting career, the generalists are better placed in the with regards to consulting.

Works Cited

Altonji, J. G., Kahn, L. B., and Speer, J. D. (2016). Cashier or consultant? Entry labor market conditions, field of study, and career success. Journal of Labor Economics, 34(S1), S361-S401.

Moraru, R. I., and Stelea, M. P. (2014). Study on Romanian training requirements needed to develop an occupational safety and health consultant career in the European Union. Polish Journal of Management Studies, 9, 179-189.