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Business Consulting
In short, business consultants utilise their skills and experience in order to solve problems or implement solutions for clients.
In This Article
Role Overview
Organisation Type
Large Corporate
Role Type
Graduate
Starting Salary
£30,000
Av. Weekly Hours
42.5
Organisation Type
Large Corporate
Role Type
Graduate
Starting Salary
£30,000
Av. Weekly Hours
42.5
About the Author
Role Requirements
Time in Role:
2.5 years
Degree:
Loughborough University, Sport and Exercise Science (2:1)
A-Levels:
Economics (A), Psychology (A), Physical Education (A)
- Analytical
- Attention to detail
- Good interpersonal skills
- Ability to understand problems
- Articulate
About the Author
Time in Role:
2.5 years
Degree:
Loughborough University, Sport and Exercise Science (2:1)
A-Levels:
Economics (A), Psychology (A), Physical Education (A)
Role Requirements
- Analytical
- Attention to detail
- Good interpersonal skills
- Ability to understand problems
- Articulate
Key Responsibilities
As a consultant, your main responsibility is to understand what the client requires or the issue they are facing and try to solve it. As such, your responsibilities could include but are not limited to:
- Conducting research in the form of workshops, surveys, interviews, day in the life etc. in order to understand the client’s requirements
- Delivering training sessions
- Detecting pain points/bottlenecks
- Providing insights through data analysis
- Creating reports to give to the clients, often in the form of a PowerPoint deck
- Developing and implementing solutions
A Day in the Life
A consultant’s time is broadly split into two main areas; billable and non-billable. If you’re billable, you are working for a client and being charged out for your time. Non-billable is when you’re not working for a client and will be completing internal work. For this day in the life, we will focus on a billable client day.
Before Covid-19, most of your days would be spent on the client site, whereas now, it is likely that you will complete most of your days remotely. Days will often start with what is known as a ‘stand-up’. It is essentially a run-through with your team of what you want to tackle that day and any problems individuals might be facing. The day will then largely be taken up by working independently or as a team to tackle the key responsibilities mentioned above or any other areas the client may want you to focus on.
It is likely you will have periodic check-ins with the client where they can check progress and address any issues. This helps ensure that you stay aligned to client expectations and are on track with your deliverables.
Additional Details
How is work assigned to you?
The process for getting placed on a client can be very similar to applying for a new job, but instead of you getting paid directly, the company you work for does. Consultants will likely have an internal CV for their organisation. This is much like a ‘normal’ CV, which you have applied to the job with, however it is only used for internal or client purposes. The CV covers your skills and previous experiences, which make you look attractive to the client. When the sales team bids for client work, they will present you as a candidate, along with your CV, as a proposal to work on the project. From here, the client can accept/reject you or even invite you to an assessment centre or interview. If you’re going fresh into consulting, I wouldn’t worry about this part of the process. Some clients hire consultants when they are short on workers and need extra for a project or want lower-level consultants because they are cheaper, so it’s not always the most experienced who will get the role.
How is your time split?
As mentioned above, consultants’ time is broadly split into two main areas; billable and non-billable. Billable time is when the client is paying you for the work you are doing. You are contributing to your company’s revenue as they are charging you out to a client for more money than they are paying you. Non-billable is the opposite – the work you’re completing is internal and therefore isn’t bringing in revenue for the company.
Do I need to meet certain targets?
Organisations are likely to give you a ‘utilisation target’, which means you have to be billable for a set proportion of time to achieve your bonus and promotion etc. This could be 80% of the year, for example. For this reason, it’s in your best interest to ensure your CV is good and you develop your professional skills in order to stand out when you present yourself to a client.
Author's Opinion
- Consulting is a great way to get exposure to a wide range of clients across multiple sectors, and I extremely enjoy the varied work that it offers
- Prior to Covid-19, the element of uncertainty surrounding the location that you’ll be working and whether you’ll be living out of a suitcase for long periods can get tiring however it is uncertain what the future holds for the balance between client site and remote working
- Consulting is a fantastic way to develop a broad and transferable set of skills; it boosts confidence in articulately communicating complex issues, it develops your ability to process and analyse large volumes of information, and it gives you exposure to a wide range of business scenarios – all of which are invaluable assets for any employee. So if you’re unsure on which path to take, consulting may give you the diverse taste of different businesses you’re after.
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