Opportunities to further your career within the Consulting industry

The digital landscape is constantly evolving and many companies are being left behind by competitors using more innovative digital solutions and ways of working. They simply do not know what solutions and operating models to move towards, and hiring in-house experts in all of the emerging digital fields is too costly for most. This is where a Consulting, Strategy, Transformation or Change specialist can step in.

Consultants help businesses solve problems that they face. They lend their extensive knowledge to businesses to audit their current set up and help to come up with practical solutions. This can encompass what marketing platforms and databases they use, to what IT infrastructure and cybersecurity they have in place. Consultants will use their expertise to assess exactly where there’s scope for improvement, then identify the right solutions for these areas of weakness, before using their sales skills to sell and implement these solutions to the company in question. This process should overall improve a business’ efficiency and productivity, whilst potentially reducing costs.

Recent changes in the Consulting industry

The constant development of different digital technologies means Consulting specialists are always finding new ways to improve a company’s operations. Particularly prevalent is the age of RPA, IoT and AI solutions and the number of job roles now connected with this sector. As these technologies develop and the capabilities become more common, the possibilities are endless and offer massive advancements of experience for companies to offer their clients and employees. By informing a company’s long-term digital strategy, Consultants are more pivotal than ever before.

Is Consulting a good career choice? What are the future prospects?

Considering Consultants help enable companies to be as efficient and financially savvy as possible, it seems they will continue to be sought after for the foreseeable future.

With the growing accessibility and affordability of technology, smaller companies are increasingly able to compete with larger organisations. Consequently, more firms require consulting specialists, meaning there are more job opportunities than ever before.

• Looking for a job in the Consulting industry? Here’s our advice

  Employers’ Requirements

  You must have a keen understanding of different solutions and how to harness them to improve a company, be excited by innovation and the chance to change a business from within. Specifically, you should have excellent problem-solving and analytical abilities, as you’ll be tasked with reviewing information and developing solutions to the company’s various issues. You’ll also require strong numeracy, finance and management skills, be goal-orientated and driven to make transformational changes.

  Strong verbal and written communication as well as interpersonal skills are extremely important, as you’ll need to effectively communicate with your team and your client and write insightful reports and clear deliverables for different stakeholders.

  CV Requirements

  It’s not just your hard skills that are essential, but your soft skills too. Being able to spot opportunities, think outside the box and understand the selling cycle whilst having excellent communications and presentation is a must. You must be able to convince businesses to invest in certain solutions and technologies by explaining how exactly they’ll be beneficial, then drive their implementation across the company.

  You should also be able to demonstrate the impact you made in previous roles and outcomes of previous projects you have overseen. Employers want to see experience in a similar type of role, such as within a digital consultancy, agency or strategy house, often with the industry knowledge specific to their business.

  Educational requirements

  Educational requirements may be dependent on the company you’re applying for, however, a business-related degree or further studies into information systems, finance or mathematics will stand you in good stead, whilst academic, or professional qualifications in management will also be extremely favourable.

  Whilst a degree sets the foundations for somebody to take on a consulting position, experience and the constant desire to grow and educate yourself are definitely key. More businesses are open to candidates with no academic credentials but an outstanding record in innovation, change and transformation.

  Interview Preparation

  The most typical interview form for Consulting jobs are case study interviews. In these interviews, employers will present a made-up or real business situation to you and ask you to find a solution for it. You should be able to demonstrate a structured, logical and innovative approach in developing your recommendation.

  In many cases, interviewers will also want to find out about your previous successes and what you did to achieve them.