A - First, a good consultant has to have excellent communication skills, very strong leadership, and the ability to command the attention of different levels and functions within a client organization and to command their respect and lead them to the right answer. You have to want to be a leader. Second, the ability to conceptualize is important; it takes strong reasoning skills. You have to have an interest in and an innate ability for examining things. You must conceptualize and examine alternatives and options that don't occur to the on-line managers because of their skills and interests. Sometimes that means you ask some pretty off-the-wall questions and define issues that the client hasn't thought of before. Then, of course, for our area, you've got to have some acquaintance with functions involved. You've got to know computer systems, transportation mechanics, inventory control systems, forecasting, and have a working knowledge of rate structures.
Q - What do you enjoy about your job?
A - I like the variety, the relative freedom, and the responsibility. I like being able to go into an organization and say and do things that are impossible for insiders to do because of politics. It is rewarding to look back, having affected some change by helping people within a client organization to become better managers and analysts. To leave something behind about which I can say, "Boy, I was involved in that!"
I think you'll find most successful consultants do enjoy the differences from organization to organization and the challenges of how to deal with them. They actually would get kind of bored if they had to work for the same company for years and years dealing with the frustrations of that company.
I like to take a problem and solve it. I like to take a situation and ask what I can do to improve it. I get into situations where I identify very much with the client and look for ways how we can improve a situation together. That's very rewarding. This is a very responsible job, because people do not pay consultant rates for the easy stuff. So we are left with the harder problems, things they've tried to solve and haven't been successful. We also get things where they're looking for a scapegoat or for someone to come in, do it, and go away. That means you're playing in the big league. While that's terrifying for a while, it's also very rewarding when you do it. I've found that there are very few problems that aren't solvable if you stick with them and understand both the technical aspects and the human aspects.
Q - What's the worst part of the job?
A - One of the negatives, and some people find this to be significant, is that the output of our work is a plan for improvement including the actions to take. Some consultants miss the hands-on implementation that follows. Consultants typically go on to other projects, having provided a plan and having helped on some of the initial implementation, but they seldom see things all the way through. It's frustrating to some. The consultant is probably not the best person to do that work anyway. If you really want successful implementation, the client should be very heavily involved. The consultant certainly could play a direction and guidance role, but the consultant should not do it.
Q - Is there any advice you would give someone interested in consulting?
A - I would not initially look at consulting as a career move, saying, "I want to become a consultant for the rest of my life." I think I would rather take it in short increments and say that consulting offers me the opportunity for something akin to a practical M.B.A. I would seriously consider consulting's "pluses and minuses" for two to three years. Then, after that period of time, you could decide whether you like consulting or whether you should take to some other career option.
Consulting gets you into a lot of industries. You meet a lot of people, and it gives you a breadth that will be very rewarding and very positive for you, regardless of what you do. So, I think it's an outstanding opportunity, not looking at it as a career choice that early in your life, but rather as a great way of continuing the education process. You can have some fun, work hard, meet nice people, and then come to a point where you ask the question, "Is this what I want to do, or do I take this and leap off to industry or another career, now having this behind me?"
There are two approaches - go to work for a large company and keep consulting as an area of interest. There might be an opportunity later on to be a consultant. Keep abreast of the consulting industry by becoming acquainted with the firms that are doing work in your field of interest. Correspond with those firms and express interest. Learn how consultants work, and get involved in projects with your employers. Then at a point in time, actually engage in the job search and interview process. Another approach is shown in that a fair number of M.B.A.'s are interviewing directly out of school. Even if you haven't thought of going directly from school into consulting, it would be enlightening to see what is offered. Real problems are a little more complex, primarily because of the human element.
