Some would wryly say that a consultant is a person between jobs.
On a more serious note, when asked to describe a consultant, these descriptors typically emerge:
- Work for a consulting firm. If not the big 4, perhaps a mid-sized regional consulting firm.
- Male and most likely Caucasian
- Living in a large metro area
- Wearing a suit, a crisply ironed white shirt, and tie
- Smart and highly educated
- Specializing in business strategy and enterprise-wide solutions
- A road warrior, often traveling most work weeks
- Confident, perhaps even a bit haughty
A few decades ago, that description might have had a high degree of accuracy.
No longer.
The landscape for consulting has changed and as such, you would be hard-pressed to come up with one description. Today, freelancers and consultants come in a variety of forms. While some continue to fit the description above, you’ll find that:
- More professionals are working in their own small consultancies or sub-contracting organizations
- Career consultants form a diverse demographic cutting across gender, age, and location
- Demand for freelance or “on-demand” professional services is much broader and can include virtually any function in an organization
The Many Faces of Consulting
Over the next few weeks, we’ll make our point by featuring a variety of professionals who have chosen to provide their expertise in the market on their own terms. As you hear those stories, we hope that you’ll realize that consulting as a career can work for people:
- Of all ages
- With a wide variety of marketable skills
- Across geographies
- With various levels of experience
Could Consulting Be Right For You?
If you’ve considered going out on your own to offer your skills and expertise to the world, we have several resources to help you.
First, we encourage you to explore our free consulting downloads and resources. Here you’ll find a free excerpt from Kris’s book Owning It: Take Control of Your Life, Work, And Career, and more. Click here to access the resources.
Then, when you know you want to start your own small consulting or freelancing business, we invite you to check out our Launch Series. Many of the consultants we’ll be featuring in the coming weeks have gone through this program.
Wishing you a meaningful career,
Kris
