So You Want to be a Consultant?

Consultants are among the most independent of business people. They usually possess a certain skill or knowledge that qualifies them as “experts” but often it’s the case that these experts have to work pretty hard to find clients that will pay them for their expertise.

Some consultants have the advantage of being paid by their former employer to ensure their well-developed knowledge isn’t lost to the business when they go. Other consultants bring skills acquired in large businesses into the realm of smaller enterprises that would be unable to afford such talent on a full-time basis.

But in most cases a consultant has to be constantly on the lookout for work opportunities.A survey found that there were at least ten reasons why an organization would hire a consultant; it might be helpful to know what they are.

1. They’re an Expert in Their Field

This is the most common reason and it makes good sense. If you can acquire a reputation as an expert in a particular field and you ensure that your knowledge is consistently up-to-date you can be extremely valuable when your expertise is needed. It’s not every day that a manufacturing company wants to prepare an advertising campaign, but when it does it calls on the services of an expert in that field (and doesn’t have one on the payroll for the rest of the year).

2. They Can Share Their Knowledge with Others

Consultants are often called to function as teachers in the field of their specialty. An expert in industrial safety could be called in to address a group of construction foremen with the aim of reducing on-the-job accidents at construction work sites.

3. They Can be Temporary Team Members

Sometimes a business will suddenly be overwhelmed with work or win a short-term contract that would be impossible to handle with existing team resources. Consultants can come into such a situation, already knowing a lot about the type of work they’re expected to do, and “hit the ground running” for the duration of the time they’re needed.

4. They Can Solve Specific Problems

If a supermarket is having problems with its refrigeration equipment it�s going to call in a consultant to determine exactly what is causing the problem, how to fix it, and all the other details that nobody in the supermarket’s team could possibly know.

5. They Can be a Source of Profitable Contacts

Especially popular in the areas of politics and defense, consultants who have formerly been part of the political or military establishments are useful to those who want to deal with the “higher ups” with which consultants are intimately acquainted.

6. They Can be “Hatchetmen” in Downsizing Situations

Whoever gets the job of delivering the bad news at a time of corporate downsizing is never going to be popular. Far better to hire a consultant and have them make the evaluation of who stays and who goes, then tell those affected by the downsizing about their fates.

7. They Can be a Source of “Bright Ideas”

Companies can reach a condition of extreme stability — when absolutely nothing’s happening except what’s part of the day-to-day business and things start getting stale. A consultant can be brought in to “identify business development opportunities” or some other kind of new and different activities for team members to undertake that will get them out of a rut.

8. They Can be Cheaper than Having Someone on the Payroll

Full-time team members can be expensive when it comes to all the on-costs of employment. There’s usually no medical insurance, social security charges, workers compensation payments, union fees or similar amounts to be paid for a consultant.

9. They Can Help Implement Organizational Change

Change has become part of the business environment, and it’s often an unsettling factor within a company. “Bring in a consultant” is the answer to this problem; by having an outside consultant manage the process of change there’s no lasting ill-feelings among those who are permanent members of the team.

10. They Can Bring Fresh Perspective to an Enterprise

All too often those who work in a business are too close to see its faults or the opportunities that might be facing it. A consultant comes in without any preconceptions or influences from the culture of the organization and can see things differently from those on the inside.

There are probably a lot more reasons to use a consultant but these are among the most popular. It’s important that any consultant is able to fulfill more than just one of these requirements or they’ll be missing out on opportunities to cash in on their own particular expertise.

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Copyright 2005, RAN ONE Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from www.ranone.com.