Are you interested in a career as a management consultant? Before entering this business, you need to understand the career path of a management consultant.
Each company has a different policy regarding this. Still, most of the assessment for this position starts from having sufficient experience and knowledge of the length of time you have served the company. A consultant’s career path starts from Associate Consultant (Junior Consultant) to Senior Consultant.
Knowing the responsibilities of each career level will make it easier for you to have a comprehensive picture before deciding on a career in this field. This article will discuss a consultant’s work and some frequently asked questions regarding each position.
Associate Consultant or Junior Consultant
You will assume responsibility as an Associate Consultant or junior consultant for a fresh graduate. This is for consultants with less than five years of work experience. As an Associate Consultant, you have a role in problem-solving and client management.
You will also be involved with the Project Management team to carry out planning and project development according to the client’s requirements. An Associate Consultant collects and analyzes data to assist the team and senior consultants in project work.
Most Associate Consultants positions require a Strata I degree in the appropriate field. Such as finance, accounting, statistics, mathematics, business management, business administration, marketing, human resources, engineering, and computer science.
How to Start a Career as an Associate Consultant?
To start your career as a business management consultant, consider following these steps.
1. Earn a Bachelor’s Degree Strata I
An Associate Consultant must have at least a Bachelor’s Degree in Strata I from a major related to business management consulting. These majors include economics, marketing, business management, engineering, and computer science.
Continuing your education in this field will give you some basic knowledge that will undoubtedly support your career, from insight into business in various industries and numerical analysis skills to data-based problem-solving.
Also Read: Master These 5 Soft Skills to Become a Professional Management consultant
2. Take the Certification Exam
You can take Associate Consultant certification from various associated companies or organizations to support your performance. The advantages you get if you have a certificate are to build credibility from the professional services you offer, increase your knowledge and abilities, and a plus to compete when applying for jobs.
3. Have Work Experience
Work experience is a plus for a career in management consulting. If you are a fresh graduate, you can attach your internship experience during college. Or, if you’ve already worked, you can connect your first year’s work experience.
4. Apply for a Job at a Business Management Consulting Company
Job vacancies as Associate Consultants are widely available in various consulting firms on a national to an international scale. You can visit the website or social media consulting firm of your choice.
Before you apply as an Associate Consultant, make sure you have read and understood the job description carefully. This can provide valuable insights for your cover letter and resume you submit.
Consultant Management Career Path
1. Senior Associate Consultant
The level of a Senior Associate Consultant is above that of an Associate Consultant. A Senior Consultant is responsible for leading the team (including Associate Consultants), helping develop strategies, design solutions, and making decisions based on the analysis that has been done (content handling).
A Senior Associate Consultant is also trusted to organize and delegate tasks to his team. The most considerable responsibility of a Senior Associate Consultant is to contribute significantly to the analysis results and provide recommendations for solutions.
A Senior Associate Consultant also has a scope of work that has gone beyond the working team by communicating directly to higher management stakeholders, both clients and BOD minus two.
The challenges faced are more complex problem-solving skills so that they can provide impactful solutions, as well as the ability to communicate effectively with clients. Those are the responsibilities and career prospects of a management consultant, and this information certainly helps you to have a clearer picture of the career of a management consultant.
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2. Consultant
In terms of container handling, the task of a consultant is getting less and less. Meanwhile, in terms of stakeholder management, it is more significant to BOD minus one, so the responsibilities carried out are also getting more powerful.
At this stage, a consultant must be able to work more independently so that his leadership skills are also increasingly formed for internal and external teams because they act as co-PM. They have their responsibility to high exposure to clients.
Problem-solving skills must be firm with a broader scope of work and communication skills in more complex situations.
3. Leader
In project handling, a Leader focuses on seeing the whole (end-to-end). So how can the solutions present help clients? A leader’s scope of stakeholder management has reached the project director, which is why more capable problem-solving and communication skills are needed at this level.
4. Senior Leader
The difference between a Leader and a Senior Leader is the size project to be handled and the larger the team structure. The portion of content taken by Senior Leaders will be reduced so that the end-to-end draw is more comprehensive and they can make their own decisions.
5. Executive Leader
An executive Leader can handle 2-3 projects with multiple roles simultaneously. They work with project management assistance and can even replace some of the parts of a co-project director. For example, problem-solving, capturing client expectations, and seeing projects comprehensively and strategically.
6. Partnership
The partnership has principal, partner, and senior partner levels. They work as project directors while treating clients as partners and translating what they need as account management.
And these are the various levels of a consultant at Skha company. Every job has its responsibilities, including being a management consultant, and you will also learn more about it along the way.
One of the consulting companies that support your career development is Skha. Skha prioritizes a healthy work environment, as well as enriching the skills of team members. Start your career with us.