Shrish has left his high paying job in the US and came back to India two years ago. He started his IT consultancy firm in Delhi and since then is working as a consultant. When asked Shrish the reason for leaving the job market and returning to India, he replied “India is leading the way in the world in IT products and services. After working in the US and gaining sufficient knowledge, he returned to India to explore the Indian market. The best way to earn a living and becoming your own boss is by becoming a consultant.” He started as a consultant and two years down the line, he opened his own consultancy firm. His firm provides expert advice to clients in public limited companies.

Even Aarti became a consultant after she went the family way.  She said “working as a consultant gives the liberty to work from home and not attend office. I can manage work and family easily”. She is an interior designer and after having experience in this domain for more than 6 years, she finally decided to work on her own.

Many are following suit and leaving their regular jobs to work as a consultant independently or through consultancy firms. Professionals today have varied job designations and working types.  All work domains have now seen many going the consultancy way.

Who is a Consultant?

The consultant is derived from Latin word consultare , which means to discuss.  Professionals working as a consultant give advice in a particular domain. There are consultants in security, management, accountancy, law (tax law, in particular), human resources, marketing (and public relations), finance, engineering. In the present economic situation, almost every field has consultants. Consultant jobs are getting popular with many are choosing to become one over regular jobs.

Consultants are professionals with expert knowledge in a particular field. The consultants can further divided into two, depending upon the working process.

External Consultant:  There are many who work for different companies or firms. Companies hire them for their stronghold on knowledge in a particular domain.  External consultant can work for more than one company.

Internal Consultant:  Professionals as part of any organization, provides expert advice to departments and individuals. These professionals are also known as consultants, only they are working for a particular organization and not dealing with external clients.

In some countries such as in the United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland, this term is used for persons in senior medical positions.

Jobs for Consultants

Depending upon the area of expertise, consultants can apply for employment openings in varied field. Some of the commonly available vacancies in current business scenario are given below.

• Strategy Consultants: Jobs in these positions require the incumbent to develop and improve company’s strategy. Working in cohesion with the senior management executives, the consultants provide valuable advice.
• Human Resources or HR Consultants:  Many companies recruit HR consultants externally as and when the demand of hiring is required. The consultants provide right candidates to the organization as per the requirements. Skills and qualifications in people management required to be a consultant in this domain.
• Internet Consultants:  Growing demand of the internet technology is making many businesses rely completely on the Internet. Many companies hire specialists in the use of Internet. Internet consultants should be up to date on the recent changes happening in the industry. Not just technical knowledge, but also practical knowledge of the domain is important. Companies hiring individuals as Internet consultants prefers one with years of working experience in the dot.com industry.  Management skills such as planning of projects, training and looking after several projects are essential.
• Jobs as a Process Consultants: Experts in the domain of designing are usually known as process consultants.  As a consultant, the individual requires to improve the operational processes. This pattern of work depends from sector to sector. However, mostly jobs as a consultant for varied processes are common in the IT domain.
• PR Consultants: One of the commonest job vacancies heard now days in business sphere is Public Relations consultants. Though many companies have their own PR managers,   many new organizations hire consultants with years of experience in the industry. The PR consultants are engaged in providing inputs and guidance.
• Information Technology Consultants: The name makes it very clear, individuals providing expert advice in the IT domain. Common IT consultants are in Software Engineering and Computer Hardware fields.
• Performance Consultants: The name sounds interesting. Individuals in such as role assist his clients to better his business performance.  Mostly businesspersons hire such consultants and they work as team to improve the goals.
• Marketing Consultants: Any company’s products or services require efficient marketing strategy. Brand marketing specialists help in the promoting with using varied tools. Many companies seek the services of marketing consultants in various fields right from product development to how to launch them in the market. Jobs as marketing consultants is highly in demand as everything, products or services required to be sold.
• Global economy fluctuating with many economies showing a downward curve, the demand of consultants is increasing.  Businesses, especially the start ups cannot take any chances.  Startup firms with limited funds hire experts for various jobs as and when there is demand. Even established companies take the help of consultants to expand their business or promote their products.

Salaries in Consulting Jobs:

There are no fixed salaries for such jobs. Depending upon the work, consultants are paid. Also on the type of projects and duration of work, remuneration is fixed. Years of experience in the industry also an important factor while deciding the monetary issues. Another important factor is the success of past projects or services. Previous records of work help getting a stronghold in the industry. There are also many consultants, reputed in their field, who are paid not per projects, but on hourly basis.

So those who are pondering over the scope of jobs in consultancy, it has shining future. Consultants working in any fields, only require remain updated on skills and services.

Author Bio:

Author writes for Naukri.com, India’s No. 1 Job Site, with an experience of over 4 years in writing content for articles and blogs. She writes on various topics for jobs search related to the industries such jobs for freshers, Engineer Jobs.