The word consultant is derived from a Latin word which means ‘to discuss’. So a consultant is a professional who provides an expert professional advice (in his area of expertise) to an organization or a corporation.
The area of expertise can be of management, security, strategy development, human resources, finance related, technical, accounts, public relations, marketing or any other specialized area in the industry.
A consultant usually possesses a wide knowledge of the subject matter of his expertise. Their job responsibility is to provide fair and adequate subject matter consultancy in a lucid manner. A consultant’s job role normally falls under two different categories which are:
- Internal Consultant – an ardent professional who is employed by an organization and operates within the organization to provide his expertise consultation. They work on salary basis for the organization.
- External Consultant – a covetous professional who is not a part of the organization and is hired by the organization externally to provide his valuable expertise consultation for the benefit of the organization. Such consultants are always engaged with changing and multiple clients. The expertise is usually temporary basis and performed for a fee in return.
These professionals are required to possess at least a master’s degree in the concerned field of the expertise and thorough knowledge of all the aspects along with pros and cons of the consultation in different scenarios and on different organization. The consultant career hierarchy is described as below with a brief description of all the consultant job titles:
- Strategy Consultants – A consultant working with the senior management providing his expertise consultation over different strategies for the growth and development of the organization.
- HR Consultants – The human resources consultants are professionals providing their expertise consultation about people management and employment practice.
- Process Consultants – The professionals providing specialized consultation in the designing and improvement of various operational processes for the organization.
- Internet Consultant – Professionals specialized in the business use of internet for the growth and benefit of organization. They possess wide practical web experience and also termed as technical consultants.
- PR Consultant – Next in the hierarchy is public relations consultants, professionals specialized in public relations matter of the organization and providing their expertise advice over this matter.
- Marketing Consultant – The professional with a specialization in marketing field and providing their expertise consultation over how to market the product efficiently for a faster growth and success of the organization.
- Performance Consultant – A professional providing special expert consultation on the execution of an overall performance of their clients.
- IT consultant – Next in the consultant career hierarchy is information technology consultant, providing expertise consultation over computer software, hardware and networking related matters.
- Interim Consultants – These are the independent consultants in the hierarchy who act as interim professionals with a decision making right under the corporate statutes or policies. They even attend specially constituted committees or board meetings as a member.