How to hire a business consultant

How to hire a business consultant, step by step

Here's a step-by-step business consultant hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a business consultant job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new business consultant
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a business consultant do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you start hiring a business consultant, identify what type of worker you actually need. Certain positions might call for a full-time employee, while others can be done by a part-time worker or contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a business consultant to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a business consultant that fits the bill.

   This list presents business consultant salaries for various positions.

   Type of Business Consultant	Description	Hourly rate
   Business Consultant	Management analysts, often called management consultants, propose ways to improve the efficiency of an organization. They advise managers on how to make organizations more profitable through reduced costs and increased revenues.	$30-56
   Program Management Consultant	A program management consultant is responsible for analyzing project requirements based on clients' specifications, developing quality improvement techniques, and reviewing project deliverables. Program management consultants work closely with the project team to identify project initiatives and resolve complexities that may arise... Show more	$35-65
   Contractor/Consultant	A contractor is a self-employed businessperson who agrees to work for a fixed price. His/her job involves the evaluation of clients' needs and actual performance of work... Show more	$27-59

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Data Analysis
   • Project Management
   • Strong Analytical
   • Analytics
   • Healthcare
   • Tableau
   • Process Improvement
   • Business Analysis
   • Client Facing
   • Business Process
   • Business Development
   • Power Bi
   • BI
   • Visualization

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Partner with PMO and lead testing effort to ensure completeness of test data sets and to manage risk.
   • Manage requirements gathering, identify KPI s, and oversee design and architecture decisions.
   • Manage various SOX, HIPAA and PCI compliance projects from the planning stages to completion.
   • Apply the specific rules for HIPAA X12, Medicaid manage care requirements and industry best practices for transaction handling.
   • Manage external technology suppliers to assure functional operations and system architecture meet the business needs.
   • Perform successful UAT - good knowledge & experience in SDLC - SQL querying and data analysis.

   More business consultant duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the business consultant job description is a good way to get more applicants. A business consultant salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a business consultant in South Carolina may be lower than in Alaska, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level business consultant. Additionally, a business consultant with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average business consultant salary

   $87,214yearly

   $41.93 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level business consultant salary

   $64,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 8, 2026

   Average business consultant salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$104,938	$50
   2	Washington	$101,382	$49
   3	New Jersey	$101,094	$49
   4	Massachusetts	$94,740	$46
   5	Virginia	$90,827	$44
   6	Texas	$89,727	$43
   7	New York	$88,910	$43
   8	Connecticut	$88,751	$43
   9	Colorado	$86,758	$42
   10	North Carolina	$84,009	$40
   11	Illinois	$83,944	$40
   12	Minnesota	$81,002	$39
   13	Pennsylvania	$80,212	$39
   14	Arizona	$80,132	$39
   15	Georgia	$78,259	$38
   16	Ohio	$76,508	$37
   17	Missouri	$75,973	$37
   18	Indiana	$73,307	$35
   19	Iowa	$71,504	$34
   20	Nebraska	$69,323	$33

   Average business consultant salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	ZS	$115,428	$55.49	63
   2	Dell	$115,217	$55.39	7
   3	Boehringer Ingelheim	$115,016	$55.30	17
   4	Adobe	$114,460	$55.03	37
   5	Moody's	$113,053	$54.35	2
   6	Slalom	$112,327	$54.00	582
   7	Palantir	$112,289	$53.99	2
   8	Salient	$109,415	$52.60	4
   9	Autodesk	$109,301	$52.55	27
   10	HP	$105,226	$50.59	8
   11	TIBCO Software	$103,448	$49.73	1
   12	HSBC Bank	$102,391	$49.23
   13	Element Fleet Management	$101,919	$49.00
   14	BNY Mellon	$100,434	$48.29	6
   15	Baker Hughes	$100,204	$48.17	2
   16	Better	$99,879	$48.02	2
   17	ServiceNow	$99,837	$48.00	156
   18	Northern Trust	$99,230	$47.71	3
   19	Salesforce	$98,103	$47.16	11
   20	AT&T	$97,743	$46.99	57

4. Writing a business consultant job description

   A business consultant job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a business consultant job description:

   Business consultant job description example

   Business Consultant
   
   Job Purpose
   What does a great Business Sales Consultant do?
   Fiserv is a recognized leader in helping small and medium sized (SMB) businesses grow through state-of-the-art solutions. We’re looking for energetic, tech-savvy, results- driven sellers for a field-based Business Consultant position on the short-sales-cycle merchant services sales team. This product is customizable and dependable point of sale system designed to make business easy, take more kinds of payments, help protect business and customer’s payment transactions.
   
   As a Business Sales Consultant, you can expect to:
   • Be adept at generating your own leads in this business to business environment (B2B), which may be complemented by referrals obtained from working relationships you build and develop- along with those Fiserv has over 1,400 nationwide bank partnerships and other referral sources, both large and small.
   • Retain clients by building relationships and growing portfolios through relationship management and cross consulting.
   • Represent the Fiserv values of embodying the highest ethical standards and treating others with dignity, respect, and genuine concern.
   
   You’re the kind of person who:
   • Has demonstrated success in achievement of aggressive sales goals.
   • Is technologically savvy; has experience with tablet and cloud-based solutions and applying technology to help grow small businesses
   
   Basic qualifications for consideration:
   • High School diploma required, Bachelor’s degree preferred
   • Prior experience in a quota driven self-sourcing sales environment for small to medium size clients.
   • Experience with cold-calling and self-sourcing leads.
   • Experience developing a plan to effectively build pipeline and generate top line revenue growth.
   
   Preferred qualifications for consideration:
   • 3+ years sales experience.
   • Bachelor's degree
   
   We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request accommodation.
   

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right business consultant for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your business consultant job on Zippia to find and recruit business consultant candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with business consultant candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   Remember to include a few questions that allow candidates to expand on their strengths in their own words. Asking about their unique skills might reveal things you'd miss otherwise. At this point, good candidates can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new business consultant

   Once you've selected the best business consultant candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new business consultant. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a business consultant?