How To Become A Consultant/Project Leader: What It Is and Career Path

What is a consultant/project leader and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Robin Cormier

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a consultant/project leader. For example, did you know that they make an average of $45.61 an hour? That's $94,872 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 9% and produce 56,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a consultant/project leader?

Robin Cormier

Assistant Professor, Montana State University - Billings

While college graduates begin to launch their careers, they also face uncertainty about job opportunities. This can be a daunting time in their life. First and foremost, they should be proud of their achievements. There are many steps they can take to prepare for a future career, such as developing a network and building a strong resume. However, in my opinion, the most important advice I would offer new graduates is to pursue their passion. When you are passionate about your career, your life is more fulfilling, and you are more determined to achieve success. Passion shows through how you communicate, develop working relationships, and your level of career investment.

ScoreConsultant/Project LeaderUS Average

Salary

7.4

Avg. Salary $94,872

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.3

Growth rate 9%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.19%

Asian 21.07%

Black or African American 9.73%

Hispanic or Latino 10.59%

Unknown 4.98%

White 53.44%

Gender

female 29.21%

male 70.79%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress level

5.3

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.5

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.8

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a consultant/project leader

Explore consultant/project leader education requirements

Most common consultant/project leader degrees

Bachelor's

66.7 %

Master's

24.2 %

Associate

5.1 %

Start to develop specific consultant/project leader skills

Skills	Percentages
Business Process	7.27%
Project Plan	5.52%
Data Warehouse	5.08%
SQL Server	4.86%
ERP	3.53%

Complete relevant consultant/project leader training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New consultants/project leader learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a consultant/project leader based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real consultant/project leader resumes.

Research consultant/project leader duties and responsibilities

Manage partner-relationship aspects between vendors and engineering teams to deliver complex reference architecture elements with agility and superior quality.
Manage internal, external systems/application of healthcare software within assign areas from inception to successful implementation in private medical practices.
Gather AR requirements for PeopleSoft requirements for integration with SharePoint.
Resolve costly, ongoing, intermittent CICS production region failures/outages.

Get consultant/project leader experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a consultant/project leader. The most common roles before becoming a consultant/project leader include consultant, senior consultant team lead and project leader.

Prepare your consultant/project leader resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your consultant/project leader resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a consultant/project leader resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

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