How To Become An Internal Consultant: What It Is and Career Path

What is an internal consultant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Robin Cormier

Often, we associate the term "consultant" with external partners that are tapped by organizations to help in specific projects. We think of consultants as people who provide their expert opinion on activities that the company will undertake. Well, have you heard of internal consultants? Yes, consultants can come from within the organization! Internal consultants are company employees who often specialize in one area.

When the company decides to undergo a process improvement project or any other similar project related to the employee's specialization, they tap the employee to lead the project. This entails that the employee should have the ability to work well with others, especially in diverse, ad hoc teams. They should also have leadership skills to ensure that the project will be successful. One of the great things about having internal consultants is that they do not leave once the project is executed. Since they are employees, they are able to track the progress of the project, even if it is out of their hands already. As such, they can easily give recommendations.

If you plan on specializing in particular areas or skills, this is one of the roles you can watch out for. Just remember that you need to have good communication skills and leadership skills in order to succeed in this.

What general advice would you give to an internal consultant?

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.

ScoreInternal ConsultantUS Average

Salary

7.1

Avg. Salary $91,097

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.8

Growth rate 11%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.17%

Asian 12.37%

Black or African American 8.46%

Hispanic or Latino 9.17%

Unknown 4.53%

White 65.31%

Gender

female 37.21%

male 62.79%

Age - 43

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 - 43

Stress level

6.8

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

2.2

Work life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an internal consultant

Explore internal consultant education requirements

Most common internal consultant degrees

Bachelor's

64.5 %

Master's

24.5 %

Associate

4.7 %

Start to develop specific internal consultant skills

Skills	Percentages
Project Management	18.08%
Process Improvement	17.64%
Internal Controls	9.38%
Sigma	7.99%
Internal Clients	7.35%

Complete relevant internal consultant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New internal consultants 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 an internal consultant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real internal consultant resumes.

Research internal consultant duties and responsibilities

Manage project and perform UAT of any changes from AppStore releases that relate to sales compensation elements.
Manage a team responsible for designing service-orient application architecture, standards and best practices guidelines, security and data access frameworks.
Conduct UAT sessions to validate requirements against application.
Perform gap analysis and create needed architecture and systems overviews documentation from existing Visio drawings, program coding and PowerPoint presentations.

Prepare your internal consultant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your internal consultant 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 an internal consultant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable internal consultant resume templates

Build a professional internal consultant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your internal consultant resume.