Internal consultant vs contractor/consultant

The differences between internal consultants and contractor/consultants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, an internal consultant has an average salary of $91,097, which is higher than the $84,811 average annual salary of a contractor/consultant.

The top three skills for an internal consultant include project management, process improvement and internal controls. The most important skills for a contractor/consultant are healthcare, post implementation, and data analysis.

Internal consultant vs contractor/consultant overview

	Internal Consultant	Contractor/Consultant
Yearly salary	$91,097	$84,811
Hourly rate	$43.80	$40.77
Growth rate	11%	11%
Number of jobs	70,927	64,573
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	4	-

What does an internal consultant do?

An internal consultant is responsible for providing consultation on the business process and operations to identify key areas of improvement and review its effectiveness to support the business goals and objectives. Internal consultants must have excellent organizational skills and expertise in business planning and project management to strategize and improve existing methodologies that would raise the company's performance. They also develop training and programs necessary for the employees to maximize their productivity and manage efficiency.

What does a contractor/consultant do?

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. On the other hand, a consultant is a skilled independent businessperson who provides expert teaching and training in a specific market by assisting existing staff for the improvement of operations, problem-solving, and development of strategies. His/her role is to assess clients' needs and provide expert advice and opinion. However, both individuals are not employees, since they came from outside of the organization to perform such services.

Internal consultant vs contractor/consultant salary

Internal consultants and contractor/consultants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Internal Consultant	Contractor/Consultant
Average salary	$91,097	$84,811
Salary range	Between $67,000 And $122,000	Between $58,000 And $123,000
Highest paying City	Washington, DC	Boston, MA
Highest paying state	New Jersey	New Jersey
Best paying company	Citi	Cerner
Best paying industry	Technology	Technology

Differences between internal consultant and contractor/consultant education

There are a few differences between an internal consultant and a contractor/consultant in terms of educational background:

	Internal Consultant	Contractor/Consultant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Northwestern University	Western Carolina University

Internal consultant vs contractor/consultant demographics

Here are the differences between internal consultants' and contractor/consultants' demographics:

	Internal Consultant	Contractor/Consultant
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 62.8% Female, 37.2%	Male, 66.2% Female, 33.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.2% Asian, 12.4% White, 65.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 8.8% White, 70.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage	12%	11%

Differences between internal consultant and contractor/consultant duties and responsibilities

Internal consultant example 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.
Analyze internal knowledge infrastructure and develop optimized information system/organization.
Identify key performance indicators (KPIs), then used it to measure and set improvement targets.

Contractor/consultant example responsibilities.

Manage design and development of cloud-base billing application for streamlining payroll and invoicing, as well as offering real-time business analytics.
Assist PMO in defining project scope, task and budget, collaborating closely with developers.
Bill and provide appropriate documentation to submit reimbursement for services to appropriate insurance to include Medicaid, Medicare, etc.
Motivate and ensure SME team member engagement in projects.
Provide Linux server setup, documentation, and internal support.
Develop and implement SQL store procedures and DTS packages to process client billing data.

Internal consultant vs contractor/consultant skills

Common internal consultant skills

Project Management, 18%
Process Improvement, 18%
Internal Controls, 9%
Sigma, 8%
Internal Clients, 7%
Business Development, 7%

Common contractor/consultant skills

Healthcare, 30%
Post Implementation, 25%
Data Analysis, 7%
Project Management, 5%
Financial Statements, 3%
Medicaid, 3%

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Internal Consultant
Internal Consultant vs Contractor/Consultant

Updated January 8, 2025

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