How To Become a Management Consultant

Summary. We reviewed real candidate profiles to learn the best path to become a management consultant. We'll guide you through the education, experiences, and skills hiring managers look for in a management consultant.

  • Most companies require a management consultant to have a bachelor's degree degree in a related field, such as business or finance.

  • It's important to have relevant work experience, with typical job requirements ranging from 2-4 years in related fields.

  • Common job titles before becoming a management consultant include project manager, consultant, and senior project manager.

  • Hiring managers expect a management consultant to have soft skills such as analytical skills, communication skills, and interpersonal skills.

  • Once you have all the required skills and experience, it takes an average of 3-6 months of job training to become a management consultant.

  • Getting a certification as a Project Management Professional (PMP) will help you to earn more as a management consultant.

Before becoming a management consultant, 67.3% earned their bachelor's degree. When it comes down to graduating with a master's degree, 21.7% management consultants went for the extra education. If you're wanting to pursue this career, it may be impossible to be successful with a high school degree. In fact, most management consultants have a college degree. But about one out of every nine management consultants didn't attend college at all.

Those management consultants who do attend college, typically earn either business degrees or finance degrees. Less commonly earned degrees for management consultants include accounting degrees or computer science degrees.

How to become a Management Consultant in 5 steps:

  • Step 1: Explore management consultant education
  • Step 2: Develop management consultant skills
  • Step 3: Complete relevent training/internship
  • Step 4: Research management consultant duties
  • Step 5: Prepare your resume

Key Steps To Become a Management Consultant

  1. Explore Management Consultant Education

    If you're interested in becoming a management consultant, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 67.3% of management consultants have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 21.7% of management consultants have master's degrees. Even though most management consultants have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

    Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a management consultant. When we researched the most common majors for a management consultant, we found that they most commonly have business, finance and accounting.

    Management Consultant Degrees

    Bachelors

    67.3 %

    Masters

    21.7 %

    Associate

    6.1 %

    Management Consultant MajorPercentages
    Business29.20%
    Finance8.00%
    Accounting6.90%
    Computer Science6.20%
    Other Degrees49.50%

  2. Develop Management Consultant Skills

    It'll be a good idea to develop management consultant skills before applying for a job. Here are some skills commonly requested in management consultant job descriptions:

    SkillsPercentages
    Healthcare9.41%
    Project Management6.61%
    Portfolio6.01%
    Business Process5.40%
    Business Strategy5.28%
    Show More

  3. Complete Relevent Training/Internship

    Management consultants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. During this time, new management consultants learn the skills and techniques required for their specific job and employer. The chart below shows how much time it takes to gain competency as a management consultant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real management consultant resumes.

    Average Amount Of Time At Training

    None

    1-3 months

    3-6 months

    1-2 years

  4. Research Management Consultant Duties

    When you decide to become a management consultant, It's important to know what duties and responsibilities are required for this position. Some common responsibilities are a part of most management consultant jobs. Here is a list of the main duties that define the role:

    • Streamline and program manage operations for end-to-end creation of all assets using Smartsheet.
    • Lead daily agile scrum meetings towards the end of the development phase of the project.
    • Monitor and control project schedule for SaaS product to achieve project deliveries in at least 95th percentile.
    • Lead teams in implementation of value map streaming, ISO 9000 and waste reduction in manufacturing process.
    • Manage functional design team activities using baseline scope document information and develop process standards in line with SDLC methodologies.
    • Develop light-weight (fast) proprietary cloud-base licensing engine and UI to manage and track end user subscription licenses.

  5. Prepare Your Resume

    Finally, when you already have checked the skills and responsibilities for this role, you can start creating your resume. Everything that goes into creating a perfect resume can take hours, days, or even weeks. No worries, we created a resume builder to make this process as easy as possible with tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and a summary.

    Choose From 10+ Customizable Management Consultant Resume templates

    Build a professional Management 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 Management Consultant resume.

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  6. Apply For a Management Consultant Job

    With your ready resume, it's time to start searching for a new job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

    1. Browse job boards for relevant postings
    2. Consult your professional network
    3. Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
    4. Watch out for job scams

    Management Consultant Jobs

    7. How To Become a Management Consultant
    How To Become a Management Consultant Career Overview
Top Management Consultant Jobs Near You

How To Become a Management Consultant Without A Degree

Becoming a management consultant without a degree is possible with the right approach. One way is to start as a business analyst or strategy consultant, where you can learn the ropes and gain practical experience. You can also seek out mentorship from experienced management consultants, participate in online courses, or earn management consultant certifications. Building a strong network, staying up-to-date with industry trends, and having a positive attitude can also increase your chances of success in this career path.

With the right courses, you can start a successful career as a management consultant.

1. Data Analysis Immersive (Full-time)

general_assembly

Online

40 hours; 12 weeks, Full-time

Learn to problem solve, and effectively communicate, like an analyst. This course teaches you to use industry-standard tools to make ethical, data-driven decisions. Experience hands-on training to master SQL, Excel, Tableau, PowerBI, and Python – tools listed in virtually every data analytics job posting across industries...

2. Data Analytics (Part Time)

general_assembly

Online

20 hours; 10 weeks, Part-time

Harness Excel, SQL, and Tableau to drive powerful analysis and insights. Build confidence and credibility to apply this versatile skill set to countless jobs. This course is offered in person and live online, in a remote classroom setting...

3. Intro to Statistics

udacity

Statistics is about extracting meaning from data. In this class, we will introduce techniques for visualizing relationships in data and systematic techniques for understanding the relationships using mathematics...

4. Data Visualization with Tableau

udacity

Learn the fundamentals of data visualization and practice communicating with data. This course covers how to apply design principles, human perception, color theory, and effective storytelling with data. If you present data to others, aspire...

5. Business Process Management in Healthcare Organizations

coursera

Have you ever needed to resolve a billing or other issue with a healthcare organization and thought that there must be a better, more efficient, and more customer-friendly way to operate such a business process?...

6. Project Management Office (PMO) for Management Consultants

udemy
4.4
(779)

What is the aim of this course?Sometimes to create value in the firm or manage a huge number of complicated projects you have to set up a Project Management Office (PMO). PMO is responsible for...

7. Practical Project Management for Management Consultants

udemy
4.6
(651)

What is the aim of this course? Managing Consulting Projects is extremely difficult. You work in a hostile environment, long hours on difficult things. On top of that, the bill for your services for the...

8. Intro to Data Analytics

general_assembly

Online

2 hours; 1 week, 2 hours live

Discover if data is a career fit for you Regardless of your industry or role, fluency in the language of data analytics will allow you to contribute to data driven decision making. In this free, two-hour livestream, you’ll learn to understand, analyze, and interpret data so you too can join the data conversation. We’ll cover how to ask the right questions of your data and basic analytic functionality. Then you’ll apply your new found data analytic skills to a real-world dataset, allowing you to develop recommendations based on your findings. All in real time, taught by an industry professional...

9. Intro to Data Analysis

udacity

This course will introduce you to the world of data analysis. You'll learn how to go through the entire data analysis process, which includes posing a question, wrangling your data into a format you can...

10. Retail for Business Analysts and Management Consultants

udemy
4.5
(2,044)

What is the aim of this course? Retail has become very competitive. We have the rise of e-commerce and multichannel, buyers' behavior has also changed drastically. This leads to lower margins. As a Business Analyst...

11. Strategy for Management Consultants & Business Analysts

udemy
4.4
(5,763)

What is the aim of this course?Strategy is one of the most dreaded subjects in any business. There are so many conflicting frameworks that are difficult to decide what to choose. In this course, you...

12. Performance Improvement Projects for Management Consultants

udemy
4.8
(300)

What is the aim of this course?One of the projects you will participate in during your work in management consulting is the Performance Improvement Project. You will be hired by the owner or the Board...

13. Logistics for Management Consultants - a practical guide

udemy
4.4
(324)

The course is designed to turn you into an efficient and fast business consultantIf you are a business/management consultant you probably have already noticed that it is very important to be efficient during projects, especially...

14. Operations Management A-Z: Business Processes and Systems

udemy
4.6
(2,661)

Master the tools and principles of operations management to have and "impact" on your business's operations - manufacturing, services, industrial operations and production. Equip yourself to take a leading role in your workplace - improving...

15. Lean BPM - Lean Business Process Management Change Skills

udemy
4.3
(527)

Lean BPMLean BPM - learn how to use lean business management techniques to reduce waste and increase profits*An updated version of thiscourse is included in the "Management Skills And Leadership Skills Masterclass", so please do...

16. The Complete Business Process Management (BPM) Master Class

udemy
4.3
(610)

Hi there! My name is Theodore Panagacos and I am a career Business Process Management expert. Are you an aspiring Process Modeler, Process Architect or Management Consultant who has been struggling with the basics of...

17. Supply Chain for Management Consultants & Business Analysts

udemy
4.5
(1,863)

What is the aim of this course?This course will help you drastically improve your knowledge and skills in optimizing any company's supply chain through a series of practical cases. It is designed for people who...

18. Production for Management Consultants and Business Analysts

udemy
4.5
(1,013)

What is the aim of this course? This course will help you drastically improve your knowledge and skills in optimizing the production and operations of any company through a series of practical cases. It is...

19. Management Consulting Essential Training

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4.5
(1,692)

*Updated for 2022*Imagine you could learn the techniques taught by the worlds top consulting firms such as McKinsey and BCG without ever working at a firm! What if you could put yourself in a position...

20. Management Consulting Skills Mastery

udemy
4.4
(1,053)

*Updated for 2022*The most complete course available on management consultant. 8+hours of videos, activities, templates, case studies, articles and more. Everything you need to know about management consulting tools and techniques from problem solving to...

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Updated May 19, 2023