How to hire a network consultant

How to hire a network consultant, step by step

Here's a step-by-step network 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 network consultant job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new network consultant
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a network consultant do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the network consultant you need to hire. Certain network consultant roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

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

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect network consultant also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   Here's a comparison of network consultant salaries for various roles:

   Type of Network Consultant	Description	Hourly rate
   Network Consultant	Computer networks are critical parts of almost every organization. Network and computer systems administrators are responsible for the day-to-day operation of these networks.	$28-63
   Technical Systems Engineer	Technical Systems Engineers are responsible for maintaining the integrity of the infrastructure or systems network. They build, maintain, and repair all the systems and network infrastructure of the organization... Show more	$35-66
   LAN Administrator	LAN administrators are responsible for maintaining the local area network of an organization. These administrators manage the server that connects an organization's network to computers and equipment that need them... Show more	$20-41

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Appeals
   • Firewall
   • Windows Server
   • Switches
   • Network Infrastructure
   • Network Hardware
   • Troubleshoot
   • Lan
   • PC
   • Project Management
   • Series Routers
   • Technical Support
   • SQL
   • BGP

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Support and manage Linux base firewalls for client.
   • Manage FTP servers, AD/DNS, wireless access points and load balancers.
   • Manage and configure VoIP devices which include gateway and gatekeeper.
   • Lead architecture and design sessions with customers; initiate technical meetings with customer engineers to further engage and identify additional opportunities.
   • Create an optimize network to separate voice and data with QOS, MPLS BGP OSPF.
   • Configure route redistribution to between OSPF and EIGRP.

   More network consultant duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the network consultant job description is a good way to get more applicants. A network 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 network consultant in South Carolina may be lower than in California, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level network consultant. Additionally, a network consultant with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average network consultant salary

   $89,303yearly

   $42.93 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level network consultant salary

   $60,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 20, 2025

   Average network consultant salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$125,025	$60
   2	Oregon	$98,002	$47
   3	Michigan	$96,105	$46
   4	Arizona	$91,934	$44
   5	New York	$91,395	$44
   6	Illinois	$88,679	$43
   7	North Carolina	$87,063	$42
   8	Texas	$83,277	$40
   9	Wisconsin	$82,955	$40
   10	Massachusetts	$81,465	$39
   11	Maryland	$81,311	$39
   12	District of Columbia	$80,940	$39
   13	Connecticut	$80,658	$39
   14	Pennsylvania	$80,161	$39
   15	Ohio	$79,010	$38
   16	Colorado	$78,253	$38
   17	Georgia	$71,216	$34
   18	Louisiana	$70,850	$34
   19	Indiana	$69,729	$34
   20	Missouri	$69,706	$34

   Average network consultant salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Dell	$114,629	$55.11	3
   2	Tellabs	$112,405	$54.04
   3	Cisco	$111,819	$53.76	14
   4	Accenture	$105,151	$50.55	141
   5	Burwood Group	$100,952	$48.53	1
   6	Akamai Technologies	$99,932	$48.04	4
   7	Thrupoint	$98,359	$47.29
   8	Cerion LLC	$95,429	$45.88
   9	VIVA USA	$95,346	$45.84
   10	Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina	$92,760	$44.60
   11	Aricent	$91,824	$44.15
   12	Verizon Communications	$90,751	$43.63
   13	HCSC	$89,190	$42.88	12
   14	ALLETE	$88,589	$42.59
   15	Sutter Health	$88,387	$42.49	4
   16	Hewlett Packard Enterprise	$87,391	$42.01	22
   17	Scripps Networks Interactive	$87,352	$42.00	1
   18	Matrix Service Company	$86,126	$41.41
   19	Taos	$86,095	$41.39
   20	Sonepar USA	$85,495	$41.10	1

4. Writing a network consultant job description

   A job description for a network consultant role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a network consultant job description:

   Network consultant job description example

   Long View. A career that helps you get more out of life.
   
   A Long View career helps you get more out of life. We don't just say it, we prove it. Every day. We're proud of our reputation as one of North America's most dynamic IT providers - and we're even prouder of our culture that allows our people to live life to its fullest. At Long View, we create an environment of collaboration and support, of innovation and enthusiasm, of inclusion and belonging. As a member of the Long View team, you'll see how our company's core pillars - Integrity, Competence, Value, and Fun - resonate through the workplace. And in a recent survey, 90% of Long View team members rated Long View as a good or great place to work!
   
   Are you passionate about providing networking solutions to your client and want to work for a company that believes in Integrity, Competence, Value and Fun?
   
   We are looking for a client-oriented and competent Network Consultant for our Toronto office who is passionate about delivering on complex projects! You will be a member of our Network Services team on a variety of projects with various clients.
   A Day in the Life:Design and implement industry leading network technical solutions by understanding client requirements through your savvy consulting skills, both business and technical Create detailed documentation including conceptual design, logical design, physical design, bill of materials, as-built diagrams, knowledge transfer materials, FAQs, transition to operations information Work as a subject matter expert to deliver projects from initiation through to successful implementation Provide guidance to clients on-site and remotely supporting their network infrastructure Work with Architects, Project Managers and Team Leads to ensure projects progress efficiently and in a timely fashion towards successful closure
   What You Bring:6+ years of experience in an IT environment with network architecture design and deployment Experience with networking and security Ability to provide ongoing support, maintenance, and training on the implemented systems Ability to perform network assessments and design recommendations Strong troubleshooting skills to resolve network issues Understanding of: - Firewalls: Cisco Secure Firewall (FTD), Palo Alto, Fortinet, Meraki- Cisco Security: ISE, Umbrella, Anyconnect, Secure Endpoint- TCP/IP, IPSEC Site to Site VPN, Client VPN, NAT, VRF technologies- Cisco IOS and NXOS switches and routers- Layer 2 Technologies such as switching, VLAN, spanning tree- Layer 3 Routing protocols: BGP, EIGRP, OSPF- Wireless technologies Cisco & Meraki, (Aruba nice to have)- F5 Load Balancers (Nice to have)- Cisco SDWAN (Nice to have)
   What Makes You Extra Awesome:Consulting experience CCNA, CCNP certified Recent hands on exp with Cisco ISE, Firepower/FTD, Catalyst/Nexus
   Why Work at Long View:Great people and culture Work from home options Fun is one of our core values Interesting work - Be part of exciting projects while accessing all the latest technologies Flexible environment - A workplace that values the importance of flexibility for personal/professional growth, happiness and wellness
   
   Want to learn more about our culture and life at Long View? Check us out on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram!
   
   Long View's mission of building the best and most sustainable team-driven organization requires dedicated and ambitious people. Through employee resource groups, impactful and effective conversations, townhalls and various company-wide training, including how to reduce unconscious bias, we are fostering an inclusive environment. We are committed to taking consistent, positive and lifelong action to be a diverse and equitable workplace because we know that the most effective companies are made up of people with varied identities, experiences and backgrounds.
   
   Long View is an equal opportunity employer. If you have any accommodation requests for your interview or the role, please let your friendly Recruiter know.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right network consultant for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with network consultants they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit network consultants who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your network consultant job on Zippia to find and attract quality network consultant candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit network consultants, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up 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.

   Sometimes, it's not enough to interview network consultant candidates, so you can ask them to do a test project. If you are not a technical person and don't know what a test project should be, you can use these websites:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   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 network consultant

   Once you've found the network consultant candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   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.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is 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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