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

What is an organizational consultant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Angela Grotto Ph.D.

Organizational consultants provide companies and organizations with advice on how to optimize their business processes and utilize their human resources in order to maximize efficiency and profitability.

Some of the responsibilities that they perform in this capacity include assessing current business structures, processes, and resource utilization. In addition, they then advise the company executives on more cost-effective and efficient alternatives. They also help in designing and implementing plans and training programs for the company and evaluate the impact of those changes and document them. Essential skills required for this position are communication, analytical, attention to detail, computer software proficiency, and time-management.

To qualify for this position, employers typically require a master's degree in industrial-organizational psychology or a similar discipline. Moreover, at least two years of work experience in a similar role is also required. The average hourly pay for this position is $36.04, which amounts to over $74,000 annually. The career is also expected to grow substantially in the near future and create new opportunities across the United States.

What general advice would you give to an organizational consultant?

Angela Grotto Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Management, Manhattan College

When job searching, be active and persistent - Network by setting up Zoom informational calls with professionals (alumni, people with whom your family work) to learn about jobs that you are interested in or to learn about organizations where you would like to work and then follow up with them; have someone you trust who is a professional review your resume and social media profile pages; carve out time every day to apply to jobs; use Handshake and LinkedIn as a resource; keep sending out applications; while job searching, volunteer or start your business project that showcases your skillset and then discuss it during your interviews.
When interviewing, be creative - Use experiences from your academic career to demonstrate your capabilities. There are many skills you learn in class that are transferrable to the professional world. For example, as a student, you likely had to pivot to full remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather than seeing this as a disadvantage, discuss how the new learning format has prepared you to work remotely as an employee, how small group projects have primed you to collaborate on a virtual team, and how small classes have equipped you to use technology such as Zoom.
When deciding on a job offer, be open-minded - Your first job may not be the one you had imagined or hoped for upon graduation. Still, it may be a stepping stone to your ideal career or a way to build your network of professional connections. You create meaningful and valuable relationships with others who may one day help you get the job you want.
When you land the job, be flexible - Show your employer or your boss that you're willing to step outside your comfort zone and do tasks that you were not necessarily trained for or are unrelated to your degree. Also, when circumstances at work change, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, show that you are willing to step up and do a different job, do someone else's job, or work on another project or team. This flexibility will demonstrate your versatility and how you can adapt to new and unpredictable situations. Lastly, embrace the "gig" economy - be willing to start as a temporary or contract worker with a company to get your foot in the door and build more professional connections.

ScoreOrganizational ConsultantUS Average

Salary

6.1

Avg. Salary $78,448

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 9.79%

Black or African American 8.64%

Hispanic or Latino 9.29%

Unknown 4.55%

White 67.56%

Gender

female 59.14%

male 40.86%

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 organizational consultant

Explore organizational consultant education requirements

Most common organizational consultant degrees

Bachelor's

66.8 %

Master's

24.5 %

Doctorate

4.2 %

Start to develop specific organizational consultant skills

Skills	Percentages
Organizational Effectiveness	13.16%
Project Management	9.28%
Human Resources	7.83%
Organizational Development	6.81%
Organizational Change Management	5.92%

Complete relevant organizational consultant training and internships

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

Research organizational consultant duties and responsibilities

Design and manage a state-of-the-art web-base elearning portal; recognize for creativity and ongoing content and adopt as corporate-wide model.
Use of qualitative/quantitative research methods to evaluate program effectiveness and ROI.
Design system architecture, support radio module selection, and perform link budget analysis for embed Bluetooth and ultra-wideband wearable applications.
Facilitate CRM training to sales team members across the country.

Prepare your organizational consultant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your organizational consultant resume.

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