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What is an organizational development consultant and how to become one
As businesses grow, they experience profits but sometimes growing pains too. In an effort to preserve existing departments and protect employees from lay-offs, business leaders turn to you, an organizational development consultant, to offer advice on efficient performance operations that can maximize profit as the business morphs and grows. You have the expertise to improve and create new business strategies.
While the company executive hires you, you will work with employees across all departments and at different stages in their careers. You need to analyze the operations of all aspects of the business so you can offer valuable advice and training to employees, managers, and executives on new methods of operation. As an organizational development consultant, you may even need to restructure businesses, rearranging and reassigning whole departments, to increase efficiency for greater overall business success.
Usually, you need a master's degree in psychology, business, or human resources management to establish a career as an organizational development consultant. You will work in an office setting full-time and earn an average yearly salary of $79,000.
What general advice would you give to an organizational development consultant?
Allen Redmon Ph.D.
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Texas A&M University - Central Texas
Avg. Salary $76,706
Avg. Salary $59,228
Growth rate 7%
Growth rate 0.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.50%
Asian 4.10%
Black or African American 10.93%
Hispanic or Latino 15.91%
Unknown 5.44%
White 63.12%
Genderfemale 58.52%
male 41.48%
Age - 44American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%
Asian 7.00%
Black or African American 14.00%
Hispanic or Latino 19.00%
White 57.00%
Genderfemale 47.00%
male 53.00%
Age - 44Stress level is manageable
7.1 - high
Complexity level is challenging
7 - challenging
Work life balance is poor
6.4 - fair
Organizational development consultant career paths
Key steps to become an organizational development consultant
Explore organizational development consultant education requirements
Start to develop specific organizational development consultant skills
Skills Percentages Human Resources 13.41% Project Management 12.96% Professional Development 12.06% Instructional Design 9.18% Organization Design 7.80% Complete relevant organizational development consultant training and internships
Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New organizational development 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 development consultant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real organizational development consultant resumes.Research organizational development consultant duties and responsibilities
- Lead experiential learning in supervisory skills, conflict management, leadership, team building and organization process effectiveness.
- Establish course conventions, program management best practices and instructional strategies for eLearning and mobile learning content development.
- Develop an in-depth diversity train-the-trainer program for facilitators that provide legally-based fundamentals, facilitation skills, facilitator assessment, and testing.
- Implement a behavioral interviewing training program for to increase ROI with recruiting.
Get organizational development consultant experience
Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become an organizational development consultant. The most common roles before becoming an organizational development consultant include human resources manager, training manager team lead and consultant.Prepare your organizational development consultant resume
When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your organizational development 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 organizational development 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 organizational development consultant resume templates
Build a professional organizational development 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 organizational development consultant resume.
Apply for organizational development consultant jobs
Now it's time to start searching for an organizational development consultant job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:
- Browse job boards for relevant postings
- Consult your professional network
- Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
- Watch out for job scams
How did you land your first organizational development consultant job
Yamaly Rosado
Organizational Development Consultant, Boss Up LLC
I was hired as a Medicaid homecare biller. At the time of my hire date, there were a lot of changes that happened with federal funding, state billing programs, and a lot of internal revenue on the verge of being written off. My tasks were to learn everything I could about the state system, Sandata, rebill the claims that were being denied to recoup those claims and reduce the number of write-offs that were pending. The challenge here wasn't only that time was of the essence, or the hundreds of pages of revenue that could be written off, it was also that no one in the building knew how to use the Sandata system as it was installed only a month prior. I was really on my own on this adventure. The timeline that I was given was a year to complete everything.
I did it in three months. I did everything and a bit more in three months. I met my tasks. I created not only a process but also a training program, so another individual could bill in this system. My manager asked me if I thought I could train another person to do everything I did. I told her I would try my best. And that's what kicked off everything. I went to learn how to do something to immediately create a training system to teach others. I was promoted several times, from Medicaid biller to Biller 2, to Biller 3, to team lead, to department trainer. There was a point where I even trained clinical staff on how to utilize our billing systems. I got along well with other Department managers and worked on specialized projects for them as well.
Then one day she pulled me into the office to talk. She asked me if I had ever thought about going into organizational development. I wasn't even sure what that was. So she explained it to me. I was interested but had just finished my Master's in Management and Leadership so I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue my education. At the same time, I was recruited to become a trainer for another organization. I discussed this with my manager, who stated this was a better opportunity for me to grow my skills an
Average organizational development consultant salary
The average organizational development consultant salary in the United States is $76,706 per year or $37 per hour. Organizational development consultant salaries range between $52,000 and $112,000 per year.
What am I worth?
How do organizational development consultants rate their job?
Organizational development consultant reviews
It needs more patience to apply the true solution and satisfy your client
OD careers allow for a multitude of projects that go beyond training and development.
Skills that are helpful in this field include change management, an understanding of HR processes, talent development, and many others.
Engaging people Change the organization See Organization grow See positive results
Working long hours
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Updated January 8, 2025
