How To Become A Professional Consultant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a professional consultant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Robin Cormier

Sometimes, businesses need an outsider to help improve operations, resolve internal problems, and achieve various business goals. This is where professional consultants step in. As third parties, they provide an outsider's point of view that can help businesses figure out what to do in order to achieve their goals.

Moreover, professional consultants are considered experts in their field. They possess the skills and experience that organizations may not have within their ranks and thus are responsible for providing their expert opinion to the companies that hire them. Usually, professional consultants also help organizations implement new strategies, train existing personnel, and identify business strategies.

The role of a professional consultant usually requires a college diploma, particularly in the field of business as well as years of experience in their industry to prove their level of expertise. The average professional consultant earns around $37 an hour or roughly $77,000 a year. More experienced consultants can easily earn above six-digit salaries, especially if they have been in the industry for decades.

What general advice would you give to a professional consultant?

Robin Cormier

Assistant Professor, Montana State University - Billings

While college graduates begin to launch their careers, they also face uncertainty about job opportunities. This can be a daunting time in their life. First and foremost, they should be proud of their achievements. There are many steps they can take to prepare for a future career, such as developing a network and building a strong resume. However, in my opinion, the most important advice I would offer new graduates is to pursue their passion. When you are passionate about your career, your life is more fulfilling, and you are more determined to achieve success. Passion shows through how you communicate, develop working relationships, and your level of career investment.

ScoreProfessional ConsultantUS Average

Salary

6.3

Avg. Salary $80,770

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 10.23%

Black or African American 8.54%

Hispanic or Latino 9.22%

Unknown 4.54%

White 67.31%

Gender

female 43.29%

male 56.71%

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 a professional consultant

Explore professional consultant education requirements

Most common professional consultant degrees

Bachelor's

63.7 %

Master's

16.0 %

Associate

10.6 %

Start to develop specific professional consultant skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Satisfaction	30.80%
Customer Service	28.96%
C #	11.29%
Financial Statements	3.82%
Internal Audit	2.24%

Complete relevant professional consultant training and internships

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

Research professional consultant duties and responsibilities

Manage implementation of initial ERP modules.
Manage a team responsible for designing service-orient application architecture, standards and best practices guidelines, security and data access frameworks.
Provide guidance to clients in Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.
Provide and customize marketing materials for TLC affiliates.

Prepare your professional consultant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your professional 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 a professional 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 professional consultant resume templates

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