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The differences between professional consultants and consultants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a professional consultant and a consultant. Additionally, a professional consultant has an average salary of $80,770, which is higher than the $78,912 average annual salary of a consultant.
The top three skills for a professional consultant include customer satisfaction, customer service and C #. The most important skills for a consultant are customer service, strong analytical, and project management.
| Professional Consultant | Consultant | |
| Yearly salary | $80,770 | $78,912 |
| Hourly rate | $38.83 | $37.94 |
| Growth rate | 11% | 11% |
| Number of jobs | 100,996 | 171,733 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
Professional consultants provide their expert advice to organizations and businesses. This professional advice helps the organization to improve its business performance in terms of management, operation, and strategy. Their main tasks are to detect issues and find ways to resolve them, conduct surveys and research an understanding of the business, and assess the pros and cons of possible strategies. Professional consultants must have good numerical, teamwork, and interpersonal skills to succeed. Also, they must have commercial awareness, self-motivation, and good attention to detail.
Consultants are individuals who were tapped by a company or an organization to work on a specific activity, depending on their field of expertise. They act as guides for the organization in undertaking projects that are related to their field. Consultants would usually assist organizations in planning, often giving advice when the need arises. They would, at times, take the lead in activities that involve data gathering and interpretation of data gathering results so that they can provide solid recommendations on actions that the organization may undertake. They may also guide the organization in implementing any changes brought about by their consultancy and in evaluating the effectiveness of the changes.
Professional consultants and consultants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Professional Consultant | Consultant | |
| Average salary | $80,770 | $78,912 |
| Salary range | Between $69,000 And $93,000 | Between $58,000 And $107,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Rafael, CA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Citi | L.E.K. Consulting |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Technology |
There are a few differences between a professional consultant and a consultant in terms of educational background:
| Professional Consultant | Consultant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between professional consultants' and consultants' demographics:
| Professional Consultant | Consultant | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 56.7% Female, 43.3% | Male, 58.4% Female, 41.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.2% Asian, 10.2% White, 67.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 7.8% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 13.8% White, 65.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 12% | 12% |