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Project specialist vs project consultant

The differences between project specialists and project consultants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a project consultant has an average salary of $86,654, which is higher than the $65,993 average annual salary of a project specialist.

The top three skills for a project specialist include customer service, project management and project proposals. The most important skills for a project consultant are customer service, project management, and client facing.

Project specialist vs project consultant overview

Project SpecialistProject Consultant
Yearly salary$65,993$86,654
Hourly rate$31.73$41.66
Growth rate10%11%
Number of jobs99,583113,013
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 64%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Average age4444
Years of experience-4

What does a project specialist do?

A project specialist's role is to ensure that a project or program's completion is within the allotted time and budget. They are primarily responsible for devising plans and strategies to quicken the pace of production or processes involved, creating a comprehensive schedule, monitoring the progress and producing reports, tracking the budget and expenditures, and coordinating with all department personnel. Moreover, a project specialist may also schedule and attend meetings, all while adhering to the company's policies and standards.

What does a project consultant do?

A project consultant is responsible for communicating with the clients for their specific needs, develop strategic plans, and determine project resources to achieve their business goals and objectives. Project consultants are employed across various industries, offering their knowledge and expertise to facilitate clients' requests and propositions. They also collaborate with different development teams to discuss project parameters and analyze opportunities to improve plans and progress efficiency. A project consultant must have excellent communication and critical-thinking skills, responding to clients' inquiries and concerns, and providing recommendations to ensure successful project completion.

Project specialist vs project consultant salary

Project specialists and project consultants have different pay scales, as shown below.

Project SpecialistProject Consultant
Average salary$65,993$86,654
Salary rangeBetween $41,000 And $103,000Between $59,000 And $126,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CANewark, NJ
Highest paying stateCaliforniaNew Jersey
Best paying companyMetaDell
Best paying industryProfessional-

Differences between project specialist and project consultant education

There are a few differences between a project specialist and a project consultant in terms of educational background:

Project SpecialistProject Consultant
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 64%Bachelor's Degree, 67%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeWestern Carolina UniversityNorthwestern University

Project specialist vs project consultant demographics

Here are the differences between project specialists' and project consultants' demographics:

Project SpecialistProject Consultant
Average age4444
Gender ratioMale, 46.7% Female, 53.3%Male, 61.9% Female, 38.1%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 8.8% White, 70.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%Black or African American, 7.4% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 8.5% Asian, 14.4% White, 65.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage11%12%

Differences between project specialist and project consultant duties and responsibilities

Project specialist example responsibilities.

  • Manage all phases of SDLC.
  • Manage SDLC so that all controls are followed.
  • Manage tracking and resolution of defects and reporting of UAT execution results.
  • Purchase and manage inventory for aircraft LCD displays across all Rockwell sites.
  • Manage relational database through SQL programming, as well as ERP and MRP.
  • Design screen layouts and fields in the ERP system to accomplish above goals as well as enhance end user experience.
  • Show more

Project consultant example responsibilities.

  • Lead a pilot project to introduce strong document management features to support document repositories in SharePoint.
  • Manage a team responsible for designing service-orient application architecture, standards and best practices guidelines, security and data access frameworks.
  • Create SQL scripts to implement test unit cases and ensure data quality.
  • Gather all systems, applications and processes documentation into one repository on SharePoint to enable incoming vendor education.
  • Implement strategic initiatives for operational transformation, including SDLC processes, role specialization, order tracking and labor tracking.
  • Develop amendment projection and confirmations user interfaces using JavaScript and XML and develop PL/SQL procedures and packages to handle business logic.
  • Show more

Project specialist vs project consultant skills

Common project specialist skills
  • Customer Service, 25%
  • Project Management, 17%
  • Project Proposals, 10%
  • Telemarketing, 7%
  • PowerPoint, 4%
  • Patients, 2%
Common project consultant skills
  • Customer Service, 16%
  • Project Management, 12%
  • Client Facing, 6%
  • Project Scope, 5%
  • Process Improvement, 5%
  • Healthcare, 4%

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