First things first, becoming a senior consultant is not an entry-level job. With the senior title, you're going to need a lot of experience under your belt before moving into this position. The reason for this is the fact that you need to be a good leader and know what you're doing. Only experience will provide both of those qualities.
So what exactly will you be leading? A team through specific project initiatives. But you'll also be the main contributor when it comes to being on client engagement teams. Oh, and you'll need to be a sort of expert on consulting projects. Many people will depend on your knowledge of those projects so it's really important that you have the answers to every question.
As senior consultant, the majority of your days will be spent working in the office. You'll spend time helping businesses improve business performance. Really, you just want to see them succeed. Since your job will be to analyze lots of different areas of each business, you'll have a wide base of knowledge expanding across lots of different areas including finance, marketing, I.T., strategy, management, and so many more. You'll probably be known as the little know-it-all around the office.
How to Become a Senior Consultant
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a senior consultant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $48.72 an hour? That's $101,328 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 14% and produce 118,300 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Senior Consultant Do
There are certain skills that many senior consultants have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed time-management skills, interpersonal skills and problem-solving skills.
How To Become a Senior Consultant
If you're interested in becoming a senior consultant, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 68.3% of senior consultants have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 21.7% of senior consultants have master's degrees. Even though most senior consultants have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a senior consultant. When we researched the most common majors for a senior consultant, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on senior consultant resumes include associate degree degrees or doctoral degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a senior consultant. In fact, many senior consultant jobs require experience in a role such as consultant. Meanwhile, many senior consultants also have previous career experience in roles such as senior software engineer or project manager.
Senior Consultant Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a senior consultant can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as project manager, progress to a title such as manager, project management and then eventually end up with the title manager, project management.
Average Salary for a Senior Consultant
What Am I Worth?
Top Colleges for Senior Consultants
1. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
2. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
3. New York University
New York, NY • Private
4. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
5. George Washington University, The
Washington, DC • Private
6. Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA • Private
7. Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA • Private
8. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
9. University of Georgia
Athens, GA • Private
10. Ball State University
Muncie, IN • Private
Top Skills For a Senior Consultant
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 11.3% of senior consultants listed procedures on their resume, but soft skills such as time-management skills and interpersonal skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Senior Consultant Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Senior Consultant templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Senior Consultant resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Senior Consultant Demographics
Senior Consultant Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among senior consultants, 30.1% of them are women, while 69.9% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among senior consultants is White, which makes up 68.6% of all senior consultants.
- The most common foreign language among senior consultants is Spanish at 34.7%.
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Best States For a Senior Consultant
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a senior consultant. The best states for people in this position are New Jersey, Maryland, Alaska, and Massachusetts. Senior consultants make the most in New Jersey with an average salary of $115,177. Whereas in Maryland and Alaska, they would average $113,788 and $110,514, respectively. While senior consultants would only make an average of $109,320 in Massachusetts, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. New Jersey
$115,177
Avg. Salary
2. District of Columbia
$119,272
Avg. Salary
3. Massachusetts
$109,320
Avg. Salary
How Do Senior Consultant Rate Their Jobs?
Top Senior Consultant Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ senior consultants and discovered their number of senior consultant opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that IBM was the best, especially with an average salary of $99,654. Capgemini follows up with an average salary of $102,733, and then comes Booz Allen Hamilton with an average of $102,019. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a senior consultant. The employers include VMware, Veeva Systems, and Deloitte
Most Common Employers For Senior Consultant
| Rank  | Company  | Average Salary  | Hourly Rate  | Job Openings  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Microsoft | $115,089 | $55.33 | 324 |
| 2 | TASER Self-Defense | $103,938 | $49.97 | 259 |
| 3 | Information Controls | $103,700 | $49.86 | 492 |
| 4 | AT&T | $103,050 | $49.54 | 299 |
| 5 | Capgemini | $102,733 | $49.39 | 3,257 |
| 6 | Ernst & Young | $102,555 | $49.31 | 695 |
| 7 | Capco | $102,390 | $49.23 | 310 |
| 8 | KPMG LLP | $102,317 | $49.19 | 395 |
| 9 | Sogeti | $102,222 | $49.15 | 813 |
| 10 | Booz Allen Hamilton | $102,019 | $49.05 | 1,772 |
Senior Consultant Videos
Becoming a Senior Consultant FAQs
How long does it take to become a Senior Consultant?
It takes 7 years of professional experience to become a senior consultant. That is the time it takes to learn specific senior consultant skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education. If you include the normal education requirements to complete a college degree, then it takes 10 to 12 years years to become a senior consultant.
How do I become a senior consultant?
You can become a senior consultant by earning the necessary educational achievements and gaining significant experience. To become a senior consultant, a person must first earn a bachelor's degree in management consulting or similar studies like business, management, economics, or accounting.
How many years does it take to become a senior consultant?
It takes about three to five years to become a senior consultant. To become a senior consultant, a person must first earn a bachelor's degree in management consulting or similar studies like business, management, economics, or accounting.
What qualifications do you need to be a consultant?
The qualification to be a sales consultant is a bachelor's degree in a business-related degree. Common bachelor's degrees for sales consultants to hold include:
Business Administration
Business Management
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