Many IT professionals see consultancy as a desirable career,
offering big bucks and exciting projects. But just because you are
an expert in your industry sector does not necessarily mean you
will cut it as a consultant - or be happy and fulfilled in your
work. What does it take to be a successful consultant?
Consultants clearly need good interpersonal skills. "We look for
examples of where people have handled sensitive or difficult
situations - not necessarily just commercially but in
extra-curricular activities - and where they have been able to move
a group of people forward to a successful conclusion," says Julia
Harvie-Liddel, recruitment director for Accenture in the UK and
Ireland. "We want people who are capable of working in teams and
influencing and driving things forward, not being the one who sits
in the background."
One IT professional who has made the transition is Rebecca
Smith, now a consultant in Deloitte's technology delivery
management arm. Smith previously worked in house as a project
manager for a global construction company, and as a database
analyst for a data management services provider. She confirms that
"consulting is very much more people-oriented and people skills are
much more important than in many in -house roles where you can be
more focused on the technology."
One of the conflicts you will undoubtedly face regularly is
dealing with the demands of two bosses who may have very different
ideas about what you should be doing. "You are not just reporting
to your own boss but to the client," says Dan Picken, an account
representative at specialist technical recruiters Advanced Resource
Managers, who has recruited for both corporates and consultancies.
Linda Jureidini-Cox, an associate director in the IT Practice of
recruitment consultancy Hudson, says that "You have to be
comfortable managing client expectations and making decisions, and
have a can-do attitude." Consultancy is not for you if you do not
like being put on the spot and having to think on your feet.
In fact, being able to hit the ground running is essential. "In
house, you are working with the same people and get a chance to
build up a rapport," says Smith. "In consultancy, you are involved
in projects that last perhaps three to six months and you need to
integrate quickly into the team to get the work done. You need to
be able to adapt to the different management styles of the project
manager on each project, and as you move across different projects,
you need to be able to get up to speed quickly on industry
terminology and operations for each particular client so you can
start applying your technical skills to their project."
Top-notch communications skills are also vital. "You have to be
a very good listener," Jureidini-Cox says, "and be able to convert
a good idea into a practical solution for the customer." In
addition, you need to be able to pick up on needs that have not
been explicitly articulated. "There is often a misconception that
you go into a client site to do a particular piece of work, but
with consultancy there are add-ons, and everything is billable,"
Jureidini-Cox says.
Picken confirms that "even in the most technical roles, you need
to commercially aware and understand the costs associated with
decisions. The costs of anything you do not document and any
problems you come across will be passed back to your company" - and
your manager will not be happy if you make mistakes that eat into
contract profit margins on a regular basis.
This means consultancies are also more likely to employ people
who come from another consultancy or from an in-house role in
larger European or global companies where the culture is also
similarly heavily process-oriented rather than people from smaller
companies with a less rigid working environment.
Those working in consultancy roles need to be flexible and
relish a challenge. Harvie-Liddel warns that it is not a career for
anyone who does not enjoy a lot of change and uncertainty. Frequent
out-of-hours work and travel mean it is probably not for you if you
prefer nine-to-five work or have a young family. She says that when
evaluating candidates, Accenture is always "looking for evidence
that people have taken on additional responsibility and pushed
themselves."
That does not mean to say consultancies will only employ you if
you already have all the necessary skills. Many run their own
in-house training academies to ensure both graduates and
experienced hires are brought up to speed with the necessarily soft
skills. However, Jureidini-Cox says, employers want to see evidence
that you are committed to continuously updating your skills and
have an appetite for learning, so qualifications such as Prince2
and ITIL on your CV will do you no harm. Smith, for example, came
into consultancy with the Prince2 qualification and training in
various project management tools and techniques, as well as a
degree in information systems. At the same time, Harvie-Liddel
says, consultancies are wary of people who are highly qualified but
have no consistent focus to their development, and who cannot show
how they have benefited from and applied that learning.
Consultancies are certainly happy to invest in your development
if they think you have the right aptitude. Accenture, for instance,
puts staff through mandatory "core schools" designed to ensure
staff have the skills they need at each level from analyst up to
senior manager. It also offers a "bank account" of training hours
that staff can use as they see fit for online or classroom
training, and provide refresher courses in softer skills such as
meeting facilitation or presentation skills if staff need them.