Written by: Dr. Mohamed Amr Sadik
Edited by: Mona Timor Shehata
About the writer:
A veteran HR with more than 30 years in key HR positions with local, regional and international organizations, and one of the most prominent practitioners. Dr. Sadik has addressed several international HR conferences and received several international awards from the UK, the USA, KSA, and India. In a healthy conversation with one of my colleagues during a recent HR seminar, we stopped at a new fast growing and unprecedented phenomenon in the market called “The Consultant”. So, we have decided to dig deep down in an interview style about this phenomenon and try to understand it from different perspectives.
Q1: First, who is the consultant?
A1: The consultant is a person who consults with individuals or organizations, they are an expert in their profession who are called on for professional or technical advice or opinions. Simply put, they are problem solvers.
Q2: How can someone qualify to be a consultant, and what are the qualifications?
A2: The truth of the matter is that nowadays many individuals call themselves, voluntarily, consultants with no comprehensive background, certifications, and/or right qualifications and with no association with any consultancy firm. We have no problem with that if the consultant can add value and solve the issues at hand. For someone to work in top consulting firms, where these firms generally require candidates to hold a degree, and preference is given to MBA graduates. Such firms are looking for a blend of demonstrable competencies and attributes that can be gained through undertaking internships at consulting firms. In any case, experience is the main focus, or already having it through years of executive experience. Also, there are several levels of consultants within the discipline such as junior, associate or senior consultant, it all depends on qualifications and years of experience. Furthermore, there are now certification for management consultant in the USA, the UK, Canada and India. For an entry level it require 3-5 years of experience and for a top level consultant it is up to 15 years.
For certification in consultancy those are the requirements:
• Basic for consultants with a minimum of 3 up to 9 years of management consulting experience as independent or internal consultants with five satisfactory clients evaluations, and a Bachelor’s degree or at least 5 years of work experience including 3 years of full time consulting plus significant professional education in management consulting. Pass written and oral examinations.
• Experienced for consultants with 10 or more years as independent or internal consultants and otherwise meeting the Basic requirements. The scope of the written and oral examinations may be reduced.
• Management for high level managers with 20 or more years experience with at least 3 years of consulting with clients and accountability for successful completion of projects involving management consultants and otherwise meeting requirements of the Basic track. The scope of the written and oral examinations may be reduced. As for HR Consultants; five to eight years of professional-level experience in human resources is required.
Q3: What is the role of the consultant?
A3: The consultant’s primary role is to assist an organization with certain areas of the inclusiveness work. While the consultant may act as an educator, a catalyst for deeper change, a resource, or a facilitator, the leadership of the process remains within the organization. The role the consultant plays can be a combination of the above, or just one (it depends on your organization’s needs and the consultant it selects). Consultants may be brought in for a one-day long session, or to assist in a particular topic. In essence, a consultant’s job is to advise an organization on improvements that can be made to its business. It involves identification and assessment of a problem or analysis of a specific area, reporting findings and formulating recommendations and sometimes executing these recommendations.
Q4: How can I select a consultant for my organization?
A4: A consultant can bring specific skills, specialized knowledge, the ability to conduct a process, and unbiased perspective to the work of an organization. They can provide what the organization itself cannot, and can work for just the length of time needed to accomplish its task. Choosing a consultant entails defining the task you want them to do, deciding on the qualifications and personal characteristics they should bring to it, setting a price you can afford, and checking references to see if they have done the same job before.