Consultant - Ways of Work

Ways of Work

The range of areas of expertise covered by the term consultant is extremely wide. One of the more general attributions is as a Management Consultant but this is not an exclusive term.

The process of consulting and the means by which the (external) consultant is engaged vary according to industry and local practice. However the principal difference between a consultant and a temp is generally one of direction. A consultant is engaged to fulfill a brief in terms of helping to find solutions to specific issues but the ways in which that is to be done generally falls to the consultant to decide, within constraints such as budget and resources agreed with the client. (A temp on the other hand is normally fulfilling a role that usually exists within the organization and is helping to bridge a gap caused by staffing shortages for whatever reason. They fall under the direction of the normal management structure of the organization.)

There is however a hybrid form where a consultant may be hired as an Interim Manager or Executive, bringing a combination of specialist expertise to bear on a role that is temporarily vacant (usually at a senior level).

Some consultants are employed indirectly by the client via a consultancy staffing company, a company that provides consultants on an agency basis. (The staffing company itself does not usually have consulting expertise but works rather like an employment agency.) This form of working is particularly common in the ICT sector. Such consultants are often called contractors since they are usually providing technical services (such as programming or systems analysis) that could be performed in-house were it not easier for the employer to operate a flexible system of only hiring such technologists at times of peak workload rather than permanently.