Consultant - Common Types

Common Types

In the business, and as of recently the private sphere, the most commonly found consultants are:

• Strategy Consultants working on the development of and improvements to organisational strategy alongside Senior Management in many industries.
• Human Resources or HR Consultants who provide expertise around employment practice and people management.
• Internet Consultants who are specialists in business use of the internet and keep them self up to date with new and changed capabilities offered by the web. Ideally internet consultants also have practical experience and expertise in management skills such as strategic planning, change, projects, processes, training, team-working and customer satisfaction.
• Process Consultants who are specialists in the design or improvement of operational processes and can be specific to the industry or sector.
• Public Relations or PR Consultants dealing specifically with Public Relations matters external to the client organisation and often engaged on a semi-permanent basis by larger organisations to provide input and guidance.
• Performance Consultants who focus on the execution of an intuitive or overall performance of their client.
• Information Technology Consultants in many disciplines such as Computer Hardware, Software Engineering or Networks.
• Marketing Consultants who are generally called upon to advise around areas of product development and related marketing matters.
• Interim Managers as mentioned above may be independent consultants who act as interim executives with decision-making power under corporate policies or statutes. They may sit on specially constituted boards or committees.
• Pay per question consultants The professions vary greatly from appliance repair consultants to medical specialty consultants. Clients post a question to a website that provides a venue for consultants, that are verified as an expert in their profession or trade, and customers to interact in a Q&A session. A value is chosen, and a deposit made by the customer to have their question answered by an expert in a specific trade or profession. The expert provides the information to the customer, and is then paid a percentage of the deposited amount. The web site retains the remainder of the fee for use of the venue. Although still a new method of getting information from professionals on a one to one basis it is growing in populairity. For an average fee of $30.00 people can ask specific questions to professionals such as Lawyers, Doctors, Mechanics, Electricians, Veterinarians, Appliance Servicemen, Teachers, Engineers, and almost any type of trade or profession there is.

A more comprehensive list of types is shown below.