Consultants are experts in their chosen specialties who others hire to give advice. There are various types of consultants, and each type comes with its pool of clients.
Six-Core Types
For businesses, there are six leading brands of consultancy.
- Strategy Consultant:
Strategy consultants specialize in organizational strategy and can be found working at the highest corporate and government fields. With a strong emphasis on quantitative analysis, strategy consultants tend to focus on advisory positions.
- Management Consultant:
Management consultants advise on organizational strategy but advise a wide variety of other corporate topics and may also oversee management themselves.
- Operations Consultant:
Operations consultants can be found both in advisory positions and overseeing the implementation of company operations, not only in sales and marketing but also in support positions such as IT.
- Financial Advisory Consultant:
Financial advisory consultants specialize in analyzing the financial aspects of a corporation, with various backgrounds and skillsets. Real estate consultants, risk management consultants, and corporate finance advisors all fall under this type.
- Human Resource Consultant:
Human Resource consultants improve the efficiency of Human Resource Department activities such as talent management, education and training, and retirement.
- IT Consultants:
IT consultants specialize in improving the technology of a corporation. They may help improve cybersecurity, data analytics, or IT forensics. They usually work on “transitioning” projects to improve IT technology as a whole, rather than managing day-to-day IT operations.
Other Consultants:
While the above consulting niches are considered “core” types of consultancy, other consultancy fields are growing.
- Marketing Consultants:
Marketing strategy analyzes consumer interest. Marketing consultants know how to use marketing channels such as search engines and pay-per-click advertising to better interest customers.
- Image Consultants:
An individual may want to hire an image consultant to improve their verbal and nonverbal communication skills, social cues, and style to enhance their public image.
- Social Media Consultants:
With social media rising, many businesses want to use social media platforms to raise their publicity. Social media consultants are experts in social media analytics and public marketing and help companies use their social media to their full potential.