Career paths vary not just in terms of the ultimate destinations, but also when it comes to the requirements needed to reach that goal.
For example, a doctor must first complete an undergraduate course, pass the Medical College Admission Test, attend medical school, and then participate in residency. It’s a career path that could take well over a decade to complete and that’s assuming things go really well.
The barrier of entry into other professions is not quite as high, and some employers in certain industries may not even require their workers to have college degrees.
Falling somewhere in the middle of those is the career path of a business consultant.
What Does It Mean to Be a Business Consultant?
To better understand why a business consultant career path is the way it is, one must first understand the nature of consulting.
So, what is consulting?
Consulting is when people seek answers or guidance from an expert in a specific field. That means people can define consultant as a person who is well-equipped to provide useful advice.
When one is regarded as a business consultant, that means this individual specializes in providing pieces of advice that can help a company or individual become more success or profitable.
What Kind of Education Does a Person Need to Become a Business Consultant?
Just going by the consulting definition, people may be able to put forth guesses about the possible requirements that a person needs to fulfill before he or she can be called a legitimate business consultant.
Well, that may be the assumption, but the truth is that there aren’t countless hurdles that people will need to clear if they are indeed determined to pursue that aforementioned career.
When it comes to level of education, there is no actual set in stone requirement that an individual who wants to be a business consultant must absolutely have before he or she can be considered as a professional.
As pointed out by Learn.org, figures provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that the majority of the people in this field do hold a bachelor’s degree.
Now, an aspiring business consultant may interpret that in one of two ways.
Either that means that a person can be a business consultant without a bachelor’s degree, or it can also be taken to mean that it would be incredibly difficult to make it in this line of work without a degree.
While the first scenario is technically true, let there be no doubt that it is so much easier to gain employment as a business consultant with degree in hand.
A business consultant with a master’s degree may even have the luxury of fielding many offers.
Are There Certifications to Pursue?
As established earlier, the question “what is consulting,” can be answered by saying that it is the act of seeking counsel from someone knowledgeable regarding a specific field, so does that mean that the person being consulted has to be deemed an expert?
Is there an organization that is in charge of identifying the experts in this profession?
Yes, there is and it is known as the Institute of Management Consultants USA Inc. or IMC USA.
According to Study.com, the institute offers three levels of certification based on educational attainment and years of experience.
Crucially, this is only voluntary certification, which means that an individual can continue working as a business consultant without ever seeking the approval of IMC USA.
However, a person that is serious about this career path will want to receive the certifications provided by the IMC USA as they can serve to make them better qualified in the eyes of companies seeking only the best in the industry.
The consulting definition is broad, but only those who narrow their focus on their goals can truly capture the essence of that action.
So, how does one properly define consultant?
A consultant, or rather a business consultant is an individual who studies and works hard to become regarded as a true expert whose words and teachings are as valuable as gold to companies and other people who want to become successful.
