Junior consultant salary
For bright, focused and communicative people with an interest in business or a particular area of business, consulting offers diverse and challenging opportunities and impressive salary prospects. Let’s take a look at what junior consultants do, how to become one and what they earn.
Job description
Consultants work for consulting firms or business and financial services companies but can also be freelance. Consultancy as a service plays a vital role in the success of the world’s largest businesses in all industries. While there are many different kinds of consultants, they all focus on providing expertise to clients (companies or individual professionals) in areas of business that the clients don’t possess themselves. The main types of consulting are:
- Operations consulting
- Management consulting
- Business strategy consulting
- Financial advisory consulting
- IT consulting
- HR consulting
Consultants are tasked with implementing new strategies or systems – or improving existing ones – as well as advising clients in their area of expertise. This involves discussing the client’s needs to understand the solutions required, learning about the client’s business and market, and presenting a proposal to the client to find an agreed path forward. Depending on the type of consultant, they may oversee the implementation of their suggestions or simply instruct the client on how to proceed. In most cases, consultants frequently travel to visit clients, so being on the road is a big part of the profession.
Skills and qualifications
Many companies offer consultancy graduate schemes and apprenticeships that train you to become a junior consultant. For school leavers, solid academic performance at A-level and an interest in the area of consulting and business is general in required. For graduates, the minimum requirement is usually a 2:1 in any degree or a related degree, in addition to a passion for your chosen consulting specialism.
Consultancy is an important and premium service that businesses pay for, so you must have a professional manner and excellent written and verbal communication skills. Since you’ll be working with managers and staff at the client’s end, interpersonal skills are particularly important. In the case of junior consultants, you’ll be supervised by a more experienced consultant and will likely be working in a team, so teamwork ability is crucial.
Salary and earning potential
Consultant salaries vary depending on the area of consulting, location and firm. On average, starting salaries for trainee or graduate consultants can range from £25,000 to £33,000, with the average junior consultant salary being around £40,000. After around five years’ experience, your earning potential can be in excess of £50,000 and senior consultants can earn much more, even up to as much as £125,000.
Salary source: consultancy.uk
Other sources:
https://climbtheladder.com/junior-consultant/
https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/
https://www.consultancy.uk/
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/
https://managementconsulted.com/