Certificate in Consulting

Management consultants help organizations improve operations and solve problems to increase performance and productivity. They provide advice and guidance in areas such as strategy, operations, finance, and marketing.

Many consulting firms hire management or strategy consultants as generalists early in their careers, giving them exposure to different industries, clients, and projects. As consultants gain experience, they often specialize in areas that match their interests and strengths.

Management consultants advise people working in professional or technical fields. They examine organizations, identify areas for improvement, and propose ways to create change. Both large and boutique consulting firms hire specialists who focus on specific practice areas or industries. These niche areas require a higher level of expertise, and people in these roles are often referred to as subject matter experts. Consultants in this pathway follow a more focused and specialized track while still serving a variety of clients.

• Consumer insights and research consultant: Help companies or organizations understand customer needs, behaviors, and preferences. Projects may include customer feedback studies on new or existing products, market research, and new product development.
• Human capital consultant: Advise organizations on workplace policies, employee retention, and performance. Projects may include organizational design, performance management, total rewards, change management, people analytics, and more. Human capital consultants work across departments to implement new strategies, processes, and technologies that impact employees.
• Operations and process consultant: Improve efficiencies across organizational operations. Projects may include reducing costs, optimizing technology or processes, and more.
• Real estate consultant: Advise investors and other stakeholders in commercial real estate. Work includes everything from market analysis to investment strategy to due diligence.
• Risk consultant: Work with brokers to obtain insurance coverage for clients. Risk consultants determine potential loss exposures, identify existing controls, and recommend additional loss control programs and activities that help clients increase their safety awareness and maintain or improve their ability to reduce or prevent losses.
• Supply chain management consultant: Optimize how products and services move from suppliers to customers. Projects traditionally focus on a part of the supply chain such as logistics and inventory management.

Technology consultants help organizations use information technology to solve business problems and achieve their goals. They also recommend, implement, and manage IT systems. Areas of technology consulting can include enterprise reporting platforms, cloud, and systems design and implementation.