[Closed] In your experience, is the word 'consultant' just shorthand for...

I tend to find its just added to the end of 100's of job titles to make them seem more important.

We do specialist stuff for a variety of companies and charge accordingly.

Mike Smith
Senior Consultant

Yep, they're all just bullshit merchants.

Advisors are usually more use than consultants in my experience 😉

I do consulting work, but I'd like to think that I'm not a [i]utterly clueless ****-wit[/i]. I may be wrong of course.

I ended up in a conversation with a Social Media Consultant on a night out once. I have absolutely no idea what he did for a living.

Had a couple as business analysts who were really good, apart from starting the answer to any question with 'So,...'

Otherwise, can't think of a strikingly good one. Usually come in with the luxury of being unencumbered by history, politics or existing workload which means a lot of 'immersion' activity (talking to lots of people about what they do) followed by some random blue-sky malarkey.

My favourite bit is when they stay a little bit too long and end up going native 😆

you're confusing it with 'graphic designer'

Yep totally agree IME just come up with "solutions" to problems that don't/never will exist
talk a lot off faff and get in your way ....love a buzzword don't they
Cu*tsultants the lot of em

Some are good.

I'd say it's the temporary nature they are brought into fix and the longevity of thier contract/service levels TBF.

It's often a short term strategic fix they are engaged in, once done they're out. Can't complain about that when the Workstream Holders/Project Teams/Programme managers/Senoir Stakeholders all agree on strategy/legacy handling.

I think it depends whether you work for an actual consultancy or your job title (perhaps just the one you made up yourself because it looks good on linkedin) has 'consultant' at the end of it.

IHN - we know they're all idiots. But you just need to throw them some felt tips to keep them where they can't do any damage 😀

working with medical consultants, I'd have to say

utterly clueless and unbelievably arrogant ****-wit?

Does the old definition, 'A guy from out of town with a briefcase', still apply?

I'm a consultant.

I'm fracking epic i'll have you know. Worth every penny..........

I tend to find that people who can't see the value in consultants are usually part of the problem...

Pigeon consultants?

Fly in, shit on everything, fly out....

Does the old definition, 'A guy from out of town with a briefcase', still apply?

Not heard that one, sounds ever so slightly sinister

The rise in the number of people calling themselves consultants reminds me of what happened to the term "technician". Now there are "nail technicians" for example, the original sense of the term is devalued.

unknown - Member
I tend to find that people who can't see the value in consultants are usually part of the problem...

vickypea - Member
The rise in the number of people calling themselves consultants reminds me of what happened to the term "technician". Now there are "nail technicians" for example, the original sense of the term is devalued.

Don't get me started on the use of 'Engineer'.....

I tend to find that people who can't see the value in consultants are usually part of the problem...

Yep, we had a CEO like that. He pretty much bankrupted the company....

It is not a protected term so anybody can use it. There will be some good ones and some bad ones. In my experience they fall into three catagories.

Professionals who have left an industry and set themselves up as expert advisers. I've met some very good ones. They are usually worthwile as companies contract them in to help in areas where they have no experience.

Somebody wanting to sound more important and so puts it in their job title. Often useless if they don't have the skill, knowledge and experience to back it up.

Those employed by consultancy firms - Accenture, Mckinsey, and large companies with consultancy arms like the big 4 and IT companies. Can be ok although they take on graduates straight out of university and charge them out at ludicrous rates normally.

See also, drirector, engineer, nutritionist etc. for other non proteceted terms.

IME they are the same people you laid off in the last "re-organisation" to meet the headcount targets dreamed up by senior management, and then had to re-hire at higher salaries t in order to just get the job done.

Their days are numbered

(starts about 1min in)

Consultant - someone who borrows your watch to tell you the time.

Most of the ones I worked with in the private sector in the 90s were pretty sound. Just always wondered why we paid someone else to ask our staff how to make the processes and business work better.....

@ vickypea - I knew my work was devalued when I first saw the tern 'accounts technician'.

Can you walk quickly and purposefully?
Can you pout and look as though you're pondering something?
Can you polish your shoes?
Do you have a haircut?
Do you like lunch?
Can you raise an invoice?

If you can answer yes to all the above then you too can make it in consultancy.

As a friend of mine once put it: consultants, they borrow your watch and then tell you the time.

To be fair, it's a tricky job to do properly. After all, if you know you need a consultant you probably know there are things you could be doing better. That said they should leave all the jargon at the door on their way in.

Consultants usually have to prove that their involvement has improved processes or bottom-line, %age etc.

The old 'I've worked here for years- said that, no one listened to me then a consultant comes in and says the samething and its listened to'.

Maybe- but then you were hardly pro-active, ambitious and forthwright were you? Without the Consultant the above wouldn't have happened so sometimes they are needed to negate.... [b]the politics[/b] of every business.

Working alongside medical consultants I have to say.

No far from it. Well not A&E ones anyway especially after one put another none A&E consultant in their place for essentially telling me I was wrong in my treatment of a patient. They not only supported me but told the other one in know uncertain terms why I was right and why they should listen to me. 😀

maccruiskeen - Member

Their days are numbered

A quick edit - or did you employ a consultant to help you fix it?

🙂

The BIL is a consultant. I wouldn't consult him on the time of day but he is very good at convincing the hard-of-thinking that he knows what he's talking about.

Consultant - someone who borrows your watch to tell you the time.

Brilliant!

KINGTUT
Recruitment Consultant.

Environmental Consultants are a mixed bag.
50% know what they are doing and provide a reasoned response to queries placed in front of them
The other half will just write their report to support the desires of the client and are morally repugnant

Consultant is so last century, its Architect now darlings.

unknown - Member

I tend to find that people who [s]can't[/s] see the value in consultants are usually [s]part of[/s] the problem.

I use a consultant at work on a regular basis - I pay him £1k a day and he comes in works his arse off and make a significant difference to be business.

Worth every penny but not all are the same

In IT, a consultant is just someone you hire from another company. Sometimes they are actually consulting on some specialist issue, sometimes they are just bodies for hire. They can be world experts in some topic or they can be just grads.

Obvioulsy the customers know the level of experience they are buying (and are charged accordingly) but they don't know the level of competence and intelligence. Consultants can be good or bad at any level of experience, just like any other worker.

As far as I can tell Consultant is used when directors want someone to blame for them getting a decision wrong rather than using their own and their staffs expertise to make a decision and be accountable for it.

Most of the conultants I have to work with charge a lot of money to take what you already know, reformat it into their corporate colours and then give it you back

Consultant is so last century, its Architect now darlings.

That's me ****ed then. I've got Architect in my job title.....

In the bigger firms (like the one I work for) it's only the junior staff that actually have consultant in their title.

I found myself sitting next to a "change agent" at a works "do", and after half an hour's explanation I was still clueless about what he actually did 😛

Most of the conultants I have to work with charge a lot of money to take what you already know, reformat it into their corporate colours and then give it you back

Sounds like a friends experience working in a council. The Consultants drill the staff for 'ideas'. Then present it as their own 'findings' and recommendations. I think these consultants are on 800+ each a day.