{"id":582,"date":"2020-02-24T21:23:13","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T21:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/?p=582"},"modified":"2020-02-24T21:23:16","modified_gmt":"2020-02-24T21:23:16","slug":"consulting-jobs-and-roles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/2020\/02\/24\/consulting-jobs-and-roles\/","title":{"rendered":"Consulting Jobs and Roles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Roles<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Business Analyst<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As a new consultant, your role will mirror most closely to\nthat of the business analyst. The business analyst will play a large variety of\nroles on the project and really is considered the Jack of all trades. Their job\nis to understand and analyze the different functions of the business. They will\nbe responsible for conducting all meetings and interviews to understand and\ndocument the knowledge of the business processes and their intersection with\nstrategy and technology. It is not rare to find the business analyst facilitating\nthe project manager with his day to day tasks, or assisting with basic\ntechnical development, testing and training. Be prepared to flex your muscles in\nversatility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Technical Analyst<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The technical analyst\u2019s role is a lot more focused on the\ntechnology side than his or her business counterpart, although there is a large\noverlap between the two roles. The technical analyst is responsible for helping\nto document technical requirements, designing and developing systems and seeing\nthem through to deployment and support. Team members in this role usually have\nsome form of background in development languages or design, but do not let that\nshy you away from the role if you have not had any experience in the past. From\nan entry-level, there are many paths that will allow you to move into the\ntechnical analyst role over time if this is of interest to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quality Assurance<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The quality assurance team is responsible for testing all\ndeliverables and putting all requirements through the ringer to be sure that the\nend product is working as originally designed and intended. During the\nrequirements phase, the QA team will usually design and create test scripts\nwhich meticulously outline the scenarios and steps required for each\nrequirement to be considered a pass or fail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The actual testing of the requirements, with the help of the\nquality assurance team, usually occurs during the project phase called UAT or\nUser Acceptance Testing. In this phase, the users work with quality assurance\nand go through the test scripts previously created. If all scenarios come to a\npass, the phase is considered complete and usually kicks off the move of all\ncode and deliverables to production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sales<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The sales team member\u2019s primary role is to keep the work\nfunnel full. They are responsible for finding new projects and prospective\nclients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good salespeople will engage their consultants, business and\ntechnical analyst to help them sell projects. Being able to speak to the\npotential client\u2019s business analyst, technical resources, managers and\nexecutives will require credibility and they will appreciate the help from non-salespeople\nto come in and talk the talk. Forging good relationships with the sales team is\nalways valuable as they can help open up doors and progress you through your\ncareer outside of client work. A very visible KPI that you will be measured\nagainst as you move higher in your firm will be how much work you sold and how\nmuch revenue you have generated. Getting this experience in early, even before\nyou are measured against it, will be a valuable lesson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Partner<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The partner at your firm is usually the highest-ranking role\none can achieve.  Once someone receives\npartnership, they usually become a co-owner at the firm. Depending on the size\nand the partnership program, this can be a very small or a very large percent of\nownership stake. This allows the partner to share in company profits and are\nincentivized to help the company grow. From time to time, the partner will make\nan appearance at your client\u2019s office to shake hands and meet the team. Their\nrole at this level is dependent on making and keeping relationships. The more\nwork they can sell and oversee, the better the firm does, which is better for\neveryone in the firm\u2019s food chain. As a younger consultant, do not be scared or\nshy to forge a relationship with a partner. They are great allies to have and can\nhelp you grow in your career. They can provide guidance and get you promoted. They\nare always looking for great consultants to staff when they sell a new project\nas their reputation and salary may be on the line. You will want to be on their\nshort list of people that are cherry-picked when they sell a new project. Only\na very few consultants will survive the years and work at a single firm to\nbecome a partner. It can be easier to  achieve by gathering experience at multiple\nfirms and climbing the consulting ladder over many hard-working years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project Manager<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The project manager\u2019s role on the project is written in\nhis\/her title. They oversee the execution of a project and making sure the\nproject is successful. Their role is to manage the day to day tasks and ensure\nthe project is completed on time and on budget. They will often start the day\nmaking sure the team is working on the right items and facilitating meetings\nthat may need to take place. They will track weekly burn rate and spend vs. the\nagreed upon time and budget. When tasks or requirements change (and they will),\nthe project manager is also responsible for helping the client set new priorities,\ntimelines and expectations. Usually, there is no such thing as over-communicating\nor documenting when playing the project manager role. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good project manager is also responsible for the health\nand happiness of the project teams. They will shield you from client scope\nchanges, interruptions and make sure you have a clear path in front of you to\ndo the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the role of project manager is something that interests\nyou, see if you can help them with some of their day to day tasks which they\nshould be happy to share. It will alleviate some of their work as well as give\nyou valuable experience that you will be able to use later on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project Sponsor\/Stakeholders<\/a> <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The project sponsor is the representative on the client side\nwho owns the project, deliverable or initiative. They are the ones justifying\nthe cost to the business against the value of the project. They are the ones\nthat pushed the project through budgeting and got it signed and started. Their\nbutts are on the line to be sure the project is completed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project sponsor may not be involved in the day to day tasks of the project, but as a consultant on a project, you will be required to provide periodic updates and status reports to the sponsor on progress, budget, changes and anything of importance worth mentioning. Usually, your project manager will be responsible for presenting this content, but it is not unusual to find your director or even the partner representing your firm to attend these meetings.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you interested in starting a career in consulting? Be sure to read the full book Jack of all Trades Master of Some; An Introduction to Consulting<\/a> available on Amazon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Roles Business Analyst As a new consultant, your role will mirror most closely to that of the business analyst. The business analyst will play a large variety of roles on the project and really is considered the Jack of all trades. Their job is to understand and analyze the different functions of the business. They […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":603,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book","category-consulting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":585,"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582\/revisions\/585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jackofalltradesmasterofsome.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}