Different Consulting Levels - Criteria

Hi.
I'm looking for observations and experience around the level of knowledge or experience required to reach different consulting levels: Consultant, Senior Consultant, Chief Consultant, etc.

Is the experience requirement taking into concern the experience in consulting roles or industry or knowledge specific roles?
For example, I have 8 years' working solely in InfoSec; multiple certs including CISSP, ISO standards, etc., with 3 year's as a consultant and am assigned and paid as a consultant.

We have three different levels:
0+ years - Consultant
4 - 7 years - Senior Consultant
8+ years - Chief Consultant

I know this will differ between different industries and countries, but just looking for an overall perspective so I can communicate my needs to my boss.

Hopefully some responses will be helpful for others.

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Comments

scasc

The biggest issue with consultancy is that they base you and fit you in based on the actual number of years' experience you have in a consultancy capacity. The usual mantra is that it is expected you will progress quicker with your experience. Growing and climbing up the ladder is dependent on performance, client feedback, relationships with the key people (probably most important). To be honest, I worked in 3 of the big 4 and hated every minute of it. Politics is what dictates this world.

DatabaseHead

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grade_(consulting)

The most commonly used system of grading consultants is the following:

Associate consultant: In some fields, an associate consultant is at the beginning of their consulting career and will typically do work to support the consultants and senior consultants - data collection and analysis, workshop support, etc. An associate consultant can also refer to a day rate contractor at any level, differentiating them from an employee of the firm (e.g. associate managing consultant). However, in engineering, urban planning and some environmental consulting fields the term Associate consultant is used differently and is typically a higher grade than Principal consultant.

Consultant: A consultant is ‘learning the trade' within a specific domain of expertise. A consultant is developing in most competency dimensions and work in different roles on different projects in a specific domain.

Senior consultant: A senior consultant has developed a specialisation within a specific domain of expertise. A senior consultant is capable of working independently as well as in teams. A senior consultant is often responsible for the completion of a part of a project or activities for which he/she leads a small team. A senior consultant is more client oriented and explores sales activities.

Managing consultant: A managing consultant has started to excel in some of the competency dimensions. A managing consultant is known for domain expertise and is capable of generating his or her own work and that of others. As such the managing consultant is often responsible for business volume, through (add-on) sales and delivering a project. A managing consultant can act as a team lead or counsellor for other team members.

Senior Managing consultant: A senior managing consultant has developed excellence within some of the competency dimensions. A senior managing consultant is known for domain expertise and is capable of generating his or her own work and that of others. As such the senior managing consultant is often responsible for business volume, through (add-on) sales and delivering a project. A senior managing consultant leads a team or counsellor for other teams.

Principal consultant: A principal consultant has a strong business impact and is often part of the company's leadership. A principal consultant is capable of shaping a piece of business being the leader in a specific domain and in any other domains. A principal consultant develops high-level business relations and high-impact projects. A principal is capable of leading large teams and also generates new business ideas.

This is how I have always looked at it. I lived as a managing consultant for several years before popping back into the FTE world......

beads

My organization breaks down like this:

Analyst
Engineer
Architect (Contractor)
Senior Architect (Contractor)
Lead Architect (Contractor) Published 3 or more peer reviewed papers (Me)
Principal (Consultant) Requires a software related patent or TED talk, etc. (My closest peer)
Manager (Consultant)

Huge difference. My manager has over 300 direct reports. Its a bit different than most consulting organizations but you get a different flavor.

- b/eads

UnixGuy

The levels at Big4 are:

- Consultant or Associate: Fresh out of uni

- Senior Consultant or Senior Associate: 2-3 yrs of experience

- Manager:

- Senior Manager or Associate Director:

- Director (or sometimes Principal in MBB).

Experience wise, it is what @scasc said unfortunately..based on perception, how long you've been in consulting and how loud of a mouth you are (good in brown nosing). They count industry(non-consulting) experience too, but it's a bit more arbitrary. I have more experience than most Directors there, yet I have follow their 'direction' and correction which I find annoying but to be honest, I find the environment a lot more enjoyable than the banks and telcos I worked at before - for now.

DatabaseHead

beads said:

My organization breaks down like this:

Analyst
Engineer
Architect (Contractor)
Senior Architect (Contractor)
Lead Architect (Contractor) Published 3 or more peer reviewed papers (Me)
Principal (Consultant) Requires a software related patent or TED talk, etc. (My closest peer)
Manager (Consultant)
Huge difference. My manager has over 300 direct reports. Its a bit different than most consulting organizations but you get a different flavor.

- b/eads

300 Direct Reports.