Consultants and Consulting…What is a Consultant Really?

In a recent conversation with my wife, we discussed a young woman acquaintance of hers who at 21 years old has post bachelor’s degree aspirations of becoming a consultant. My wife, who is at the very pinnacle of her profession and highly sought after, knew this young girl as a teenager in a church small group before the girl went to college.

Our conversation turned quickly to consultancy. I have worked on and off as a consultant in my industry, either for myself or for larger companies, and was surprised to hear that at 22 years of age, this young girl could be so accomplished in her degree area that others would engage her as a consultant.

This begs the question of what a Consultant really is and what value that position represents. Let’s start with basics. A Consultant to most is someone, or some firm of people, who bring an expert opinion to someone , or some other firm, on matters for which the searching firm does not have an expertise, and the consultant does possess expertise. We have established that there is a product, expertise, and a business relationship between two parties for the demand and subsequent supply of that product.

Sounds fairly simple, doesn’t it? Not in the case of the young girl described above…or perhaps it is that simple. She will be graduating from an ivy league school. She will have a wonderful GPA. She will have absolutely no real-world experience save any that she gained in an internship. Someone will most certainly hire her straight out of college as a consultant in her field.

Huh? Wait a minute… This is what all of you like me, who spent twenty, thirty, or more years in your field are saying right now. To us a consultant is an expert. Possessing a bachelor’s degree does not make you an expert, it makes you a rookie to the experienced folks who wrote the textbooks that this 22-year-old consultant likely did not read.

If you are reading this article, would you hire a twenty-two-year-old “consultant” for something you don’t have expertise in? If you would, I would tell you that there is a myriad of social networking platforms out there filled with these folks looking for your business. I am constantly bombarded with requests to connect from people who look like they work in my industry…followed by the pitch. These folks are who this article is about. Look at the profiles. My children are older than these folks, and I’m still working at the height of my professional effectiveness (or as close as I can at present).

Consulting always sounded to me like the end game…after the blood, sweat, and tears that we left on the commerce field. A considered opinion in business holds value only from someone, or a group of someone’s, who have proven their value in the arena of that opinion. At twenty-two I was not anywhere close to having that type of professional value, and I certainly cannot think of many folks (none actually) whose “considered opinion” I would value who are in their twenties. This is not an unkind thing to say, but merely a statement of truth.

Try looking at your connections in relation to the value they bring to your business. I’ll wager that a good many connections we all have made could be disconnected without any harm to our business at all. Don’t misunderstand, if I hear something of value, I would be the last person to discount it simply because it comes from someone in their twenties. I simply believe the folks with expertise are endlessly being pitched by those who have yet to earn their stripes. Either that or stripes are being given out far more freely nowadays!