Project consulting is rapidly increasing in popularity. Many top professionals have been the victims of layoffs and many companies are hesitant to add staff in this uncertain economy. Also, many successful professionals are choosing project consulting as a career to give them a more manageable work life balance. With top talent available in the marketplace and companies hesitant to hire but desperate to get critical projects complete, project consulting may be the ideal solution for both parties.

Most project consultants are either full time consultants who have chosen consulting as a career, or highly skilled individuals who want to consult on a project basis until the ideal permanent position becomes available. Demand is high for both of these professionals. However, before deciding consulting is for you, review a few of points below to see if project work will fulfill your career objectives.

Business today happens at warp speed, and in most cases clients give very little notice when they call for help on a project. As a consultant, you need to be ready to go within 48 hours and be able to commit to the success of the project. In a short project (3-6 weeks), this commitment may be to finish the project before taking another position. On a longer project (12 weeks plus), a three week notice should be sufficient to minimize project disruption and transition another consultant onto the project. Honest communication between you and your client regarding your consulting status and changes in your permanent job search are critical to the engagement success and exceeding client expectations.

Clients are increasingly using consultants on a tactical basis with a defined ROI. Instead of coming in and evaluating general business operations, clients want professionals with specific experience who can hit the ground running with minimal client involvement. Hot skills include SEC reporting, Balance sheet review and clean-up, Cost analysis, business office troubleshooting, internal audit, corporate governance, systems implementation specialists and corporate consolidations. When evaluating your personal skill set, ask yourself if there are at least three to five areas in which you are an expert and do you foresee clients needing project help in those areas.

Did you just lead a systems conversion or build a shared services center for your company? Can you do it again for another company? Professionals with a proven track record of saving companies time or money are always in high demand. Quantify your accomplishments and ask an expert in the consulting field which clients are contemplating similar initiatives.

How strong are my PC and system skills? In today's automated environment, the ability to navigate multiple financial packages can be critical to the success of the project. On most consulting engagements, consultants should be extremely comfortable with spreadsheet and database products and able to adapt to various financial systems.

Almost all project work is challenging because consultants are tasked with entering a new work environment in a leadership role and completing engagements within defined deadlines. Furthermore, companies that utilize consultants are usually going through extreme change. Companies may be experiencing rapid growth and don't have much time to spend with consultants, or companies may be downsizing or shutting down operations and the teams are either too unmotivated to do the work themselves or critical positions have turned over and clients need a fresh set of legs to finish the job. The best consultants recognize they must be ready to step into either scenario with motivation and be committed to helping clients solve their problems.

It has been this author's experience that the average senior level financial project lasts approximately 13 weeks. That means a consultant that is 100% billable over the course of a year will work with four different companies and several different personality styles. Consultants have to be adaptable in each environment and find a way to accomplish project objectives with the friendliest professionals and the toughest tyrants.

Consultant income can vary greatly depending on marketable skill sets and productivity. While in this economy there are really no guarantees or permanent positions, consulting compensation fluctuates greater from project to project than permanent positions because not all engagements require all of a consultant skills.

If you feel like project consulting is something you are interested, please call the professionals at Vaco Resources to discuss market opportunities.