Consultant…. is it a bad word?
On LinkedIn Answers there was a question looking for an alternative word to use for Consultant. I too have wondered this, because I can see how the word “Consultant” can spell out Unemployed and it is just an easy way out of the conversation. When I was working in the mortgage industry I was a loan officer, loan consultant, senior loan officer, etc, but never just a consultant. I am now, by the nature of my work, a consultant even though in a lot of ways I do the same as in California, just a different industry.
When I saw the question I thought back to this weekend, someone asked me what I was doing now and I said I was working as a consultant after I moved back from California. People asked where in California, but not what I was consulting on. I think I might go with “Technology Consultant” as my title, it brings a little more shape to the word consultant and then they are more likely to ask what type of technology. Here is a good quote from LinkedIn.
I understand exactly what you’re saying. People in the technical and production domains seem to be the most likely to have the negative connotations of the word ‘consultant’ jump into their mind whenever they hear the word. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any other word that could replace this term, though there is a crying need for terminology that could differentiate between the different types of consultants.
Consultants do perform a very essential function. I’ll try to explain this through an example: To learn a form of exercise - in ascending order of how much money you would spend - we could read a book, watch a video, go to the neighborhood gym, or hire a personal trainer. The personal trainer, being the most expensive, would also be the most effective.
In my opinion, hiring a consultant is the equivalent of hiring a personal trainer, as only this option - provided you’ve selected the right consultant - can provide a solution perfectly tailored to your needs!
I agree with that. When I was in the gym everyday I did a lot of research to get a good program for myself, but with all the information out there it can be difficult. I did a decent job and there was benefit in what I learned for the future, but my most effective choice would have been to hire someone that has spent years studying and following what is going on in their field.
The same applies for what I do, sure you can learn how to do everything I know how to do, but I have spent years working with various operating systems, thousands of software applications, a dozen or so programming languages, and just the general expertise you pick up through time. You could also hire at company @ $80/hr, but you can hire me to do the same job for $50/hr.
The word freelancer was also brought up, but the definitions linked it to someone trying to fill gaps, not someone who specializes in working on projects under contract.
What do you call yourself? How do you react when someone says they are a consultant? What would you rather hear come out of their mouth as a job title for consulting? Just a few questions I have.
