CV for Consulting

As a consultant applying for a new role, your CV needs to communicate how your skill set and knowledge can help clients. And unlike a scheduled consultation, your CV has only seconds to persuade employers to keep reading.

Here are three tips to refine your consulting CV and win a job interview.

1. Create a persuasive consultant CV personal statement

A personal statement at the top of your CV is a great way to showcase the key information you want your future employer to know about you — particularly what distinguishes you from the other consultants who’ve applied for the role.

Using three or four sentences to write your CV personal statement makes it easy for the employer to read.

You can break the personal statement down into three core components:

• a statement about who you are
• the highlights of your skills and experience
• your goals for your future role in the company

Here’s an example of a consulting CV personal statement that successfully describes what the applicant can do for a company:

Innovative and highly organised professional with 5+ years of experience delivering consulting and strategic services to SMEs and FTSE 100 companies. Proven track record of identifying changes that improve efficiency and increase revenue. Seeking a Senior Consultant role in Genesis Consulting to deliver positive results for corporate clients.

2. Showcase your consulting CV skills

Being a consultant is a complex job. Your clients come to you with a range of questions and problems, all of which take a unique set of skills to solve. So show employers what you’ve got to offer by demonstrating the key skills on your CV for a consultant role.

Your technical skills, also called hard skills, are the specific skills you use when solving problems for your clients. You’ll have developed your hard skills through training, previous experience, and continuous professional development.

Here are some examples of hard skills employers are looking for in their consulting applicants:

• Analysis of business frameworks, strategies, or finances
• Qualitative data handling, including observations, surveys, and interviews
• Development of business plans, information systems, policies, and operational procedures
• Preparation of research and management reports

By contrast, soft skills show how you relate to your clients, colleagues, or team members. As a consultant, you need exceptional soft skills so people can feel comfortable talking to you about any issues they’re facing, and to be able to process and understand the advice you offer.

Here are examples of soft skills you can add to your consulting CV:

• Problem-solving
• Active listening
• Communication skills
• Conflict management
• Critical thinking skills
• Public speaking
• Leadership skills

Also, back up your soft skills in your work experience section so your target employer can see how these skills helped you achieve results in your previous roles.

Here are some examples of consulting CV work experience bullet points emphasising the candidate’s communication skills:

Example of CV bullet points highlighting a consultant's communication skills

• Introduced quarterly strategy check-ins with clients and senior stakeholders, improving client satisfaction by 8%
• Conducted interviews, surveys, and research within client businesses to understand the company’s needs and gain insights to inform recommendations

3. Leverage your consulting work experience

‘Consultant’ is a broad term. You may have worked as a mentor, a coach, or a facilitator for people and businesses in different niches.

So when you’re developing your work experience on your CV, leverage your most relevant work history to show why you’d be a great candidate for your next employer. And if you’re making a career change to the consultancy sector, use your work experience from other fields to demonstrate the skills you’d apply to your new consultancy role.

Most HR managers expect your CV to be laid out in chronological order, with your current or most recent position first. To meet HR standards, clearly lay out your job titles, company names, and start and finish dates so employers can skim through to sections that catch their interest.

For each of the positions you list on your CV, list 4–6 bullet points that show skills or achievements that would be an asset in your new role. Start your bullet points with powerful action verbs, and quantify your impact with hard numbers wherever possible.

Here are some examples of how an experienced consultant conveys their work experience on their CV: