Is a Consultant something thought of as a temporary or permanent position?

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

Just wishing to gain other people's point of view to establish whether my automatic assumptions are off beam.

With my previous contacts with consultants they are hired on a temporary basis. They are very task specific. The period of a contract may range between a month or a couple of years. The consultant also has permission to interact with all levels of the organisation from the very top - down, including the organisation's clients. This is because the organisation wants to obtain information about a particular aspect of their own activities. Where improvements can be gained and where current strategies might need to be reviewed and suggested new approaches outlined. Something which the organisation can fully or partially accept or just table to their board and then promptly ignore. Either way the consultant is paid and they wave the company good bye. The consultant has fulfilled their role and whether their advice is accepted or ignored does not matter a single jot. They have been paid to give a professional overview.

A couple of months ago I saw a full-time permanent job with a state government department where the position title is Senior Consultant. Where the role is that of a full-time permanent employee of that department and have shared office space with all the other employees. Where you work set company hours. To me this full-time permanent roles does not ring true to my definition and experiences of what being a 'consultant' entails.

Which of the two description of being a consultant temporary - 'job done - get paid - I am out of here' or the full-time permanent captive employee ticks your definition of being a 'consultant'.

Kind regards
Lionel

[JDNSW]

Not necessarily. A consultant can be employed for a particular project, either as a one off, part time, casual, or full time for the life of the project.

But they could also be brought into an organisation on a permanent basis to provide expertise that the organisation does not have, but not as a direct part of the operations, and not part of the chain of command. Perhaps the important point here is that this position may be called a consultant, or could have some other title. At the end of the day, the title of the position is dictated by the organisation's structure, history, and culture. The term "consultant" could be used because there is no suitable title for the position in the existing hierarchy without treading on some toes, so they use this title so it does not look as if they are usurping someone else's role.

[Lionelgee]

Not necessarily. A consultant can be employed for a particular project, either as a one off, part time, casual, or full time for the life of the project.

But they could also be brought into an organisation on a permanent basis to provide expertise that the organisation does not have, but not as a direct part of the operations, and not part of the chain of command. Perhaps the important point here is that this position may be called a consultant, or could have some other title. At the end of the day, the title of the position is dictated by the organisation's structure, history, and culture. The term "consultant" could be used because there is no suitable title for the position in the existing hierarchy without treading on some toes, so they use this title so it does not look as if they are usurping someone else's role.

Hello John,

Thank you for bringing a different perspective on the term and role of a consultant. I have learnt something new today.

I suppose that is where the terms 'freelance' or 'independent' get added as a prefix to the term. I must be more in line with these two prefixes. I used to do project-specific consultancy. However, I previously did not manage to shorten the time and distance between two drinks or work-gigs. I hope to improve on this aspect and not bring the words 'extended thirst' or 'devastating drought' in between the two drinks into the conversation. I am aiming for something like a comfortably saturated - dare I say, 'refined' palate.

Kind regards
Lionel

[3toes]

Many years ago it was common for larger organizations to have an internal team who were called consultants. They would be brought in to assist a part of the business with a project as they would have specialist knowledge you would not expect to find in that part of the business. This might be IT, project management or purchasing for example. Using these specialist skills all the time they had sector knowledge and experience so could negotiate a deal and then manage the implementation and ongoing requirements. Somewhere along the line a decision was made to outsource these skills and buy them in relying on the impartiality of these organizations to obtain a good outcome for the organization. Unfortunately this has opened the door to the snake oil sales people with no actual experience and the user who does not have the knowledge to understand

[cjc_td5]

You are possibly confusing contractors vs consultants. A contractor works on a contract basis and has independence from the client organisation in terms of resources and time. Or you are an employee of the company.

The term consultant is usually inferred as a contractor role, but in some organisations they are employee roles, consulting to different divisions within the same company.

[prelude]

Indeed, when I was still an employee my title WAS consultant. So yes, you can be a consultant and still be in permanent employment. In my case I got hired out to other businesses to consult, just to keep things confusing :)

-P

[Tote]

In Canberra speak consultants are brought in to deliver an external opinion on a problem or project and to deliver a report that may either be adopted or ignored depending on which way the political breeze is blowing. It is bad form for a consultant to deliver a report that differs from the view that management may have already formed. The big four are presently persona non grata in Canberra though Consulting firm KPMG overcharged Defence while raking in billions of dollars, whistleblowers say - ABC News (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-07/kpmg-consultants-overcharging-defence-four-corners/102644518)
A contractor is brought in to supplement technical skills that may be lacking in an organisation for a short timeframe. This short timeframe may stretch to 20 years because the contractor becomes indispensable......

I have never encountered an instance in the public service where a consultant is a government employee.

Regards,
Tote

[Lionelgee]

I have never encountered an instance in the public service where a consultant is a government employee.

Regards,
Tote

Hello Tote,

Well there you go. Most of my exposure to consultants was while I was working for federal government, local governments and Queensland state government. So that was my main experience base. I do know however, that the Tasmanian government does employ full-time permanent consultants and fixed-term consultants.

Kind regards
Lionel