For those of you who have recently left the army and are not sure what your next career path should look like, we can help. Military leaders make great consultants and this is a viable path to take. So if you are considering a career in consulting roles, or are looking at setting up your own business as a consultant and want some advice about doing that, then read this article.
In it we will cover a few issues that cropped up repeatedly in interviews with veterans in consulting roles. This will cover, knowing your skills, knowing where your weaknesses are, addressing these and how to get work. We will summarise at the end that military veterans with a particular approach do well in consulting, and how Goughs can assist you.
Topics to be answered in this article
What is consulting?
Companies and businesses have complex problems and challenges, sometimes these need external input to solve. Consulting is about helping to solve these problems, in exchange for a fee. It is not about having a ready made solution. Consulting is about having a clear objective and understanding of what you are trying to achieve, analysing the resources available, understanding the competition and environment and given this, coming up with a plan to achieve the objectives. Sound familiar?!
Getting started
If you are wondering how to get started, revert to your military ways; do your estimate, listen to the experts, and evaluate.
In more descriptive terms, listen intently to those delivering the module on working in civilian roles and try and work out what the gaps are in your knowledge and understanding. This will fall into several areas, some of which are easily remedied, and some areas will need dedication and hardwork to fill the gaps. The following issues arose constantly in discussions with veterans who managed to overcome them in being refined consultants;
HR knowhow – Especially important if you want to start your own business and grow it from it being just you, into a bigger business. HR elements can easily be outsourced, but at Goughs we offer webinars on a series of HR and employment law topics. This would be a great place to start.
Tax knowledge – Business taxation, personal taxation. As a complex, and quite daunting, area this could again be outsourced. But you are likely to want to understand at least the basics of how it all works for your own peace of mind.
Pricing and Market Analysis – What is your day rate going to be? Who, or in what sector is your market? How do you get clients? There is no easy fix here and you will need to put the leg work in to really understand your competition, market your expertise and get yourself out there.
A great step in the right direction here, and one which was endorsed by every one of my contacts, is to start by working in-house, with a firm, in a client facing consulting role so that you have the opportunity to learn the ropes, and the language. It will vary from person to person, but ensure you have a good grounding in the basics before pushing out on your own. This way, you know what your pricing is, you know your sector, and you know where clients will come from.
By way of examples, all of them started in a consulting firm. All left after a few years and struck out on their own. All have been hugely successful; one built a company that went up for sale at £2m; another is a sole trader, and the third is heavily brand building and growing his own firm.
The consulting skills you definitely already have!
A veteran’s soft skills are your biggest asset. An ability to manage people relationships, to build and develop trust, and to communicate. The word humility comes to mind, and digging more deeply into this, it is about having the humility to learn, to leave your past at the door (no-one minds you were ex-Military) and to deliver on the promise that you said you would deliver on. Consulting requires an attitudinal change and means more about building a client facing relationship on trust than on anything else.
But that said, what we sometimes don’t recognise is that leadership, teamwork, focussing on the mission at hand, and doing all of this under pressure whilst dealing with an incomplete picture are second nature to us. As they are all part of the culture ingrained in us, we often underestimate their value!
The skills you may need to improve?
Surely we know everything and need to improve on nothing having had distinguished careers behind us.
1. Communication
Communicating in the military and in the business world is completely different. You may be good at communicating in a military style for a military audience. Succinct communication is a gift. There was once a military leader who won a very large, high value project by reducing it to 5 powerpoint slides and presenting it to the client. So your skills gap must include developing “pitching” skills which are used to get a client on-board.
It is likely that military problem solving techniques, and a culture of getting to the point will assist a budding consultant to reach the nub of the issue quickly. Sometimes the client will bring a description of a problem to the consultant, but it isn’t the real problem the client needs fixing. “Help us build a business continuity plan” initially briefed, was in fact “protect the brand integrity” when properly investigated and analysed.
2. Networking
Contrary to popular belief, networking is not about getting 500 connections on LinkedIn, sitting back and waiting for work. You will need to work hard to bring that work to you. On LinkedIn you will need to proactively use the platform and not just rely on people blindly accepting your connection requests. Ensure your profile is up to date and really shouts about your experience and how you can help other businesses. Take the opportunity to create conversations with people by commenting on posts, sharing articles and building your brand.
3. Updating your CV
Contrary to popular belief, networking is not about getting 500 connections on LinkedIn, sitting back and waiting for work. You will need to work hard to bring that work to you. On LinkedIn you will need to proactively use the platform and not just rely on people blindly accepting your connection requests. Ensure your profile is up to date and really shouts about your experience and how you can help other businesses. Take the opportunity to create conversations with people by commenting on posts, sharing articles and building your brand.
4. Training and Qualifications
Whilst you are starting out you should have more spare time then you will have when the work starts flooding in (and it will, it will just take time!). Use this time wisely to really hone your craft and learn your subject area. Online courses are great as you can fit them in around your life. These then give you excellent content for your LinkedIn profile and you CV.
How Goughs can help
The key takeaways are that humility and soft skills are key, topped off with relationship management skills and an accurate estimate of where your weaknesses are.
Deciding to take the jump into consultancy and build a business is no easy task. We can assist you with advice and leverage our own networks to find you the assistance that you need, whether that be HR, Tax, general business information (structures etc), and accountancy knowledge to assist you when you take the plunge.
Bear in mind that we are here to assist you in all walks of life, with those sad family situations, buying and selling property and planning for your future.
