Introduction to Consulting

This course is based on Dr. Firth's personal experience teaching new consultants for KPMG's national consulting practice for over six years, in addition to over ten years teaching the University of Montana's College of Business undergraduates and graduate students all about consulting. Hundreds of Dr Firth's consulting class students have found very well paid positions with consulting firms locally and nationally. Dr. Firth is recognized nationally by several very well known consulting firms for his role in preparing students for great careers in consulting.

The course is primarily aimed at those wanting to join a consulting firm, rather than start their own consulting firm. This can be college undergraduates, college graduates, or experienced practitioners out in the workforce. That said, all the topics are 100% practically applicable and would help tremendously those starting their own firms.

The course covers critical, practical issues including:

• First impressions, and how to make them better both during the hiring process, and as a consultant

• How a consulting firm makes money. Knowing this helps you play your role and be more valued as a result if you work for a firm, or are wanting to work for a consulting firm

• Why chargeability is the #1 metric for a consultant, how it gets calculated, and how you can change it

• Why realization is the #1 metric for a consulting firm, how it gets calculated, and your role in it

• The immutable consulting triangle of scope-cost-schedule

• All aspects of a real consulting proposal. We work through a detailed example and explain all the parts

• A real budget for a consulting project. We work through every piece of a real budget for a consulting project, explaining why each part is there and how the parts interact

• All aspects of a consulting meeting from planning, to where to sit in the meeting room, to how to take notes and ask great questions

• What to avoid when running a consulting meeting, including poor types of questions and issues such as avoiding social desirability