Finding the Right Consultant Doesn’t Need to Distract You From Your Business: Why You Need the 80-Hour Interview

Finding the right consultant is a difficult task.

Not only do you need to find someone with the right skills and experience, you also need an individual who has great soft skills and can fit into your existing company culture. That’s a lot to consider, and there are a lot of unknowns associated with any consultant.

Even before a consultant walks through the front door of your company, he or she should be thoroughly vetted.

Here are a few of the things to look for in the ideal consultant.

Essential skills and experience

A consultant should start out with knowledge of the particular difficulties or opportunities your company is currently dealing with. She or he might not know your particular business or industry, but that knowledge is already held by you and your people. The consultant, on the other hand, brings specific expertise and experience with kinds of issues you are looking to tackle.

Professional demeanor and attitude

An efficient consultant needs to be a consummate professional. She or he must be prepared to put the best interest of the client before their own interests. For instance, the consultant must be ready to tell clients issues that may not want to hear, but have to – even if doing so means the consultant loses favor. The consultant should care deeply about her or his clients, knowing a high level of concern also benefits themselves as a professional.

Soft skills

Ultimately, you want someone who will help you solve issues or take advantage of opportunities. A successful consultant has outstanding analytical skills and the capacity readily synthesize solutions to achieve results. She or he is a quick and effective learner, both imaginative and creative.

A solid consultant should also be articulate. She or he should possess unusually strong communication skills, both in conversation and in writing. Perhaps even more important is a consultant’s ability to listen and pay attention. Regardless of how smart a consultant is, they won’t be capable of helping you until they fully understand the challenges you face by paying attention to what you are saying.

Finally, you want someone who will lead or follow, depending on what the situation calls for. You want a consultant who can rally others to enact a solution or put their head done and get work done efficiently. Both roles require considerable tact and interpersonal skills.

How much time do you spend hiring consultants?

A hiring process needs to be fast and efficient. Companies should not be wasting time talking to the wrong candidates or losing candidates to a competitor due to an interview process that is too long. Often, hiring managers fail to understand the time spent on this process and how it can be improved. At SMCI we often find that our clients are wasting a lot of time that can be eliminated in the hiring process.

At SMCI, we can take a lot of the heavy lifting of hiring out of your hands, allowing you to focus on your core business activities. Our recruitment, screening, and interviewing procedures are designed to ensure that every consultant placed with a client is appropriate to the needs of the client. More importantly, we are interested in saving you time in this process so you can focus on completing your project objectives.

We also offer The 80-Hour Interview®: Our unconditional guarantee that if a consultant is determined to be the wrong fit in the first two weeks, SMCI will not charge for the consultant’s services for this period.

If your business is currently in need of a consultant, please contact us today.