What Experience Do You Need To Be A Consultant?

How much experience you have really doesn't matter that much. What kind of experience you have is far more important.

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Many people decide to become a consultant after spending a decade or two working in-house for organisations.

Browsing a few consultant’s websites today, many proudly promote their ‘[xx] years of experience in [sector]’.

For some, it is the main selling point they promote. They position themselves as the ‘experienced’ option.

But your years of experience probably aren’t as powerful a selling point as you might think. Worse yet, the wrong kind of experience can do more harm than good.

Is Your Experience Working Against You?

I spent about a year working for the United Nations in Geneva.

It’s incredibly hard to be fired from working at the UN. This means it’s an organisation which tends to have a lot of people who have worked there for 20 to 30 years.

This gives them deep institutional knowledge, b…