How to Build a Consultant Career Plan! Examples of Career Transition Destinations

“What kind of career plans are available for consultants?” “I’d like to know specific examples for reference.”

Do you have these concerns?

To get straight to the point, options include transitioning as a professional, moving to a business company, starting your own business, and becoming a freelance consultant.

Regardless of which career plan you choose, the required skills and approaches to building a career plan are the same. Understanding these in advance increases the likelihood of realizing the career plan you envision.

In this article, we will explain in detail specific examples of consultant career plans. We will also introduce skills required in the next career for consultants and a roadmap for building a career plan, so please use this as a reference.

Specific Examples of Consultant Career Plans

The following are examples of consultant career plans:

Let’s explore the characteristics of each in detail.

Transitioning as a Professional

For example, leveraging the knowledge and skills cultivated as a consultant, there is the option of pursuing investment through PE funds or VC (Venture Capital). In this case, you participate in management as a shareholder, allowing you to be involved in the business until operations are on track.

Another appeal is earning a stable income as a fund member while receiving high incentive bonuses when the companies you oversee succeed. In any case, when transitioning as a professional, it is necessary to continue studying in order to deepen your expertise.

Furthermore, there are also cases of joining major consulting firms in order to advance as a consultant.

Recommended Consulting Firms for Professionals

The following are recommended consulting firms for professionals:

There are various types of consulting firms, including general, strategy, and IT-focused. They may also be categorized as Japanese or foreign-owned, and differ in salary and corporate culture, so if you’re interested, it’s worth researching each company.

Active consultants aiming for further professional growth should consider transitioning to the consulting firms listed above.

Transitioning to a Business Company

Transitioning to a business company is another career option for consultants.

A business company is a company that generates profit through some kind of business activity, and from a consultant’s perspective, it corresponds to the client side. By joining a business company, rather than supporting from a consulting standpoint, you can directly enter the business company and drive projects forward.

Examples of business companies to transition to include the following:

Let’s look at each in detail.

Venture Companies

As venture companies expand their scale, they must put their management structure in order. As a result, consultants with strong general management skills are in high demand.

In recent years, the environment for venture companies to raise funds has improved. As a result, there are many cases of hiring consultants for executive positions targeting high compensation.

Additionally, venture companies tend to pursue various businesses in succession in order to achieve corporate growth. Since many of the people working there have a spirit of challenge and strong ambition, it can be said that consultants with high aspirations can easily fit in.

Against this backdrop, transitioning to an executive position at a venture company is a very popular destination for post-consultant careers.

For those considering starting a business in the future, it is also an excellent opportunity to learn from talented entrepreneurs who are actually running venture companies.

Foreign-Owned Companies

Many foreign-owned companies outsource projects to consulting firms. Therefore, a system is in place to readily accept post-consultants.

Transitioning to a foreign-owned company offers the advantages of high income and maintaining a reasonable work-life balance.

The reason for the high income is that foreign-owned companies are performance-based, and if you produce results, you will receive high incentive bonuses. The fact that incentive bonuses are paid is a common point with consulting firms, so even when transitioning from a consultant role, you can work without feeling too much of a gap.

Also, you are less likely to work extremely long hours compared to a consulting firm, and you will be able to work with more of a work-life balance than as a consultant.

Major Japanese Companies

In recent years, major Japanese companies are required to break away from a structure heavily focused on domestic markets and existing businesses, and push forward the following reforms in order to grow further:

• Global expansion
• New business creation
• DX (Digital Transformation)
• M&A

For this reason, many companies are hiring post-consultants for high-level positions. Major Japanese companies allow young professionals to participate in projects early and directly discuss and debate with the client’s management team, making it an ideal environment for those aiming for further growth.

Also, many people who work as consultants want to directly drive reform from within, and transitioning to a major Japanese company makes this possible. Since you can participate in large-scale projects, there is the appeal of being involved in work with significant social impact.

Starting Your Own Business

Starting a business may seem like a high hurdle, but it is a fully viable option as a post-consultant career destination.

There are many examples of successful businesses launched by former consultants. This is because consultants have strong problem-solving skills and management knowledge, allowing them to leverage their expertise in entrepreneurship.

On the other hand, you must be aware that business knowledge, expertise, and connections are necessary. Since starting a business is not an easy path to succeed with consultant skills alone, it is recommended to thoroughly study entrepreneurship and what is needed to run a company before doing so.

For those who want to start a business but lack confidence, in addition to their consulting experience, it would be good to gain work experience in a specialized field or join a venture company to learn the know-how of entrepreneurship.

The merit of starting a business is that, since the success or failure of the business depends on your own abilities, it is challenging while also offering a great sense of fulfillment. Another attraction is that if the business you conceived and executed gets on track, large rewards can be obtained.

Freelance Consultant

Freelance consultants take on projects outsourced on an external contract basis for issues companies face where requirements have been defined to some degree. Many freelance consultants have gained experience at major companies or consulting firms before going independent.

When affiliated with a company or consulting firm, there is a high likelihood of handling similar projects. On the other hand, freelance consultants attract niche projects and high-difficulty projects that are short on manpower. Therefore, there is a possibility that projects will enhance your capabilities and lead to opportunities that increase your market value.

Additionally, as a freelance consultant, you can work in a way that better reflects your own ideas, unconstrained by the concept of belonging to a company — which is also an attractive aspect.

For Freelance Consultant Project Acquisition, “FreeCOnsultant.jp” is Recommended

For freelance consultant project acquisition, “FreeCOnsultant.jp,” operated by Mirai Works Co., Ltd., is recommended. Since it is operated by a listed company, it has high credibility and is suitable for those who want to participate in projects with peace of mind.

A key feature is that dedicated coordinators with extensive knowledge of freelance, IT, and consulting industries provide careful support. In addition to proposing optimal projects for registrants, they thoroughly provide detailed support by obtaining feedback from completed client engagements so you can deliver maximum performance on the next project.

Another feature is that high-value projects are handled, with approximately 60% or more of projects worth 1 million yen or more. Since the unit price per project is very high, it is also recommended for those aiming for high income.

This is a freelance agency that those considering becoming a freelance consultant, as well as those looking to take on high-value projects, should register with.

Next Career by Age and Level for Post-Consultants

The career path trends by age and level for post-consultants are as follows:

Age	Role	Career Path Trends
20s (Junior Consultant)	Analyst ~ Consultant	Other consulting firms PE funds Venture company executive candidate
30s (Mid-Level Consultant)	Senior Consultant ~ Manager level	Other consulting firms Venture company executive Management positions at foreign or Japanese companies Starting a business
40s–50s (Executive)	Director ~ Partner level	President or executive of a business company Executive positions at other firms Supporting startups while remaining in current role Educational activities at universities, etc.

For those in their 20s, there is a strong tendency to choose transitioning to other consulting firms, PE funds, or executive candidate positions at venture companies as their next career. However, note that when transitioning to a major Japanese company, there are fewer opportunities to be entrusted with work from a management perspective at a young age. There may also be less appeal in terms of compensation.

In their 30s, the range of career options expands compared to the 20s, and some take management positions at foreign or Japanese companies, or start their own businesses.

For those in their 40s and 50s and above, many transition to positions at the executive level of companies.

However, taking into account the scale of impact on society and freedom in working style, there are not a few cases where the value of an executive position at a consulting firm is newly appreciated. Therefore, many tend to settle into executive positions at other consulting firms.

Skills Required for Consultants in Their Next Career

The skills required for consultants in their next career are as follows:

Each of these is explained in detail below.

Core Business Skills Such as Business Improvement and Management Improvement

As consultants advance in their next career, they are required to have core business skills such as operational improvement and management improvement.

Since consultants need to propose appropriate business processes, they must grasp the overall picture of operations. Therefore, they must have sufficient knowledge of areas such as accounting, HR, sales, and inventory management to be able to propose improvement measures.

Furthermore, in recent years more and more companies are working on operational improvement using IT technology, so IT knowledge sufficient to lead operational improvement to success is also necessary.

Communication Skills to Facilitate Smooth Interpersonal Relationships

The second required skill is communication skills to facilitate smooth interpersonal relationships.

As a consultant, you work with other talented consultants and corporate management. However, when joining a business company, frontline staff are added to the mix, and you will work with a wide range of people, which can lead to the following issues:

• Unable to work with the same coordination and pace as when you were a consultant
• Difficulty communicating effectively

Also, unlike the format for consultants where a team is assembled only for the duration of a project, in a business company you work with the same members in the same department for many years, so communication will need to be much more frequent.

While bonds can deepen, if you cannot build good relationships, you may end up working in an awkward situation for years. Therefore, it is important to be more careful than during your consulting days and to be mindful of appropriate communication.

Leadership to Lead a Team

Leadership to lead a team is another skill required for consultants in their next career.

By developing leadership to lead a team, you can involve those around you and smoothly advance operations. Personnel with strong leadership will be valued as manager-level figures who drive the organization in various companies.

Being a former consultant alone can sometimes lead to being perceived as a capable and leadership-oriented individual, so it is recommended to study guidance and coordination skills for project advancement in advance.

A Roadmap for Consultants to Build Their Future Career Plan

The roadmap for consultants to build their future career plan is as follows:

Each is explained in detail below.

1. Clarify Your Career Vision (Ultimate Goal)

A career vision is the ultimate goal — the ideal image of “who you want to become in the future” in life. Since it is purely an ideal about the future, you do not need to worry about the feasibility.

By clarifying your career vision, you can identify the actions and skills needed to reach your ultimate goal. As a result, you can expect benefits such as making it easier to enhance your own growth and motivation and maintaining high motivation.

The methods for clarifying your career vision are as follows:

Understanding your current self makes it easier to clearly envision your future. Specifically, it is recommended not only to list your current skills and career history, but also to ask colleagues and supervisors about your strengths and weaknesses.

It is also important to identify the elements you prioritize when choosing your career and understand your values. For example, maintaining a balance between private life and work, or having comprehensive employee benefits.

By identifying the elements you cannot compromise on and the ones you prioritize, you can understand your own values. Since it is difficult to suddenly envision yourself decades into the future, try to gradually picture the near future first, such as 1 or 5 years from now.

In addition, learning tips for establishing a career vision through training is also recommended. If there are no internally-trained personnel specialized in career vision formation, it is a good idea to request a professional instructor.

2. Clarify Your Career Design (Life Plan)

Career design is a life plan for realizing what you want to do in the future. In corporate hiring interviews, you are asked about your reasons for applying, reasons for changing jobs, and goals after joining, and by clarifying your skills, abilities, and ideal image, it also helps in job transitions.

As concepts of working such as seniority-based pay and lifetime employment are beginning to collapse, it is important for each working individual to design a career that suits them.

The methods for clarifying your career design are as follows:

Since it is important to first know “what you can do now,” reflect on the types of work you have experienced, what results you have achieved, and what skills you have developed. By writing out your personality, behavioral standards, successes, and setbacks, you can organize your strengths and weaknesses.

Next, think about your ideals regarding working style, positions, and job content. By simultaneously thinking about why you want to achieve those things, you can check whether there is a gap between the career you desire and the goal you envisioned.

To realize the future image you want to become, you must acquire skills and experience that you currently lack. Working backward from the goal, think about what to do by what age and set targets for each age.

3. Clarify Your Career Plan (Action Plan)

A career plan is an action plan built to clarify your ideal future image and work toward realizing it. By setting your own goals, you can identify the skills you need and gain opportunities for self-initiated skill development.

Furthermore, it becomes easier to judge whether the environment suits your needs, which also leads to the prevention of mismatches between companies and employees.

The methods for clarifying your career plan are as follows:

First, it is important to understand your current work environment. Taking into account your job duties, relationship with your supervisor, and corporate culture, list up experiences, specialized knowledge, and communication skills gained through work, and identify skills that should be further improved. By analyzing your work environment and skills, you can understand what kind of career you should aim for and which companies and job types suit you.

Next, compare the ideal image you have in mind with your current work environment and skills to clarify the gap. If there is a gap, consider specific actions and environmental improvements to close it.

Finally, define the career goals you want to achieve, and identify concrete actions needed to achieve them. Create short-term, medium-term, and long-term action plans and make associated decisions toward achieving your goals.

Key Points Consultants Should Check When Changing Jobs

The key points consultants should check when changing jobs are as follows:

Each will be explained in detail below, so make sure to fully understand these points in order not to regret your consultant job change.

Salary

This is not limited to consultant job changes, but many people are focused on increasing their salary when choosing a new employer. However, since consultants generally have high salaries, there is a possibility that salary may decrease with a job change.

A generally acceptable range of salary reduction is within 10%, but consider how much you personally can accept.

Also, note that the salary structures of consulting firms and business companies differ. Specifically, there are differences in the following items:

Each company has a salary scale, and additionally the salary is determined based on your previous salary and taking skills and experience into consideration. Also, allowances, incentives, and employee benefits vary by company.

That said, many companies state in their job postings: “We will offer preferential treatment based on previous salary and our company’s regulations.” Therefore, you need to confirm the actual amount you will receive, have a specific figure presented to you, and communicate whether you can agree to it.

It is also important to confirm conditions such as holidays, various allowances, bonuses, and retirement allowance systems, as these are points to check in order to understand your working style after joining. In particular, if a fixed overtime allowance or discretionary labor system applies, overtime worked beyond the fixed amount may not be compensated accordingly, potentially resulting in an effective salary reduction.

Many people may find salary negotiation difficult, but it is not considered a breach of etiquette. Working in an environment that doesn’t meet your expectations can lead to strain, so it is recommended to negotiate when necessary.

However, since it may affect the hiring decision, be careful about the timing and manner of negotiation. The best time to negotiate salary is between receiving the job offer and accepting it. If you are asked about your desired salary during an interview, it is recommended to clearly state your desired amount.

Conversely, stating a desired salary that is too low or saying “any amount is fine” will lower your perceived value, so be careful. When stating your desired amount, it is good to clearly show the basis for your desired figure based on your previous salary, skills, and experience.

Business Content / Job Duties

Regarding the business content and job duties after joining, you need to confirm not only what kind of work it is, but also what kind of position you will be working in. Job duties are related to many things, including your sense of fulfillment and personal growth. In order to avoid situations where “after joining, you were assigned work different from what you imagined,” it is recommended to research the job duties as thoroughly as possible before making a transition.

Of course, it is difficult to know everything about the business content and job duties in the short time available during the job search. Therefore, rather than inferring from just the position name and overview in the job posting, it is better to dig deeper into the job duties through the interview process.

If there is a discrepancy between the job duties you have accumulated experience in and the job duties after joining, you may not be able to demonstrate your abilities and may receive low evaluations. If there are duties you want to challenge based on your experience so far, confirm whether that is possible.

Also, if you decided to change jobs because you feel your experience and skills are not being fully utilized in your current role, confirm whether the prospective company is one where your abilities can be maximized. It is recommended to explore whether you can thrive there based on the profiles of current employees on the company’s website and review sites.

To avoid working under excessive expectations or pressure, it is also important to confirm in advance the required role and skill level. In order not to waste your career, also consider whether your experience working as a consultant can be put to use.

Work-Life Balance

When transitioning from a consultant to a business company, there may be more leeway in business company duties, and you may even feel stress from the opposite direction. Therefore, it is important to think about what you want to prioritize within yourself.

For example, if you want to value time with your private life or family, a job with a more relaxed working style is suitable. Also, if you don’t want the intense workload of a consultant but still want work stimulation, a company with a strong sense of speed and challenge spirit is recommended.

As described above, it is important to think about what kind of work-life balance you want to achieve.

Once you have a picture in mind, compare it with overtime hours and the richness of available systems. After checking the job requirements, you can verify the presence and extent of overtime hours by asking acquaintances who work at that company about the actual situation, or by using review site information as a reference.

Companies that actively work on work-life balance may have unique systems in place. Types of systems include leave programs, short-hour work systems, and remote work systems, and the types of systems vary by company. It is also a good approach to check the job requirements and company website of companies you are interested in and choose your next employer based on whether they have systems that suit you.

Corporate Culture and Values

When transitioning from a consulting firm to a business company, some people strongly feel the difference in corporate culture. For example, you may be confused by the value that ethical correctness is not always the top priority, and that getting along with those around you is more important than producing results.

Also, not everyone in a business company has a strong drive for advancement and growth, so you may also feel discomfort with differences in attitudes toward work.

The pace of work also differs, and former consultants who want to work quickly may find it stressful. Corporate culture and values differ even among business companies, so it is important to identify a company that suits you.

Note that companies where former consultants are already working are more likely to have a culture that accepts the consulting style, making it a potentially easier environment to work in. Conversely, it is worth remembering that companies with no former consultants may have significant cultural gaps.

Corporate culture can be checked through job listings, the company’s website, review sites, and social media. If the corporate culture doesn’t suit you, you may not enjoy your work and may end up concealing your true self. Corporate culture and values are important points to check when changing jobs.

Summary

In this article, we explained specific examples of consultant career plans.

Consultant job transitions offer attractive careers as executives or executive candidates across a wide range of industries as professionals. However, if you are swayed by the appeal of the compensation offered or the company’s reputation, there is a possibility that you will drift away from the life you desire.

By regularly confronting your own values and sense of issues on a daily basis and taking time to think about your career plan, you can realize what you want to achieve. Take this opportunity to think about how you want to work in the future and what kind of position you want to hold, and try to clarify it as much as possible.

By shaping your career according to your own will, it leads to motivation and makes it clear what you should do going forward.