ONG Technical Services maintain high entry requirements for potential candidates – the majority of jobs require at least a college or university degree, as well as a specific set of skills and competencies. Although the increase in the number of consulting jobs has been small, management consultancy is an increasingly popular career choice, due to which the competition remains high for certain job openings.

Analytical skills 

With the rise of digitalisation (as well as Big Data and Analytics), demand for analytical and quantitive skills among (consultancy) professionals is growing. Consultants regularly conduct research using their ability to gather and analyse data (and presenting their findings to clients), which represents a crucial skill for consultants in this day and age. During a job interview, it is important that candidates can provide examples of a complex problem that they can solve on the basis of finding and analysing data.

Working under pressure

Consultants are expected to command good presenting skills under (high) pressure. Some client assigments and projects will come with sharp deadlines whereby flexibility is expected from consultants in terms of working longer hours when necessary. In other instances, consultants need to take drastic measures for a client (for example with a reorganisation), which can cause staff members or other stakeholders to put consultants under high (mental) strain. Moreover, consultants are often involved with large-scale projects that have huge interests and sums are at stake with little to no margin for error. Consultants are expected to be able to deal with working under such high pressure, especially as they step up the career ladder.