How to Become a Business Operations Consultant

Business operations consultants do contract work in which they optimize things like production processes, sales and personnel. You need extensive education and training in order to become this type of consultant.

Things You'll Need

• Bachelor's degree in business, management or operations

Instructions

1. Study for your bachelor's degree in marketing, business or management. Some universities have a special business operations program, but general business studies will give you the solid background that you need to become a consultant.

2. Speak with your guidance counselor for advice on landing the perfect internship. Develop a relationship with your favorite professors by helping them with research or by becoming a teaching assistant in your final year. Ask your professors for networking and career advice, as well as letters of recommendation.

3. Intern with a business operations consulting firm or with the management department of a large company. Show up on time, work late, do a good job and learn as much as you can about applying what you learned in school to real-life situations. Network with potential employers and let the human resources department know that you'll be looking for work after you graduate.

4. Consider going to school for your MBA degree to learn more about business management. Large amounts of experience can replace advanced degrees, but graduate school can give you more chances to network and intern with operations management consultants.

5. Send your resume to business consulting firms, but expect lots of competition for these jobs. Many small firms only have a few certified employees, so you may have better luck applying for positions at larger businesses that work in a specific region of the country.

6. Become a business operations consultant by starting your own private firm. Ask other ambitious students if they'd like to partner with you. Consider getting certification for yourself and your co-workers with a group like the Association for Operations Management (see Resources below).

Tips & Warnings

• Learning about a specific industry, like computers or agriculture, can help improve your chances of being a successful consultant, although you may have to agree with clients that you won't go to work for their competition.

• Staffing groups occasionally have positions available for business operations consultants, although many of these jobs are direct-to-hire and could interfere with your freelance status.

• The start-up costs for creating your own firm can be very high and it can take a few years to develop a solid client base.

Resources

• Operations management certification with APICS