How to Hire a Business Ethics Consultant

A business ethics consultant offers your business critical analysis and recommendations to correct potential ethical issues. These consultants enter with an objective view of your business that cannot be found among your staff members. You need to recruit a business ethics consultant who possesses independence and a sharp mind.

Things You'll Need

• Interns (optional)
• Staffing agency (optional)

Instructions

Conduct an Effective Search for Business Ethics Consultants

1. Determine the type of business ethics consultant that your business needs before you initiate a search. A general consultant can look at your entire company and your ethical standards to determine broad policy changes that need to be made. Specialists in labor, advertising and other ethical issues in business may be needed if you have a number of grievances in a specific department.

2. Set up meetings between a potential ethics consultant and a sample group of employees to assess a candidate's interpersonal skills. Your consultant needs to be equally comfortable with legal forms and one-on-one interviews with employees.

3. Consult with business staffing agencies to recruit a business ethics consultant on a temporary basis. These agencies save you advertising funds for recruitment and provide notes from initial interviews, resume reviews and skills tests when you are ready to hire a consultant.

4. Explore the resumes of business ethics consultants to determine their levels of experience within your particular industry. A successful consultant is familiar with industry terms and trends and strives to stay updated on the latest ethical issues.

5. Maximize your investment in a full-time business ethics consultant by hiring an individual with an advanced degree. A consultant with a MBA can combine theoretical applications with her analysis of your company's specific issues in a way that makes her salary an invaluable investment.

6. Submit applicants to a series of hypothetical situations requiring serious analyzation. You should use ethical situations that have come up within your company to determine the depth of their analyses.

7. Locate university interns after you hire a business ethics consultant to keep administrative and other tasks off his desk. These interns provide inexpensive labor to help complete ethics reports while they learn the ins and outs of business ethics. Hire interns who excel in these tasks to avoid recruiting and training costs.

Tips & Warnings

• Request a long list of references from a business ethics consultant to determine his experience. These references should be former clients and mentors who can attest to a candidate's ethical grounding, as well as practical consulting experience. You should conduct multiple discussions with references to create a complete history of an applicant.