HelloI was wondering if anyone could help. I am currently at University studying a CMI L7 Diploma in Strategic Management & Leadership. On assessing my aims and goals recently i have decided i would like to become a Business Consultant, however, i am unsure of the qualifications i would need to become one. Please could you advise the best way forward.Many Thanks

Hi Donna, Business consulting is a very vibrant idea and is certainly a step in the right direction. You need to be ready to explore new skills on how to relate a business to its respective activities and operations as well as evaluate suitable approaches of providing strong advisory skills to your clients. It certainly feels good to impact on someone else's business. please feel free to visit http://consulting.co.uk/business-consulting/ to get some handy tips.Best of Luck!

nandachwe - how about you try not spamming, but answer the question?Donna - consulting recognises very few qualifications - a good bachelors, a good MBA, and for some firms a good PhD. Anything else is pretty much useless.

Donna you will need a Bachelor's Degree - at least a 2.1 grade from what is considered to be a top university. You wont get far with applications with your current studies, unless you already have a BA or BSc. It isnt for everyone anyway...maybe you need to spend a bit of time researching potential careers which could utilise your existing quals and experience.

Marsday- Thankyou for your commentsI don't currently have a BA or BSc, however the Diploma i am studying is at Masters level- I shall be going onto completing the Masters. Surely the Level 7 Masters Degree is better than the Level 6 BA/BSc?I'm aware and appreciate it will be a long road to be qualified as a Consultant, however- At this stage i'm exploring possiblities and wanted to know first hand off fine Consultants what is expected and needed... therefore, thanks again for your imput

So- what you are saying is anything over a level 6? The Diploma i am doing is level 7 and i will finish with a Masters. Will that be enough to get into a Graduate programme?Regards

Donna the point here is really that the selection process of a large consulting firm (whether done by a human being or an algorithm) will almost automatically screen you out for not holding a 'classical' education. MC firms are very narrow in their definition of what constitutes the right educational background - they have to hire what their clients want to see, and clients want to see qualifications on a consultant CV which they immediately recognise and understand.

Hi DonnaI've observed that there are, broadly, two routes into consulting. Mars knows the field as well as anyone and better than most.Route 1 = join one of the large companies' graduate schemes straight from university, e.g. Deloitte, Accenture, PWC, McKinsey, Bain etc. As far as I can tell, the subject of your degree is not particularly important. Companies like to have a large amount of bright, eager, competitive grads to do the grunt work, recognising that a large proportion of people will move on, relatively quickly - up or out.Route 2 = join a company as an experienced hire having picked up many of the skills valued by whatever consultancy work you will be doing. I had worked in the public sector for 10 years, so knew the culture of many departments and had several years experience of soft skills training and managing medium sized projects.I don't know of any consultancy qualifications. As always, the important thing is to have the qualifications needed to get the job you want. Have you approached any companies already and if so what was the response?Good luck!