Hala Dahbour is an independent HR Consultant and Recruiter with 12+ years of experience. She specializes in Talent Acquisition, Process Improvement, and HR Transformation, with 6+ years of experience across the Big 4 (PwC and EY), as well as Capgemini.
When you're looking for consulting jobs, you'll come across terms like "People & Organization Management," "People Advisory Services," and "Human Capital Consulting." These are all different ways to refer to the field of Human Resources (HR) consulting.
What does this mean and is this the right field for you? Let's dive in!
HR consulting is a type of management consulting that focuses on solving problems related to a company's "human resources" – i.e. its people!
Let's break it down:
As an HR consultant, you could help a company improve anything HR-related. Usually though, you'd help out more on the strategic side of things rather than the operational side. Here's the difference.
| Operational HR |
Strategic HR |
|
| Focus | Focuses on the present and immediate tasks | Looks to the future and broader company objectives |
| What they do | Manages existing processes and day-to-day tasks | Plans & develops policies for future growth and success |
| Examples of what they do |
|
|
There is some overlap. For example, HR consultants are often also asked to help out with recruiting, but this usually happens as a part of a bigger project. For example, when a consulting team is hired to help future-proof a company, they'll identify skills that the company needs.
In that case, they may be asked to help find the right talent that can fill that skills gap – even if that's not what they were originally hired to do. (Fun fact: This is called "scope creep" in consulting speak.)
Imagine you're part of a team working on a big project. Halfway through, you realize that some tasks are taking too long, and some team members' skills are not being used effectively. To fix this, you might decide to switch around some roles and responsibilities.
That's a bit like organizational restructuring, but on a company-wide scale. Organizational restructuring refers to the process of changing the structure or operations of an organization to improve efficiency, keep up with industry changes, or drive better business performance.
Here are some examples of organizational restructuring that a consultant might help a company undergo:
While organizational restructuring is often equated with layoffs, it's more complicated than that. In the process of restructuring an organization, HR consultants also create new roles. That's because consultants study a company's existing workforce to determine what skills they need now and in the future – and they often find that companies are missing certain skills. So they need to hire new employees and/or upskill existing employees so they're equipped with those skills.
The word "change" might sound benign but in the corporate world, change can really upset people! In fact, PwC's HR consulting service line used to be called "People & Change" but the word "change" freaked clients out so much, we had to rebrand to "People & Organizations."
Anyways, because of how disruptive change can be, HR consultants are usually brought in to "manage change" – i.e. keep the disruptions to a minimum, handle potential fallout, and make sure all parties are as happy as they can be.
Let's explore this through the example of a "grading structure change" – i.e. when a company needs to change its compensation and benefits. Usually this happens because the company isn't doing well financially. Instead of firing people though, they might cut salaries.
Imagine how disruptive this is. For example, let's say you're making $70,000 a year and all of a sudden, you only make $60,000! As an employee, you'd probably be quite upset – and maybe even quit. However, it would be a problem if everyone up and left. So HR consultants are brought in to break the news in the best way possible and turn a bad situation into a good one.
Change management is kind of like damage control after a break-up – there's no one way to go about it. But there are ways that lead to better outcomes! For example, at one company, an HR consultant might have one-on-one meetings with department managers to tell them about the salary revisions.
Often, a company will hire a different consulting firm for change management. For example, it might hire Deloitte to do its restructuring and then PwC for change management. This happens because employees often get sick of the first firm.
Organizational restructuring and change management are the main reasons companies hire HR consulting services – but they're not the only ones!
Here's a taste of the other kinds of projects HR consultants work on.
Of course, that's not all. There's also HR tech for instance (which is like tech consulting but specifically for HR tech) and plenty of other things going on in this field!
When you start as a junior HR consultant, you'll be assigned to a project. You'll get a lot of "on-the-job" training, which means you'll learn a lot as you work on projects.
Alongside project work, you'll also attend any assigned training and support proposals (which will get your firm more work). You'll also be encouraged to work on the firm's internal initiatives.
As time goes by, you'll be expected to work on multiple projects in parallel – and multiple proposals in parallel as well.
To get a clearer idea of what you'd do, see Big 4 junior consultants share what their work is really like.
The best part about HR consulting is engaging with employees from the client side. People are the heart of HR, so when you do HR consulting, you'll get to meet a wide range of employees from your client's company.
Those employees come from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and work methodologies. This dynamic interaction is not only exciting, but it also broadens my professional horizons and enhances my growth as I provide my HR consulting services.
The most challenging part of the job is working on sensitive things such as employee terminations, replacements, job shifting, or demotions. It can be emotionally taxing to be part of decisions that directly impact individuals' livelihoods.
Managing these delicate matters requires an elevated level of empathy, discretion, and the ability to navigate complex emotions. You'll need to approach such situations with utmost care and professionalism, recognizing the human element in HR consulting.
In consulting, there are no hours. That's the first thing firms tell us actually. This goes against everything they tell us about work-life balance, which they go on and on about in their recruitment campaigns. But it really does not exist. It's not a 9-5 job.
Once you undergo onboarding, they make sure we understand we are round-the-clock. It's like how some doctors are always on call. They call it "agile." After all, our clients are global. You could have a client in China, the US, and Germany at the same time.
Now if you look at office hours (when the office opens and closes), those are the hours we can work in the office. But the partner could call you at 1 am and if you say no, you better have a legitimate reason (for example, being sick with a doctor's note). It's very stressful so we have to master stress management or leave.
The good news is, you'll have plenty of exit options if you decide to leave HR consulting. That's because HR consulting isn't just HR – it's really People & Organizations (P&O).
That means the projects you work on will expose you to everything related to people and organizations – which are what make every company go round. So you don't specialize – compared to, say, tech consulting. Instead, you master the ability to solve any problem. As a result, the exit options are so broad that some consultants feel lost!
Here are some common exit options.
Starting your career in HR consulting provides you with a comprehensive understanding of the broader HR landscape, encompassing areas such as Talent Acquisition, Organizational Development, HR Transformation, Rewards & Benefits and more. Many HR consultants find that they particularly enjoy one specific area and decide to focus on that!
In my case, I fell in love with recruitment – I like the feeling when I've helped someone get a job. So I now specialize in recruiting for companies around the world.
Do I wish I had just started my career in recruitment? Not really. I'm glad I started in HR consulting because:
HR consulting often involves working on strategic planning, operational improvements, and implementation (where you implement strategies).
As a result, HR consultants often move into broader corporate strategy or operations roles. This could include operational efficiency roles or strategy planning positions.
Business development is basically when you bring in more business for a company. As a consultant, you naturally build up business development skills because you "sell" yourself every day. You "sell" yourself internally to the firm (making sure the firm understands your value) and externally to clients. You're also expected to grow client accounts, which is when you identify more client problems and find potential new work.
This all sets you up well for business development roles in the future.
Those with an entrepreneurial spirit might start their own HR consultancy or a business in a related field. Some HR consultants opt to become independent contractors or freelance consultants. This path offers flexibility and the opportunity to work on a variety of projects with different organizations.
In my case, I always had an entrepreneurial spirit and after two years into my HR Consulting role, I was confident enough to start my own business. I gained this confidence from being able to see that I could operate with a CEO mindset, manage clients, and successfully deliver projects in a short timeline – and in a very small team (sometimes even solo!) with just mild supervision from a few superiors.
It was incredibly challenging at the time since I was already very stretched at work. However, I managed to find a way to balance and legally operate without conflict of interest.
With the increasing integration of technology in HR, consultants with a tech-savvy background might move into roles focusing on HR technology solutions, such as system implementation, HR analytics, or developing new HR tech products.
By being exposed to all kinds of people through different clients and projects, you become very skilled in analyzing people.
In my case, after my time at the Big 4, I was recruited by the tech consulting firm, CapGemini, to build and deliver innovative and tailored client HR solutions by leveraging their latest technology assets. I also provided consulting services in HR processes and technology and conducted research.
Drawing on experience in leadership development and organizational behavior, some consultants become coaches. They can be anything from career coaches to executive coaches, helping leaders and managers improve their performance and effectiveness.
Personally, I love coaching students and helping them find their way and my time in HR consulting feeds well into my current coaching work because:
Some HR consultants transition into senior HR roles within organizations. This could include positions like HR Director, VP of Human Resources, or Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO). In these roles, they can apply their consulting experience to manage an organization's HR strategy and operations effectively.
Consultants looking to make a social impact might transition to the non-profit or public sector. Their skills can be invaluable in these organizations, which often require strategic HR practices but may lack the resources to develop them internally.
Some might earn an advanced degree and transition into academia, teaching HR, management, or business courses.
We hope this gives you a better idea of what it's like to be a consultant at the Big 4. If you're intrigued by the field of HR consulting, check out our best tips on breaking into the field.
Also check out all the internships we have in the field of consulting!