Consulting concerns improving the efficiency of a specific functional area of a business. Depending on their professional expertise, consultants may advise their clients on improving marketing strategy, increasing profitability, managing budgets, improving hiring practices, and more. In each of these examples, consultants are hired to provide advice that will help a business succeed. In other words, consultants are hired when a business has a goal or goals (such as a higher return on investments, or achieving a higher stock value) that it requires outside, specialized knowledge to achieve.

Due to the advisory nature of this work, consulting often involves a significant amount of traveling: a consultant is hired by a company (that may be in another part of the country), and travels to that company’s location to provide service until the project is complete. Projects can include mergers (when two companies combine into one), acquisitions (when one company buys out another), and much more.