Why is being a consultant so hard?

Professionals who lack a strong work ethic or who can't work long hours aren't usually successful in consulting. Above all, there aren't many positions in major consulting firms. The reason for this is simple. In a single consulting project, the “hard yards” that analysts don't take so much time.

If you compare it to a law firm or an investment bank, its basic cases or M&A projects require an enormous amount of work hours. And that's just to carry out their most basic work. Literally, they need to hire so many graduates to do proofreading in a law firm and calculating numbers in a bank. Their long working hours mean that they leave home when their family is still sleeping and return when the children have already gone to bed.

Their routine is stressful and even when they have arrived home, their mind is still busy at work. Consultants spend so much time in the office that often their co-workers are their only friends. That said, as a consultant you can play a very important role in guiding your clients on how they should manage their businesses. Many consultants would also agree with the fact that work-life balance is poor when working as consultants.

My last job, in which I was fired from my probation, was an engineering consultant job, which was a leap from a graduate consultant. A former consultant remembers how her former employer sexually urged a young consultant. At first, traveling can be very motivating, but as soon as consultants realize that they spend much of their time on planes and trains, they lose the comfort of staying at home, another consultant reports.