Consultant

A consultant (from Latin: consultare "to deliberate") is a professional who provides expert advice in a particular area such as security (electronic or physical), management, education, accountancy, law, human resources, marketing (and public relations), finance, engineering, science or any of many other specialized fields.

A consultant is usually an expert or an experienced professional in a specific field and has a wide knowledge of the subject matter. The role of consultant outside the medical sphere (where the term is used specifically for a grade of doctor) can fall under one of two general categories:

By hiring a consultant, clients have access to deeper levels of expertise than would be financially feasible for them to retain in-house on a long-term basis. As well, clients can control their expenditures on consulting services by only purchasing as much services from the outside consultant as desired.

Consultants provide their advice to their clients in a variety of forms. Reports and presentations are often used. However, in some specialized fields, the consultant may develop customized software or other products for the client. Depending on the nature of the consulting services and the wishes of the client, the advice from the consultant may be made public, by placing the report or presentation online, or the advice may be kept confidential, and only given to the senior executives of the organization paying for the consulting services.

The range of areas of expertise covered by the term "consultant" is wide. One of the more common types is the management consultant. Consulting and the means by which the (external) consultant is engaged vary according to industry and local practice. However the principal difference between a consultant and a temp is generally one of direction. A consultant is engaged to fulfill a brief in terms of helping to find solutions to specific issues but the ways in which that is to be done generally falls to the consultant to decide, within constraints such as budget and resources agreed with the client. A temp, on the other hand is normally fulfilling an employment role that usually exists within the organization and is helping to bridge a gap caused by staffing shortages. They are directed by the normal management structure of the organization. There is however a hybrid form where a consultant may be hired as an interim manager or executive, bringing a combination of specialist expertise to bear on a role that is temporarily vacant (usually at a senior level).

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