Consultant vs Contractor

A consultant's role is to assess a client's needs and give strategic advice, while a contractor assesses a client's needs and performs the work that needs to be done. A consultant is an expert in a particular field who provides professional advice to individuals, businesses, and corporations. They provide advice to help individuals or organizations with business performance in these areas, operations, profitability, structure, strategy, and management.

How To Become A Contractor/Consultant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a contractor/consultant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Robin Cormier

A contractor is an independent entrepreneur who works for an invariable charge. Your job centers around the analysis of customers' wants and providing relevant services. In another perspective, a consultant is an autonomous entrepreneur who provides professional application and learning in a particular enterprise by helping current workers enhance problem-solving and improvement of policies. You have to examine the client's desires and give professional counsel and suggestions. Regardless, none of these individuals are organization workers because they come from outside of the company to execute such jobs. Also, as a contractor, you will examine customers' alternate plans and give direction on retrieval techniques.

The skills needed to suit the role of a contractor/ consultant include good communication, analytical, interpersonal, time management, organization, and problem-solving skills. You must as well be able to ideologically reason and put them into practice. Furthermore, you must possess either a bachelor's degree or a master's degree in business, accounting, or computer science. With this, you can conveniently earn an average annual salary of $83,005 or $39.91 per hour.

What general advice would you give to a Contractor/Consultant?

Robin Cormier

Assistant Professor, Montana State University - Billings

While college graduates begin to launch their careers, they also face uncertainty about job opportunities. This can be a daunting time in their life. First and foremost, they should be proud of their achievements. There are many steps they can take to prepare for a future career, such as developing a network and building a strong resume. However, in my opinion, the most important advice I would offer new graduates is to pursue their passion. When you are passionate about your career, your life is more fulfilling, and you are more determined to achieve success. Passion shows through how you communicate, develop working relationships, and your level of career investment.

ScoreContractor/ConsultantUS Average

Salary

6.6

Avg. Salary $84,811

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.8

Growth Rate 11%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.43%

Asian 8.83%

Black or African American 6.36%

Hispanic or Latino 9.39%

Unknown 4.56%

White 70.43%

Gender

female 33.80%

male 66.20%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress Level

6.8

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.7

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

2.2

Work Life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a contractor/consultant

Explore contractor/consultant education requirements

Most common contractor/consultant degrees

Bachelor's

63.9 %

Master's

16.3 %

Associate

12.1 %

Start to develop specific contractor/consultant skills

Skills	Percentages
Healthcare	29.98%
Post Implementation	25.05%
Data Analysis	6.68%
Project Management	5.36%
Financial Statements	3.04%

Research contractor/consultant duties and responsibilities

Manage design and development of cloud-base billing application for streamlining payroll and invoicing, as well as offering real-time business analytics.
Assist PMO in defining project scope, task and budget, collaborating closely with developers.
Bill and provide appropriate documentation to submit reimbursement for services to appropriate insurance to include Medicaid, Medicare, etc.
Motivate and ensure SME team member engagement in projects.

Prepare your contractor/consultant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your contractor/consultant resume.

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