The I/O Consultant: Advice and Insights for Building a Successful Career

This innovative volume offers basic guidance on the fundamentals of consulting with authoritative essays by leaders in the field. Consulting is one of the fastest growing occupations in the United States. This innovative volume offers basic guidance on the fundamentals of consulting with authoritative essays by leaders in the field. The editors and their colleagues guide their readers through a career continuum, beginning with learning about potential employers to creating and maintaining a business and watching it grow and thrive. In chapters that combine a strong grounding in contemporary I/O research with personal accounts of their career journeys and day-to-day activities, the contributors bring the basic principles conveyed by Hedge and Borman to life. Readers hear of the extraordinary breadth of consulting experiences—in the private and public sectors, the military, and academia. The authors consider such topics as strategic planning, points of entry into the field, ethics and networking, and the advantages and disadvantages of joining a large firm versus starting up one's own consulting practice.

Table of Contents:
Contributors Preface Introduction I. Choosing a Consultant Career Path Fundamentals of Consulting Overview of I/O Consulting Preparing Yourself in Graduate School Body of Knowledge for Consultants Services Consultants Provide Consultant Perspectives Managing Your Consulting Career —Mark J. Schmit The Role of the Internal Consultant: How Internal Consultants Can Promote Successful Change —Jeff Schippman and Dee Newson Public- and Private-Sector Consulting —Gary W. Carter Consulting for Profit and Nonprofit Organizations —Gordon Curphy I/O Consulting in the Department of Defense —Janice H. Laurence Combining an Academic and Consulting Career —Sheldon Zedeck and Irwin L. Goldstein II. Starting and Promoting a Consulting Business Fundamentals of Consulting Starting a Consulting Business Defining Your Business and Developing a Company Identity Marketing Your Consulting Services Selling Your Consulting Services Consultant Perspectives Consulting and the Entrepreneurial Mind-Set: Lessons Learned —Scott I. Tannenbaum Working on Your Own Versus With a Larger Organization —Mitchell Lee Marks Why Join a Consulting Firm When You Can Start Your Own? —Rick Jacobs and Janet Echemendia The Role of Strategic Planning —A. Catherine Higgs and Ellen M. Papper Points of Entry: Where to Target Your Consulting Efforts in Client Organizations —David B. Peterson The Art and the Science of Consulting —Frank J. Landy III. Maintaining the Business Fundamentals of Consulting Networking Building and Maintaining Client Relationships Recruiting and Selecting for Consulting Organizations Career and Performance Management With Consultants Consultant Perspectives Establishing Successful Client Relationships —Allan H. Church and Janine Waclawski The Keys to Successful Project Management —P. Richard Jeanneret Maintaining Your Edge as a Consultant and as an Organization —Vicki V. Vandaveer Handling Ethical Matters —Deirdre J. Knapp The Consultant as Mentor —Erich P. Prien and Kristen O. Prien The Importance of Professional Affiliations and Service to the Professional Society —Nancy T. Tippins IV. Growing the Business Fundamentals of Consulting Contemplating Growth What Type of Growth is Right for Your Business? What if You Don't Want to Grow? Keeping Things Small Consultant Perspectives Protecting Intellectual Property —James C. Sharf Going Global or Staying Local —Cristina G. Banks Rules of Thumb for International Consultants —William H. Mobley Changing to Consulting in Midcareer —Kenneth Pearlman Establishing a University-Based Consulting Practice —Kurt Kraiger and Richard B. (Rick) Simpson Trends in Business Consulting —Mark S. Teachout and David George Vequist IV V. Conclusion Review and Final Thoughts References About the Editors