The main tasks in consultancy jobs are based on trouble-shooting for companies. Often, a small team of consultants will work within a firmto help solve complex business problems that will improve the bottom line; these jobs can take anywhere between two weeks and a year.

Most consultants work across multiple industries and sectors like energy and industrial, consumer and retail, or banking and financial services offering advice to some of the biggest companies in the world.

Within financial services, most commonly consultants advise on a whole range of issues, such as developing a growth strategy, portfolio management, and enhancing capital ratios. Recently advice on risk management and regulatory solutions, technological improvements and operational and HR matters have increased.

Much of consultants' work tends to deal with process improvement, or business process engineering. This can include process modelling and mapping, Six Sigma, and business process transformation. IT consultants with knowledge of financial services' IT systems such as Murex and Calypso are in frequent demand as banks more frequently hire consultants to help implement technological changes.

Consultants for risk and regulatory solutions will need to be able to advise firms on their relationship with the local financial services regulator and to advise, for example, on capital planning and capital efficient structures in light of new regulations specifying increased capital requirements for banks globally.

Within the big consultancy firms, careers as consultants are based on a hierarchical system. Fresh graduate consultants start out as analysts, before moving up to junior (or associate) consultant, consultant, then case team leader, manager, principal and finally partner.

In many cases, consultants have experience of working directly within the field they are consulting in, however, this is not always the case. The larger strategy consulting firms such as Bain & Company, Boston Consulting and McKinsey & Co. in some cases sponsor employees to take an MBA qualification as it is seen as an asset.

Consultants typically work as part of small teams within clients' offices. The biggest difference between junior and senior roles is that junior consultant roles can involve a lot of quantitative work, whereas senior roles are focused on client liaison and selling consultancy services.

Consultants in the finance sector require skills such as: a prowess for teamwork, an analytical ability and statistical aptitude, ability to grow and maintain client relationships and powerful reasoning skills.