Skills, Steps & Salary: How to Become a Management Consultant

Jaro Education
3, September 2025
11:00 am

Every organisation runs on people, and they are the real heroes behind the scenes. In fact, some of them take on roles that go beyond the ordinary, such as boosting productivity, maximising profit, and streamlining processes so that an organisation can perform at its best. We’re talking about a crucial role of a management consultant: a professional whose insights and recommendations can bring significant value to an organisation and steer it toward success.

But the main question remains: “How to become a management consultant?” Well, stay tuned to find the answer.

First, let’s define a management consultant: a project management consultant provides specialised advice and support to organisations on planning, executing, and overseeing projects successfully. They assist businesses in enhancing project outcomes, streamlining processes, and aligning projects with their strategic objectives.

This is why management consultancy is considered to be one of the fulfilling and highly lucrative career paths. So, if you are considering a career in this field, there are a few things that you must know to achieve your goals. They are: what skills are required to be a management consultant, a step-by-step guide on how to become a management consultant, and lastly, the salary. Read this blog to find the answer to all your questions before you walk on this path. Let’s begin.

Skills Required to Become a Management Consultant

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To stand out as a management consultant in today’s competitive job market, it is important to acquire a diverse set of skills and competencies. Given below are some of the key skills that can help you to shine in this field and bring you closer to your question, “how to become a management consultant”:

Critical Thinking

A professional with the ability to process information and use it to make informed decisions in any particular project or situation is highly valuable. And this is what a management consultant should have. They are the first hope of any organisation that breaks down the larger strategic goals of a company and understands them. Whether it’s about reviewing data or analysing the product lifecycle, the critical thinking ability helps them to think strategically and make better recommendations that drive business success.

Consulting

Consulting skills are a concoction of smaller skills such as creative thinking, communication, and collaboration. To use these skills when you wonder how to become a management consultant, it is crucial to be a good listener, a great collaborator, and, of course, a prompt solution provider. The job role of a consultant is to negotiate or attract clients as well. For example, if a company wants to keep the old version of the system and avoid making any changes that the client recommends, a management consultant might have to convince the client and explain certain processes and their complexities.

Data analysis

The ability to transform scattered information into useful insights to help businesses grow and improve performance is what data analytics is all about. These skills are essential when you look for the right answer to how to become a management consultant. Well, a management consultant is constantly required to work on reviewing data, completing tasks on scheduled deadlines, and contributing to productivity. When working with data, you may also include values in various charts or graphs, which you can share with the company’s management. This could mean you are making forecasts for how the data will change if you put new processes in place.

Process Improvement

Process improvement is one of the most common tasks that every company looks for. To handle this, the company looks to hire a management consultant and improve their processes for:

Reducing waste: This can be achieved by maximising inventory use and producing minimal defects.
Decreasing cost: The term ‘decreasing cost’ has several meanings within a company. For example, a management consultant may be asked to improve a process where multiple duplicate tasks are being continuously performed. A consultant may work to improve the reallocation of resources strategy.
Enhancing Collaboration: Increasing collaboration requires employees to have the right tools and resources to maintain effective communication and enhance efficiency.

If you’re exploring how to become a management consultant, mastering process improvement strategies is essential, as companies value professionals who can deliver measurable results.

You can use your knowledge to implement the above-mentioned process improvement process and help companies to improve in every area.

Project Management

Project management skills consist of creating project schedules, scheduling and facilitating meetings, allocating resources, and defining success metrics. A company hires a management consultant not only to get potential solutions but also to oversee their completion. Thus, project management skills can help you meet the deadlines of project completion, increase employee productivity, and ultimately contribute to business goals.

For those wondering how to become a management consultant, honing project management capabilities is a critical step to stand out in this competitive field.

Research

The major Management consultants’ roles and responsibilities are to identify and understand potential issues within an organisation. As a consultant, one might research company databases for previous data, go through organisational charts, study sales information, and analyse how the company can improve.

If you’re serious about how to become a management consultant, developing strong research and analytical abilities is non-negotiable for identifying business gaps and driving solutions.

Problem-solving

This is one of the biggest skills that one must understand when seeking an answer to how to become a management consultant. The problem-solving abilities mean bringing a solution to problems. As a management consultant, you have to advance your imaginary power and think about how the company can operate more smoothly and efficiently while understanding the current scenario.

Your job role will be analysing various solutions for different points of view and problems, and thinking about how implementing a single change affects the overall process of the business. So, this requires problem-solving abilities with critical thinking.

How to Become a Management Consultant: A Step-by-Step Guide

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To become a management consultant, you need to build a solid educational base in business administration, finance, and economics. This also helps you to gain essential skills such as strategic planning and predictive analysis.

Further, these specialities help you to analyse complex data, implement business processes, and implement frameworks which are crucial for effective business engagement. So, if you want to know the step-by-step guide to begin your journey in management consulting, follow the approach given below:

Step 1: Educational Qualification

Having a bachelor’s degree is the fundamental requirement of how to become a management consultant in India. It helps you equip yourself with all the core business concepts, understanding consulting roles and analytics techniques. You can choose applicable majors and specialisations with online courses that can enhance your expertise for industry-specific challenges. Here are some of the ways you can build a base:

Go for marketing. Finance, human resources development degree or any other related field that focuses mainly on strategic management and organisational behaviours. You can also check out Jaro Education’s online MBA programme in different fields that can help you to become a management consultant.
Choose targeted courses in data analytics, business strategy and project management that can help you gain skills in the field of consulting.
Work on various tools, especially Excel, to manage a large set of data effectively.
Furthermore, get hands-on experience with other tools like Power BI and Tableau.

Step 2: Get Work Experience

Practical experience plays an important role in achieving your aim of how to become a management consultant in India. It not only builds a real-world understanding of business functionalities but also helps you understand different project executions. In India, if you have at least 2 to 3 years of experience in the same sector, it can strengthen your problem-solving capabilities and client engagement readiness.

Tips:

Engage yourself in various roles that involve project management, business development, and operational improvement. This will help you develop your consulting mindset.
When working, use data analytics techniques for Excel, SQL, and Python to get actionable insights from the business data.
Work on an assignment that mainly involves cost analysis metrics, process optimisation and understanding clients challenging issues.

Step 3: Enhance Skills Through Online Certification Programmes

Do you know that certification really validates your expertise and commitment? Yes, if you want to really understand how to become a management consultant in India, register for online certification programmes. This gives you planned learning paths to consulting methodologies. You can go for certification in project management and business analysis, as it will help you improve and gather skills.

Step 4: Crack the Interview

Consulting interviews thoroughly evaluate your skills, such as analytical thinking, problem-solving abilities based on different projects/situations, communication skills, and so on. You can go through several case studies and behaviour questions that can easily be found on the internet, and prepare for how to become a management consultant.

Tips to Crack the Interview:

Sharpen your time management skills by practising case interviews under strict time limits—just like in real consulting settings.
And when it comes to behavioural interviews, use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to confidently showcase your leadership and teamwork stories.

Step 5: Networking within your Field

Want to accelerate your pathway to securing your dream of how to become a management consultant? Start developing your professional network. Not only do more connections lead to job openings, but you will also gain real input, mentorship and learning opportunities when you develop your professional network.

Easy Tips to Build a Network

Use professional platforms like LinkedIn to follow consultants and industry leaders, join consulting forums and groups, and participate in professional organisations.

Participate where required. Attend webinars, industry conferences, and consulting workshops, and you will get real-world knowledge and opportunities to connect with potential recruiters.

And maintain contact with outsiders in the space. Mentors and others from your alumni network can share a simple list of experiences that can lead to managing guidance or the greatest opportunity of your early career—a continuous referral to a job. If you’re exploring how to become a management consultant, building a strong professional network is an essential early step to open up meaningful opportunities.

Step 6: Continuous Learning

To be competitive (and progressive), you should always brush up on your lessons and knowledge. You will need to learn creative ways to stay relevant and inventive with your learning and skill improvement.

Search out the most interesting and relevant aspects of what you do, making connections to the reality we are now facing (AI, advanced analytics, frameworks for user-centric digital transformation, etc.): the newest easiest tools that are hard to ignore which will become part of the consultant’s life—Python, Microsoft Power BI, and case study–based cloud providers.

If you’re serious about how to become a management consultant, continuous learning isn’t optional; it’s part of the journey. By staying updated with emerging tools and industry shifts, you stand out from the competition.

Instead of just focusing on learning, focus on connecting. Attend local consulting group meetups, continue to pursue participation in forums and peer function events, and share knowledge and experience with those you don’t know. You’d be surprised how much you can relate to a good discussion—and how much you can enrich a conversation.

Management Consultant Salary in India in 2025

In the Indian job market, the management consultant salary in India has seen significant growth. This is mainly due to the introduction of advanced technology such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and cloud. However, the salary of a management consultant varies based on experience, departments, companies, locations, and so on.

For those asking how to become a management consultant, salary potential is definitely one of the biggest motivators. With the right skill set and experience, this role can be highly rewarding.

Management Consultant Salary in India: Top Paying Companies

The table below represents the management consultant’s salary in India from different companies:

Company name	Avg. annual salary
BCG	₹ 47.8 Lakhs
Bain & Company	₹ 45.5 Lakhs
McKinsey & Company	₹ 38.6 Lakhs
Kearney	₹ 35.6 Lakhs
Google	₹ 34.4 Lakhs
Accenture	₹ 30.8 Lakhs
Vector Consulting Group	₹ 29.6 Lakhs
HSBC Group	₹ 27.3 Lakhs
Qral Group	₹ 27 Lakhs
Deloitte	₹ 25.7 Lakhs

Source: Ambition Box

Management Consultant Salary in India: Based on Experience

The average management consultant salary per month based on experience varies from ₹40,000 to ₹1,80,000, depending on factors like company size, industry, location, and skill level. Entry-level consultants may start around ₹5–6 LPA, while those with 5–10 years of experience can earn upwards of ₹18–24 LPA or more.

Experience	Avg Annual Salary
2 years	₹20.6 Lakhs
3 years	₹22.6 Lakhs
4 years	₹24.2 Lakhs
5 years	₹26 Lakhs
6 years	₹27.2 Lakhs
7 years	₹28.3 Lakhs
8 years	₹29.3 Lakhs
9 years	₹30.1 Lakhs
10 years	₹31.8 Lakhs
11 years	₹31.7 Lakhs
12 years	₹32.1 Lakhs
13 years	₹33 Lakhs
14 years	₹32.1 Lakhs
15+ years	₹32.2 Lakhs

Management Consultant Salary in India: Based on Different Departments

Different departments have varying demands for management consultants, which directly affects salary offerings. There are departments like strategic management, consulting, and data science, which are currently seeing an uptick in the demand for management consultants who can efficiently work on digital transformation, AI integration, and machine learning implementation. Given belo are the list of Let’s take management consultant salaries broken down across various departments in India.

Department	Avg. Annual Salary
Consulting	₹10 L/yr – ₹45 L/yr
Strategic & Top Management	₹9.6 L/yr – ₹45 L/yr
Data Science & Analytics	₹9.6 L/yr – ₹45 L/yr
Engineering – Software & QA	₹10 L/yr – ₹45 L/yr
Project & Program Management	₹9.8 L/yr – ₹45 L/yr
Procurement & Supply Chain	₹10 L/yr – ₹45 L/yr
Product Management	₹10 L/yr – ₹45 L/yr
Finance & Accounting	₹10 L/yr – ₹45 L/yr
Human Resources	₹10 L/yr – ₹36 L/yr
Marketing & Communication	₹10 L/yr – ₹45 L/yr
BFSI, Investments & Trading	₹10 L/yr – ₹40 L/yr
Customer Success, Service & Operations	₹10 L/yr – ₹42 L/yr
IT & Information Security	₹14.3 L/yr – ₹38 L/yr
Sales & Business Development	₹11.9 L/yr – ₹40 L/yr
Healthcare & Life Sciences	₹9.6 L/yr – ₹35 L/yr
Administration & Facilities	₹9.6 L/yr – ₹20.1 L/yr

Source: Ambition Box

How Jaro Education Can Help You Become a Management Consultant?

If you want to acquire the right skills to break into management consulting, pursue premier management and leadership programs listed on Jaro Education’s platform that’s tailored to industry demands. Whether you’re aiming to build foundational knowledge or sharpen advanced strategic skills, these programs give you an edge in the competitive consulting landscape.

List of Online & Executive MBA Programs via Jaro Education

Strengthen your business acumen, leadership skills, and domain expertise with Jaro’s top-rated MBA programs:

S.No	University / Institution	Program Name	Mode
1.	Parul University	Online MBA Program	Online
2.	MAHE (Manipal Academy of Higher Education)	Online MBA Courses	Online
3.	Symbiosis School for Online & Digital Learning (SSODL)	Online MBA Degree Programme	Online
4.	Manipal University Jaipur	Online MBA Programme	Online
5.	Chandigarh University	Online Master of Business Administration	Online
6.	Dr. D.Y. Patil Vidyapeeth (DPU-COL)	Online MBA Degree Program	Online
7.	IIM Nagpur	Blended MBA for Working Professionals	Blended (Hybrid)
8.	Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University (BVDU)	Online MBA in Business Administration	Online

The Bottom Line

Becoming a successful management consultant is more than just earning a degree—it’s about continuously evolving with the industry, building analytical and interpersonal skills, and gaining real-world exposure. So, if you’re ready to take the leap, start with the right learning path, certifications, and a curious mindset. And remember, your journey into management consulting isn’t just a career move; it’s a step towards becoming a game-changer in the business world.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a management consultant actually do?

A management consultant job description is to provide expert advice to help organisations solve problems, improve efficiency, and enhance profitability. They analyse business issues, recommend solutions, and often support implementation.

Is a degree in business mandatory to become a management consultant?

If you are looking for the precise answer on how to become a management consultant, to be honest business degree is helpful, although it’s not mandatory. Many consultants come from diverse educational backgrounds, like economics, engineering, or even psychology, as long as they develop core consulting skills and gain relevant experience.

How long does it take to become a management consultant in India?

On average, it may take 2–5 years to become a consultant, depending on your academic qualifications, certifications, and relevant work experience. Internships and entry-level roles can fast-track your learning curve.

Which industries hire management consultants in India?

Management consultants are in demand across various sectors like finance, healthcare, IT, manufacturing, education, and retail. Consulting firms, tech companies, and even startups frequently seek their expertise.