Advisory and consulting are different. Advisory means giving advice and guidance, while consulting means doing the work to solve problems.

Knowing the difference can help you choose what fits your needs. This post will explain both so you can decide what’s best for you.

Find your next career opportunity. Browse jobs now!

What is Advisory?

Advisory services are long-term, strategic partnerships aimed at helping businesses plan for the future, manage risks proactively, and achieve sustainable growth.

As an advisor, you take a high-level view of the organization, offering guidance on overarching goals and strategies rather than getting involved in day-to-day operations. Think of yourself as having a trusted guide who ensures the business is heading in the right direction.

For example, imagine you’re working with a unicorn startup planning to expand into a new market. Instead of telling them how to set up their operations, you would help them analyze potential risks, define their long-term objectives, and create a roadmap for growth.

This is what professional advisory services look like:

• Ongoing Relationships: This involves long-term collaboration, such as quarterly reviews or annual strategy sessions, to ensure continuous alignment with evolving goals and challenges.
• Emphasis on Internal Processes: A focus is placed on refining internal processes, fostering alignment among leadership teams, and conducting scenario modeling to prepare for various potential outcomes.

When you offer advisory services, you will also provide a range of professional guidance to help businesses or individuals make informed decisions. Common examples include:

• Financial planning: You help manage budgets, investments, and long-term financial goals.
• Succession strategies: You do planning for the smooth transfer of leadership or ownership in a business.
• Compliance with regulatory requirements: You help organizations adhere to laws and industry standards to avoid penalties or legal issues.

Pros & Cons

Despite the influence and benefits of becoming an advisor, there are also some drawbacks.

The pros of providing advisory services are:

• Specialized knowledge: As an advisor, you leverage your expertise and experience to provide valuable insights and make a meaningful impact. 
• Independent perspective: You also offer unbiased solutions without being tied to internal company dynamics, freeing you to focus solely on problem-solving. 
• Flexibility: Being an advisor allows you to tailor your work schedule and approach, creating a personalized and dynamic career path. 
• Rewarding work: Advising offers the chance to work on diverse challenges, helping businesses grow while building your reputation and network.

However, there are also some cons to consider:

• Unpredictable income: Advisory roles often involve project-based or contract work, resulting in inconsistent earnings and periods of financial uncertainty.
• High pressure: Advisors are expected to deliver results and provide solutions within tight deadlines, which can lead to significant stress and pressure.
• Limited stability: Unlike permanent roles, advisory work lacks long-term job security, requiring constant effort to secure new clients or projects.
• Client dependency: Your success and reputation often hinge heavily on client satisfaction. So you have to manage expectations and maintain strong relationships.
• Work-life balance challenges: Advisors frequently juggle multiple clients and projects, which may result in long hours and difficulty maintaining personal time.

What is Consulting?

A career in consulting means working on projects that solve specific problems and deliver practical solutions. Consultants are hired to tackle challenges like improving efficiency, adopting new technologies, or refining business strategies.

For example, a company facing declining sales might bring in a sales consultant to review their campaigns, pinpoint weaknesses, and recommend strategies to boost their reach. Similarly, an IT consultant could help a business switch to cloud-based systems, ensuring a smooth transition with minimal downtime.

This career is fast-paced and dynamic, requiring flexibility, expertise, and a focus on results to meet the unique needs of clients in a variety of industries.

Pros & Cons

Becoming a consultant offers quite a few benefits, including:

• Expertise and Knowledge: As mentioned before, consultants bring specialized skills and knowledge to the table. You should have years of experience in your respective field.
• Objectivity and Fresh Perspective: You should also be an objective third party who can provide an unbiased view of a business’s operations. This fresh perspective helps identify blind spots that may have gone unnoticed by those within the company.
• Efficiency and Cost Savings: Consultants work on short-term projects with defined deliverables, making their services more cost-effective than hiring full-time staff.
• Flexibility: Consulting services can be tailored to a business’s specific needs and can range from short-term projects to ongoing support. This flexibility allows businesses to access the expertise they need, when they need it, without committing to long-term contracts or overhead costs.

While these advantages make becoming a consultant seem like a lucrative and beneficial career choice, it is important to note that there are also challenges and potential downsides to consider.

• Variable Income: As a consultant, your income can fluctuate greatly depending on the projects you take on and their success. This inconsistency in income can be stressful for some individuals who prefer stable or predictable paychecks.
• Lack of Job Security: Unlike traditional employees, consultants do not have job security as they are typically hired on a project-by-project basis. This means that once a project is completed, there is no guarantee of future work or income.
• Self-Employment Taxes and Expenses: Consultants are considered self-employed and are responsible for paying their taxes, which can be a significant expense. They also have to cover their business expenses such as office supplies, equipment, and healthcare costs.
• Isolation: Working as a consultant often means working independently or remotely, which can lead to feelings of isolation. This lack of social interaction may not be suitable for everyone and can potentially impact mental health.
• Reputation Management: As a consultant, your reputation forms the fertile soil on which your business grows. Maintaining a good reputation helps attract and retain clients, as well as build trust and credibility within the industry.

Find your next career opportunity. Browse jobs now!

Comparative Analysis: How Are They Different from Each Other

Differences between advisory and consulting:

Career Growth: Advisory vs Consulting Roles

Whether you choose an advisory or consulting role, both can offer excellent career growth opportunities. However, the two roles have distinct differences:

Work-Life Balance 

As a consultant, you’re tackling a high-stakes project for a major retail client. With a looming deadline, you’re traveling weekly, working 60–80 hours fine-tuning presentations and crunching numbers late into the night. While the fast pace can be thrilling, it often leads to burnout from constant pressure and instability. 

Now, compare that to an advisor. Instead of rushing from city to city, you’re a trusted long-term partner, focused on refining strategies and building relationships. With a steadier schedule of 50–60 hours per week, advisors face challenges too, but the balance allows for better personal time and stability.

Salary Comparison 

For consultants, the compensation is attractive. Entry-level consultants can earn around $120,000 annually at Big Four firms. Senior consultants at top-tier firms like McKinsey, Bain, or BCG (MBB) can command salaries reaching $750,000 or more annually.

Advisors, on the other hand, might start closer to $70,000. The pay disparity reflects the high intensity and broader impact scope of consulting roles. Advisors, while valuable, often cap their compensation at $250,000 as they progress to senior levels.  

Career Trajectories

Over time, your consulting background opens up lucrative exit opportunities, such as transitioning into C-suite roles at major corporations, becoming a venture capitalist, or even launching your own business. Your consulting career acts as a launchpad for dynamic and high-profile paths. 

Similarly, if you choose an advisory career, you’re developing deep, specialized expertise over time. Perhaps you’ve spent years working with clients on compliance or risk management strategies.

This makes you an ideal candidate for transitioning into specialized in-house roles, like heading a compliance department or shaping internal strategy for a business. Advisory careers often lead to stable and more focused career paths that emphasize specialization and long-term expertise.

How To Prepare Yourself for These Roles?

You can’t expect to become a consultant or advisor overnight. It takes years of experience and specialized skills to excel in this role. Here are some core strengths that reflect well on a winning resume:

Identify Core Strengths

Identifying your core strengths can help you determine the specific areas where you excel and can provide value to clients and reflect well on a winning resume.

Advisory

For advisory roles, this can include:

• Strategic Thinking: Being able to think critically and identify opportunities for improvement or growth.
• Problem-solving: Having a knack for identifying problems and finding effective solutions.
• Communication Skills: Being able to effectively articulate your ideas and recommendations to clients.
• Domain Expertise: Having in-depth knowledge of a specific industry or field.
• Relationship-building skills:  Being able to develop and maintain strong relationships with clients.

Consulting Roles

Similarly, consulting roles require the following core strengths to pave the way to your success:

• Problem-solving Agility: Consultants are expected to handle a wide range of challenges and problems, so you must be able to think on your feet and come up with innovative solutions.
• Analytical & Technical Skills: Consulting projects often involve data analysis and problem-solving based on quantitative information. Having strong analytical skills will help you to effectively interpret data and draw insights.
• Project Management Abilities: As a consultant, you may be working on multiple projects simultaneously. Being able to manage your time and resources efficiently is crucial for meeting project deadlines and delivering quality work.
• Collaborative Mindset: Consulting involves working closely with clients, colleagues, and other stakeholders. A collaborative mindset will enable you to effectively communicate and work with various team members to achieve project goals.
• Flexibility and Adaptability: The consulting industry is constantly evolving, and you may encounter new challenges and opportunities in your projects. Being flexible and adaptable will allow you to quickly adjust to changes and find innovative solutions to problems.

Find your next career opportunity. Browse jobs now