Situation: I'm considering becoming a HR consultant. What should I consider before I begin?

In a word. Authenticity. Which in my mind means that you know what you sell and you sell what you know. It may be tempting to try and be all things for all people, but that is a dangerous path to go down. Work out where you can add value and focus on that as a proposition.

Make sure you have a ton of relevant experiences "in the trenches" actually developing and delivering HR services, programs, and practices to an organization. Make sure you have done everything from operations to strategy and that you can understand the workflow and how it integrates with the organization at-large. Be versed in the brass tacks - the regulations, the laws, etc. There is a general mindset that "anyone can be an HR consultant." I think that mindset is dangerous.

You have some great advice here. Let me share what I have learned about being an HR Consultant.

1. Determine your niche. What do you do best? General HR or a specialty. Who is your market? Industry, profession, employee size, etc.
2. Learn about marketing and sales. If you are going solo and you are the company - you need to know how to attract potential clients and how they will buy from you.
3. Network, network, and network. This is key, find out where your target market is hanging out and go there. It's about networking with the right people.
4. There will be ups and down, be prepared and most of all - have FUN!

Good luck!

Hi Caty,
William Tincup from Drive Thru HR just turned me on to your question. I'd love to be a resource or mentor for you if you so choose. I started my consulting business 10.5 years ago. Initially, I had 10 years of experience behind me working in the trench's for other organizations. I found it helpful to have experience in both white and blue collar work communities. The SPHR cert and adjunct teaching helped my credibility early on. I would definately start networking in your area as soon as possible. I spend money on advertising early on and probably should not have. Word of Mouth is the best. Get a website built and hop on all the social media site you can. Best advise is meet business in person. They still respond best to a personal touch!'
Best wishes.

Caty,
I agree with Charlie- first question is do I have "value" to sell? Another question is do I have the appropriate business acumen? In order to be an independent business consultant in addition to doing the work you must be capable of marketing yourself and your services and operating a business?
Do you want to be independent or associate with a larger firm? What areas(s)are you going to promote yourself in? HR covers a gamut from recruiting to organizational development and training? Who are your target clients?
Being a consultant of any kind means being able to credibly market your "expertise". It also means you must be capable of running a business.
Being able to do the work is about 40%, getting the work and getting paid is about 60%.

i have been there and done that. after 35 years in HR field and MBA and PHd and Global exposure , one thing i always felt was that if you are strong on HR Concepts , tools Techniques , your ability to impress and add value is great.
Secondly you must have good well rounded experience .

and you may not be able to offer anything unique initially but you can always offer your superior knowledge and skill to make a difference

Keep in mind that when it comes to HR everyone else feels tobe expert-Dr.Sarma

I would offer an opinion that is potentially the opposite of some of the previous responders. I don't think that they are wrong and that I am right, only that these answers have worked very well for me.

One piece of advice was to discover a niche. This is good for marketing but may also limit your abilities. In my company, we strive to be equally good at selection as we are at learning and development. We found that identifying the right people helped us to understand development needs more effectively and that providing development experiences helped us to understand the companies needs regarding selection. The synergy has made us more effective at both.

Another piece of advice given previously was to develop a lot of experience in an area. I agree that experience is helpful but rarely are companies looking to find out what has done before. I suggest that it is more important to know how to learn and innovate that is crucial. Of course you can't jump in with no understanding of HR and its functions but knowing how to gather data, apply data, and innovate has been more important to our success than experience.

When it comes to advertising, word of mouth is key. However, it is useful to have a reference piece. I have used articles that I have written, brochures that highlight our capabilities or even emails that have praised our work. I also have several clients who care about our success and serve as references. I often make the appointment with our references for our client.

Don't be afraid to fail. Companies are much more forgiving than you would expect. Failure is the most effective lesson. The key is admit mistakes immediately and take full responsibility. This will improve trust and relationship.

Finally, seek a mentor who is too busy to mentor you. There are a lot of consultants who love the work and know the work but cannot execute the work or run their own business. I use a retired HR executive from a Fortune 100 company as a sounding board. This has made a huge difference in my success.

Their are a lot of obstacles to being successful at this and I know more failures than successes. I have the attitude that these obstacles are meant to keep my competition out :) Feel free to adopt this approach.