What Nobody Tells You About Consultants — An Insider Speaks Out

I spent over 10 years in consulting as a consultant myself. What I learned during that time — not about strategy or frameworks, but about the system itself — I'm sharing here. Because someone should.

The First Deployment

As a junior consultant, you're not thrown in at the deep end. You're placed on projects where a few colleagues from your own company are already involved. To learn. To observe.

Fully billed, of course.

Maybe the hourly rate is slightly lower. Maybe the first two weeks are "on the house." What matters is that utilisation is solid. What matters is that you're officially on-site with the client.

The consultant profile — essentially a CV presented to the client — gets tidied up beforehand. They call it "tuning." So the client can find their problem somewhere in your history. Whether you actually know the subject? Secondary. It just needs to feel that way.

The First Solo Project

After a few projects, it's time to go in alone. The motto: don't get noticed.

In the days before the project starts: research intensively. Maybe there's a senior consultant who can give you a rapid briefing. Emergency option: a manager's number on standby — the silent weapon, in case you're about to get found out.

The real goal? Be one step further along than yesterday, every single day. Always a few percent sharper on the topic than the client. Most people will have been sweating bullets during this phase. I was too.

Day-to-Day Reality

The task is clear? Perfect. The task is bigger? Then start by getting to know people. Run interviews. Package those interviews into slides — summarise, cluster, deliver the first "work product."

Someone might review it beforehand. Fortunately there are enough templates to borrow from. The main thing is it looks professional. And it does — because you really don't want to get found out.

What many companies don't realise: the consultant only starts engaging with the topic once the project has begun. They're not a specialist. Unless they've done exactly the same project at another client before — then they're a step ahead. Then they're "experienced."

End of Month

Log the hours. Record the travel expenses. Send the invoice.

Utilisation good. Consulting firm happy. Client has received a deliverable.

Does the deliverable help? Yes — partly. But honestly, anyone internally could have achieved the same thing with a halfway logical internal survey.

This isn't an isolated case. This is consulting.

The Extension

A few weeks in, two months at the latest, the next game begins: the extension.

A small plan gets sketched out. Aligned with the right people — the managers, the sales colleagues in the background. The client is shown what's still open. What's still missing. What could be achieved in another 12 weeks.

And the client nods. Because trust has been built up by now. Because switching would be disruptive. Because it feels like you're mid-process — and stopping now would be the wrong move.

The extension comes through.

The Best-Case Scenario — For the Consultancy

When things go really well, here's what happens:

It gets extended. Then extended again. Eventually the moment comes when the consultant explains to the client that the project could really use some support. And — what a coincidence — there's a colleague who would be a perfect fit.

The colleague joins. The team grows. The contracts get extended. All following the same principle, just spread across more shoulders.

One consultant becomes three. Three months becomes a year. One problem becomes a permanent project.

For the consultancy, this is the dream scenario. Maximum utilisation. Minimum risk. The client is locked in — not because the problem was solved, but because they can no longer manage without you.

Was the problem actually solved in the end? Sometimes yes. Sometimes it was just very well accompanied.

What the Big Houses Do Better

The large consultancies have more in-house expertise. You're less likely to get found out. Add to that global offices — after hours, colleagues in other time zones keep working. Looks more professional. Costs more.

Today, AI helps enormously when it comes to acquiring knowledge quickly. Which is useful — but doesn't solve the underlying problem.

What I Actually Learned

I learned a lot during that time. No question. I saw problems I never would have encountered otherwise. I built solutions under pressure that actually worked. I grew — in a way that could only have happened that way.

But it wasn't always fair to the client.

You're called in as a specialist. But you're not one. You pay a lot of money. You get results — but rarely ones that go deep enough.

That's why MacNorris exists.

Not to talk down consulting. But to do it differently.

— Robert