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Why Your Company Should Use Consultants During the Great Resignation

Female financial advisor consulting a client at the meeting and having business conversation or making offer

Due to the current economic environment, many companies are placing more emphasis on skills, rather than roles, in hiring. Seeking out external consultants allows organizations to obtain the specific skills they are seeking at a fraction of the internal costs required to hire a permanent role.

In the midst of “The Great Resignation,” which is drastically impacting the workforce this year with high turnovers and vacant roles, there’s no better time to utilize consultants to fill the needs your company may be facing. Whether due to a skills shortage or increased volumes of projects as the economy recovers from the impact of the pandemic, consultants can help fill gaps your team may be experiencing. 

Looking for direction with your organization’s latest project but unsure of where to start in the world of consulting? We’ve outlined several, but not all, major benefits that result from bringing on a professional consultant to your team, especially in this current environment. 

Simplified Onboarding & Flexibility 

Job candidates have the upper hand in the current candidate driven market, so it’s possible that a vacant role could take weeks or months to fill, delaying the timeline of a project entirely. Consultants, on the other hand, can quickly jump into company operations and assist with projects already in the works, without the complicated processes of onboarding a new hire. 

When hiring a consultant, some organizations may wish to outline a specific length of time or the estimated duration of the project. If this is the case for your company, it’s conveniently up to you to decide how long you want to hire a consultant. On the other hand, some organizations may hire consultants without knowing exactly what they need or how long they will be needed. That’s ok too! In either case, consultants provide immense value by jumping into projects immediately with little to no training. If you have a short-term contract in mind, the consultant’s project work may also come in at a fraction of the cost for a permanent, full-time role.

With their agile work ethic, can-do attitude and expansive expertise, consultants can prove to be quite valuable during times of transformation, including organizational change, system implementations and M&A transactions.

Heightened Expertise  & Execution Capacity

Organizations frequently hire consultants because they have lean internal teams and may need specific expertise from someone with a higher professional or expert level than an employee that may have filled a permanent position for the same project. Just as often, organizations rely on consultants to help implement and execute recommended strategies for which they need extra support, or are working in a compressed timeframe. Consultants bring insights and expertise from a variety of past experiences, which adds fresh, outside perspective to a project or challenge – whether it be strategy or execution-based.

Bringing on an external consultant will automatically expand your network as well, just from interacting with someone who has years of experience working for numerous organizations. Not only will it benefit the project for which you brought on the consultant, but connections made from their network may lead to further business development opportunities down the road.

How DLC Can Work for Your Organization 

DLC consultants are experienced professionals and dynamic problem solvers with professional finance and accounting experience at Fortune 1000 companies. We don’t simply offer hands-off recommendations for projects – we see tasks through to successful completion.  

Our consultants are leaders and doers – we are comfortable rolling up our sleeves to assist with business-as-usual tasks, jumping in to lead projects, and/or serving as members on a team. Looking to bring on a consultant to assist with your next project? Reach out today!  

About the Author

Marcia Ayala

Marcia joined DLC in 2006 and now serves as Managing Director for the Chicago market, where she is responsible for new business development, talent acquisition, talent retention and the overall operations of DLC’s Chicago office. She’d previously served as Client Account Director, where her responsibilities included consulting as well as sourcing, managing, and leading client engagements. She has over 20 years of finance and accounting experience working with both Fortune 500 and privately held businesses concentrated in healthcare and pharmaceuticals, consumer and industrial products, education, insurance, and financial services. Marcia is a CPA and a Project Management Professional (PMP). Her consulting focus has centered on acquisition integration, due diligence support, purchase accounting, carve-outs, and divestitures, shared services, FP&A, business unit reporting, and project management.

Prior to joining DLC, Marcia was the Chief Accounting Officer for a GTCR portfolio company where she led the finance and accounting integration related to the purchase of 11 businesses. Marcia began her career in audit at Arthur Andersen and also held finance positions at Kraft Foods and Harley-Davidson Financial Services.

She received her Masters of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Chicago – Booth School of Business, her Masters of Science in Accountancy from DePaul University and her Bachelor’s degree from DePauw University.

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Marcia joined DLC in 2006 and now serves as Managing Director for the Chicago market, where she is responsible for new business development, talent acquisition, talent retention, and the overall operations of DLC’s Chicago office. She’d previously served as Client Account Director, where her responsibilities included consulting as well as sourcing, managing, and leading client engagements. She has over 20 years of finance and accounting experience working with both Fortune 500 and privately held businesses concentrated in healthcare and pharmaceuticals, consumer and industrial products, education, insurance, and financial services. Marcia is a CPA and a Project Management Professional (PMP). Her consulting focus has centered on acquisition integration, due diligence support, purchase accounting, carve-outs, and divestitures, shared services, FP&A, business unit reporting, and project management. Prior to joining DLC, Marcia was the Chief Accounting Officer for a GTCR portfolio company where she led the finance and accounting integration related to the purchase of 11 businesses. Marcia began her career in audit at Arthur Andersen and also held finance positions at Kraft Foods and Harley-Davidson Financial Services. She received her Masters of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Chicago – Booth School of Business, her Masters of Science in Accountancy from DePaul University, and her Bachelors degree from DePauw University.