Consulting Jargon

By Amanda Huang

Consulting is officially defined as the business of giving expert advice to other professionals, usually in financial or business matters. Demand for consultants in the business world will always be booming so it’s important to familiarize ourselves with consulting lingo. Here are some of the most common terms you might encounter:

Consulting:

On the beach: period of time when a consultant is not assigned to a project

20,000 feet view: an overall or cursory look at something

Buckets: another way to say “categories” or “groups” when talking about a project

Buy-in: support or agreement from stockholders

Chargeable: Most important number for consultants (almost like a consultant GPA). It refers to the number of hours for which you get to bill your client

Engagement/project/case: the current project you’re working on; specific piece of client work

Leverage: the use of resources, materials, people and knowledge you need in order to finish a project

Subject matter expert (SME): the person you call first when you need to know more about a specific topic

Straw man: the outline of a document without all its fluff, or content

Tighten up: refining Excel documents, grammar, formatting, spell-check

Stay tuned for more additions to the business jargon dictionary!