If someone can add value to an organisation then consulting could be an option. However, it is not the right thing for many people.

As an aside, with my poor eyesight, I really struggled to read the post, changing font contrasts meant I gave up and had the computer read the text instead.

Hi Sarah,
Consultancy is something I’m seriously considering. After being made redundant at the end of 2024, I’ve taken the opportunity to pause, reassess, and reflect on what’s next. HR has always been my passion—a field where I’ve had the privilege of driving change, supporting people, and creating meaningful impact.

With a fresh perspective and an open mind, I’m excited to explore opportunities that align with my skills and values. 2025 marks a new chapter for me: a new year, a fresh start, and new beginnings. I’m looking forward to connecting, learning, and seeing where this journey takes me.

I would love to connect with anyone else that has or is thinking of setting themselves up as an HR consultant.

Having made the move, I can certainly vouch for it being different to an internal role. I think, as it's already been pointed out, it requires a particular mentality and has different requirements to a solely 'in-house' job.
For me, I initially moved to a consultancy, where I learned an awful lot in a very short period of time, working with multiple clients on multiple projects means you've got to have your head screwed on and taught me to manage my time. From there I started my own consultancy and through networking and some concerted effort I've been fortunate to make a good start of it.
I certainly had/have hopes and dreams of working in blocks on specific work or less overall, but this comes with other requirements like making enough for the rest of the time to be able to enjoy the fruits of your labour as well as forward planning to make sure the highs and lows balance out.

In reply to Suzy Simons:

Suzy, here is a video featuring Mike Monteiro which may (or may not) be helpful. It is aimed at designers but the principals are the same for HR Consultants. The information discussed is important for anyone running their own business.

A quick warning, there is quite a lot of swearing.  The video is titled 'F***k You, Pay Me'
www.youtube.com/watch

This is a really interesting topic and one that I have actively considered at a few different points in my career. I think the trigger points for me were:

*like Suzy, having been made redundant;
*working in an organisation which used HR consultants and coaches and seeing the day rates my organisation was prepared to pay, versus the salaried equivalent I received for often very similar work^
*having to leave a (non HR) role due to burn out;
*knowing a fair few peers who left organisations to set out on their own.

^Of course, I did factor in that I was not comparing exact like for like, but in some cases, there were magnitudes of difference in compensation.

I dipped my toe in the water a couple of years ago when between roles and concluded that I didn't want to take either of the two most common routes into more challenging work on OD projects and/or coaching (my specialisms) as I saw them. These were either supporting small businesses with predominantly ER and compliance work or delivering training on management topics as a way into becoming a trusted supplier. As I don't particularly like delivering training or ER work, it seemed to me to be a poor choice to have to invest considerable time and energy on this to build a client base to be able to move onto the more interesting work. **DISCLAIMER As I may change my mind and decide to pursue these options in future, I am perfectly competent at both, they are just not my favourite things to do :) **

I also tested out whether working as a contractor was a viable model for me and my family - the short conclusions of this experiment was, sort of, but I had become used to and valued the employed model in terms of ability and expectation to take up holiday as well are predictably of earnings. I also missed feeling part of a team when I was working on a longer term contract, I hadn't realised how much I got support and a sense of belonging from that. Although many people may mock me, I also missed being a manager/leader/decision maker and the importance of this aspect of work to me.

I think the main skillset which prevents HR people from moving into consultancy work is a lack of business development and sales skills. This was definitely a factor for me. I am well aware of the very crowded market locally for consultants and coaches and what different rates people charge. I'm a pretty good coach I think, but then so are several other 1000s of people out there who have put the time and effort into building individual and organisational relationships. I had some disappointing experiences trying to join organisations as an associate coach/consultant including one experience with the NHS where I wasted a fair bit of time pursuing an opportunity that never was finalised. That was a valuable learning point for me, the amount of active leads needed to have any chance of a decent conversion rate.I also think that although the new coaching platforms are doing well at exposing more people to coaching, the rates given are very low compared to what individual independent coaches can earn.

Then there is money. I couldn't financially take the hit to drop from a salary into the uncertainty of contract/consultancy or at least not for long enough that it would likely have taken to grow the business to the scale I wanted.

But as I said, never say never! There are definitely aspects of my skillset and personality which align well with consultancy and who knows when I will revisit this again.

Thank you for raising this topic, it's been interesting to reflect on my journey and I hope that some of what I shared is useful to others.

In reply to Mike:

Thanks for posting - and welcome to our Community,Mike 

I worked as a freelance consultant for several years when I had small children. It was something I fell into rather than planned (I was on mat leave and was offered work by someone that led to a longer term commitment from them - so I resigned from my permanent role). It was great to have the flexibility, but less than a year later I took on a part time role too - partly for the stable income, but mostly because I missed so many of the things that I love about what I do: the people.

I found it was really hard being parachuted in to deal with a redundancy, for example, without the chance to get to know any of the people involved. It became about the process, rather than the way that I feel I add the most value.

The part time role for me led to a full time and flexible role, so I gave up the freelance work then - but when I was made redundant, many years later, I thought I'd return to consulting. It was then that I went to talk to a friend of a family member, who ran a very successful HR consulting business. She was happy to offer me work, and did so, but most valuably she talked to me about the WHY - why she loved running her business, and the passion she brought to being her own boss and developing her team. It really made me think - and actually to change my mind. I realised that I like being part of an established team, I like having a much wider team that I know and support, I like being part of something with a different purpose, and (realistically) I like getting a salary, sick pay, pension etc.

I'll be forever grateful to have had that conversation at the right time. Like Gemma, it's a never-say-never situation for me: but if I change my mind in future, it will be with open eyes.

Good luck.

Nina

In reply to Steven :

Thank you I will take a look.