How Do I Begin Benefit Consulting?

Benefit consultants design, setup, and manage employee benefit packages for companies. Businesses often hire benefit consultant firms as a cost efficient solution to find the best benefit plan package to present to their employees. You can typically begin benefit consulting by first graduating from college with a degree in management, finance, economics, or business and then gaining an entry level position within a benefit consulting firm. Benefit consulting professionals are generally employed by companies that specialize in advising other businesses in employee investing, health care plans, and retirement planning.

A consistent salary is generally not the only award a job provides to its employees. Many companies also offer a benefits package that can include medical insurance, profit sharing, investment matching, and retirement savings plans. Benefits such as health care and investment management are usually provided by a third party company. As such, benefit management can require coordinating and organizing the services of several distinct companies. Each service also has many different plan options and price ranges to offer, resulting in a variety of available choices to present to the employees of a business.

The complex array of benefit options and services can often be managed with the help of a benefit consulting company. Businesses hire benefit consultants to advise employees on plan choices and to enroll employees into new programs. Individuals who work for benefit consulting companies may visit other businesses to talk to their employees, answer questions, and setup services.

To begin benefit consulting, you should probably first concentrate on completing your education. A college degree is not always required by benefit management companies, but it can help substantially when finding an entry level job if you have no prior benefit advisory experience. Often, when you first begin working as a benefit consultant you will start by presenting the services your company provides to businesses in order to gain new clients. Securing new business may be a large part of your job description, so a background in sales may be a good way to begin.

Another way to gain experience that can be used to begin a career in benefit consulting is to work in finance and investing as the retirement packages offered to employees in benefit packages often include investment options. As part of your job as a consultant, you may be advising employees on investment choices and long-term money management. You will also probably be responsible for knowing the intricate details of a variety of health care plan choices, so another option available to you to begin working as a benefit consultant is to first work in some capacity for a health insurance provider.