My manager has spoken to me about doing a CMC (Certified Management Consultant) qualification. Any advice from people who have undertaken CMC?How much work is involved? And most importantly .. does it actually add anything to your CV?ThanksM

Sorry to be add a cynical note here but in consultancy any CV value comes from evidence of growth and success within the field - more responsibility, promotion, bigger projects and career path being some of the things they watch for. Those things are far more important than a CMC certification - whatever that is. I have been in the consulting field for ages and neither I nor any of the many succesful consultants I know have even heard of this certification. Sure having a certification cannot possibly hurt but I doubt if it will add much value in terms of CV appeal.

Professional qualifications are always of questionable value aren't they?I used to argue that it was important for engineers to pursue chartered status to increase the profile of the engineering profession, and maybe bump up the wages a bit. However, Consultants are amongst the highest salaried workers out there.But my first argument still goes: it seems the respected professions all have registration involved eg lawyers, doctors etc The fact that any kid down the street can walk into Easons, pick up a book on Visual Studio and charge £10 for a software project pisses me off.Registration keeps the professional standards up - but this CMC ain't it!!

Thanks both for your observations.There is certainly something about increasing responsibility showing competence, but I saw CMC as an objective assessment of skills and competence.I am sure there is another side of CMC, I wonder if anyone else would like to offer a viewpoint?

I have been consulting over 10 years - 8 with 2 of the big 5 and never heard it mentioned by anyone already "in" - it will add little to your career prospects as is and probably won't help you get a better job. I recruit as a consultant and would not give it any real merit - experience is what counts.

I suspet for success as a consultant your time would probably be better spent building domain expertise ( for example a CFA if you're in the Financial Services industry) than necessarily a 'generic' and not particularly highly valued consulting certification which is likely to be fairly meaningless to the clients of a consulting firm.

The CMC qualification is sometimes used as a pre-requisite for indy consultants. A client I worked for (whilst working for a large firm) would prefer to recruit subbies who had the qualification. Those that did could command a higher rate. If you ever want to fly solo then it might be useful. In the world of big consulting firms it doesn't matter a jot. However, the more tools in your bag the better I say!

I've been both a solo as well as a big firm consultant and have never seen anyone pay particular attention to this particular certification. Lets face it, it's all about what clients value and most of them are just not aware of the value (if any) of the CMC. Ergo, I would say that if you have spare time to dedicate to demosntrating competence in an area, it would be more beneficial to acquire a domain specific certification.

I'm a smidge saddened by the responses you've had so far M. I did my CMC in 2000 & found it a useful and challenging experience. The IMC (who award the CMC) has recently merged with the CMI & I suggest you look at their website, speak to them or go along to one of the CMC presentations the IMC do, before you make your mind up as to whether or not to work towards the CMC. It is quite a bit of work but personally I found it worth it. The IMC & Government have recently been doing a lot of work to bring in standards for management consulting contracts & it is likely that those who have never heard of it (even the big firms) will not be in such a great place when it comes to winning business in the future. More searching questions are asked of independents & I would echo all the comments about the value of experience. If you decide not to go for it ( & personally I would encourage you to do your CMC, but I would say that as a CMC & FIMC wouldn't I?!) I would recommend that you look at the IMC Code of Professional Conduct & Ethics. I have found that guidance to be fantastically helpful whenever I have a bit of a dilemma about how to handle a difficult assignment. Good luck whichever way you decide.