Certified Management Consultant

What's The Certified Management Consultant (CMC)—The preeminent designation earned in the management consulting profession.

In selecting management consultants, managers are well advised to seek individuals who meet the profession's standards of competence and ethics. The CMC designation is a valuable aid in this quest. Certification by the Institute of Management Consultants is the mark of excellence among management consulting professionals.

Certification

When you see the initials CMC following a consultant's name, it means that he or she is a Certified Management Consultant and has met strict certification requirements of the Institute of Management Consultants.

The Institute was founded in 1968 by the principal associations in the consulting field to establish publicly recognized standards of competence and professional conduct for the individual management consultant. Applicants for Institute certification undergo thorough investigation of their consulting experience; they are interviewed by a panel of senior consultants to verify their technical competence; and they must pass a written examination evidencing their familiarity with the Institute's Code of Ethics, which they have pledged in writing to follow.

Standards of Competence

Every step leading to the CMC designation has been designed to verify the candidate's professional competence.

A Certified Management Consultant must have had at least three years of experience in the full-time practice of management consulting, with major responsibility for client projects during at least one of those years. The CMC has had to provide multiple references, most of them officers or executives of clients served. These references have been investigated to assure that consulting relationships were satisfactory.

The CMC has had to provide written summaries of five client assignments (disguised to protect client identity). The CMC has had to pass a qualifying interview by senior CMCs, demonstrating professional competence and currency in areas of specialization, application of experience, and understanding of the management consulting process. The CMC is examined to confirm understanding of the Code of Ethics and attests annually to abide by it.

The certification process is expressly designed to assure that those who bear it will uphold the highest standards in the consulting industry.