Building a Successful Career in Energy Consulting – The Definitive Guide
Are you interested in becoming an energy consultant? If so, then I know there are loads of questions you have regarding this type of job. You’re asking: What kind of work will I be doing? How do I start building my career successfully? And how can I even get into this line of work in the first place?
All three of these essential points – plus a lot more – will be covered in this blog post. Think of it as the ultimate go-to guide for anyone considering an energy consultant career. I’ll talk you through everything you need to know, so you’re in a prime position to move forward down this career path.
Energy Consultant Job Description
Perhaps the biggest question on your mind is; What kind of work will I be doing if I start applying for energy consultant jobs?
The job title ‘Energy Consultant’ is only a few years old. However, it’s quickly becoming one of the most important roles in modern society.
An energy consultant will work with different clients to assist them in getting the most out of their energy. Primarily, you will be working with businesses to help them lower their carbon footprint and find solutions to help them manage their energy bill.
Generally speaking, your work revolves around assessing the energy use of a particular business and studying the different sources of energy they use, etc. It’s up to you to find out more effective solutions to use less non-renewable energy, without hurting business performance.
Understandably, you may be wondering how you will benefit from a career like this.
Earn more than $200,000 Annually With Navigate Power
First of all, let’s talk about money. The average energy consultant salary – as per Indeed – is currently around $67,301.
Now, Seeking Alpha figures that the average salary across the board for all Americans is estimated at $59,055. So, even when you take the average energy consultant wage into account, you’re earning almost $10,000 above average every year.
Naturally, the salary you earn will vary depending on how you go about your work. At Navigate Power, the pay is commission-based, and the top-earning energy consultants can make as much as $200,000 – $300,000 per year!
Which brings me to the next benefit;
The Perks of Working as an Energy Consultant
You have a lot of flexibility and freedom with this role – if you want it.
Some energy consultants will be directly contracted to businesses and solely work for them. A lot of the large manufacturing companies will do this as they need constant guidance and supervision.
However, most energy consultants will operate almost as freelancers, handling multiple clients all at once. By working as a freelancer, you have the chance to open up numerous revenue streams, maximizing the money you make.
One of the best things about this career is that you tend to get out what you put in. The more effort you make, and the more work you do, the more money you will earn. You even have the opportunity to build your team and start your very own energy consulting firm if you want to!
Additional Read: The Growing Value Of Energy Consulting
Sustainability as an Outstanding Energy Consultant
Building a successful career hinges on how you define ‘success.’ For me, a successful energy consultant career is one where you’re earning a lot of money and making a real difference. Your work has resulted in many businesses reducing greenhouse gasses and contributing to a much healthier environment.
How you do this is the tricky part. Realistically, all you need is a big book of business contacts and plenty of sales experience. With these two things, they instantly help you secure lots of clients and grow your portfolio.
If you manage to continuously learn about new things in the energy industry, build a brand for yourself, generate lots of leads, and open multiple sales channels, then you’ll start to grow.
Your experience grows with you, which makes it easier to find more and more clients.
3 Easy Steps to Become a Class Apart Energy Consultant
Step 1- Correct Focus and Approach
Focusing on generating as many leads as you can, while phase two is following them up and trying to turn them into sales. As we touched upon earlier, working with us can help you do this as we open up so many sales opportunities for energy consultants.
Step 2- Build a Reputation As a Premium Energy Consultant
It all comes down to how you build a reputation as a premium consultant. In essence, you need to have experience marketing yourself and showing off your talents. A lot of consultants will even invest in marketing campaigns to get their name out there and build a positive brand.
Step 3- Keep Learning
The more you educate yourself, the better you will be at your job, so focus on that as well. Similarly, try and gain as much experience as you can – even if it means starting off working smaller energy consulting jobs. You can’t reach the top straight away, it takes time to climb this career ladder.
In a Nutshell –
If you manage to continuously learn about new things in the energy industry, build a brand for yourself, generate lots of leads, and open multiple sales channels, then you’ll start to grow.
Your experience grows with you, which makes it easier to find more and more clients. Who knows, it may even get to a point where you have to hire other consultants and create your own private energy consulting firm! As a result, you will have built a successful career in this line of work.
Climbing the Ladder of Success as an Energy Consultant
When looking for your dream job, you want to find something with longevity; something that’s sustainable for many years.
An energy consultant’s job will only get more critical as the years go by. Businesses will start to place more emphasis on lowering their carbon footprint, and you’ll be needed to help deal with different green energy solutions. As such, the demand for your expertise will grow – as will your future salary!
One of the easiest ways to open up many doors for yourself is to work with us at Navigate Power. We have enough experience in the industry to give you access to more deregulated markets, competitive suppliers, and compensation plans.
Working at Navigate Power – Reviews by our Energy Consultants
The best way to illustrate this is by showing you what our workers say. Seth Zuskin, one of our current consultants, sums up our approach perfectly with this quote:
“With Navigate Power, it’s not just the competitiveness in the supply pricing, but it’s the 360 model that they have for energy procurement, energy efficiency and true energy management.”
Along with this, we emphasize how important it is to have a team in place that supports your consulting work. Another of our current energy consultants, Vince Agozzion, has this to say about working for us :
“First and foremost, you want someone who is there to support your work. So anything that you need to know about the business that you don’t understand, they take the time to approach those questions and answer them thoroughly”.
As if all this wasn’t enough to convince you, here’s a short video below showing more benefits of working with us:
So, all in all, this career can be incredibly beneficial for you. After seeing this, you’re probably itching to get started. Which brings us to the next question…
Eligibility Criteria to Apply for Energy Consultant Jobs
Unlike a lot of careers, there is no specific college degree you can take that will fast-track you toward becoming an energy consultant. Likewise, you don’t need to do a lot of coursework to qualify as a consultant in the energy field. If you have experience in the following areas, then you’re already well-suited to this job:
- Commercial Property Managers
- Accountants
- Lighting Professionals
- Municipal Planners
- B2B Professionals
- Direct Sales Professionals
- Business development professionals
All of these roles force you to be very independent, and confident and have success being hands-on in making sales. What’s more, all of these skills translate into becoming an energy consultant as well.
If you’re just starting in your career, and want to know how you get started, then you should think about education and training. While I said there are no direct college degrees for this job, you can take some that help you out.
Majoring in an engineering field that focuses on energy will be of assistance as it pays to understand the world of energy.
Training Courses at Navigate Power to Kick-Start Your Career
Following on from this, you can take training courses online through Navigate Power. We offer a range of in-depth training courses that help you get to grips with energy and the specifics of it. All of this is available online, and you can even get one-on-one training with a Channel Manager too.
So, there are two crucial things to focus on if you want to become an energy consultant; having relevant experience, and educating yourself. You don’t always need experience in the energy field, but it helps when you do. As long as you have some degree of experience in jobs that use similar skill sets, then this will translate perfectly for you.
Now, it’s just a matter of finding clients and starting your career.
Start Your Career in Energy Consulting Today
- Energy consultants work with businesses to help them become more energy-efficient, saving money and the environment at the same time.
- Working as an energy consultant has many benefits, including the chance to set your schedule with flexibility, and earn a healthy salary.
- Working with Navigate Power can help you undergo special training/education, along with opening up new sales ventures as well.
- The best way to start your career is by educating yourself on the topic of energy and getting experience in relevant fields where you gain transferable skills.
- Building your career is all about generating a big book of business contacts and promoting yourself as the go-to consultant who can help make a difference.
Hopefully, this tells you everything you need to know to get started with your energy consulting career today! If you are looking to embark on your career as an energy consultant, don’t hesitate to contact us. We at Navigate Power will provide you with special training so you can benefit from this rewarding and financially beneficial career.
About Navigate Power
Navigate Power is a leading electricity and natural gas consulting firm, headquartered in Chicago, IL. Ranked no. 550 on the 2017 and no. 856 on the 2018 Inc. 5000 list as one of the fastest-growing companies in the nation, Navigate Power continues to expand into new markets nationwide and currently manages over 30,000 commercial energy accounts and over one billion dollars in energy budgets. Call 1-800-541-1137 for more information!
