A multi-billion dollar industry around the world, Image Consulting is gaining popularity with Indians. The urge to compete on a global platform and impress upon others is the need of the hour and this is where an image consultant steps in, says Sheena Agarwaal
Image consultancy is a rewarding and flexible career for a self-motivated person. Both men and women, who enjoy working with clients to help them raise their self-confidence, personal presence and professional impact, make a good deal out of this profession. An eye for details, interest in fashion, desire to empower, patience and a refined personal style away from fashion norms is some of the perquisites for being an image consultant.
A multi-billion dollar industry around the world, Image Consulting is quickly gaining popularity with Indians. The need to compete on a global platform and impress upon others the right attributes has now become imperative in our country. And this is where an image consultant steps in. You take your client, individuals or corporates (basis what you enjoy more), through various segments of image enhancement and empower them with the knowledge to present them optimally.
Who can be a consultantIJ
Although no specific academic qualifications are required, experience working in sectors such as retail, training, human resources, personal development, health, beauty, fashion and styling, is a particular advantage. An ability to relate to people whatever their age, background and status is essential. Foundation training in core subjects is highly recommended. Consultants join the profession from a variety of fields and may eventually decide to specialize in specific areas. Career development will depend on individual expertise, past experience and interests.
Options available
One can start of their career with finding the right training source and practicing the newly learnt skills. It’s important for an image consultant to understand signature styles and changing trends. A lot of image consultants have found it to be extremely beneficial to be trained in life coaching methodology. This helps them internalise and connect better with the clients.
When looking for the course, do your research well. It is important that one finds the right institute to depend on. Your trainer’s understanding on the subject is especially important. Today, a lot of renowned trainers across the globe have made their way into the Indian markets. It’s worth your while to get in touch with them and process the information first hand.
How to get about this
Image consulting sessions are followed by a pattern. We firstly meet our client to understand the needs and requirements and what best could be offered. We don’t offer a same set of service to every client we rather customise on the basis of individual requirement. Identity analyses is the first step which helps us to understand our client better and gives us the hint about his/her choices. Then we do colour analysis in which we tell our clients about their colours.
Wardrobe Consulting
We like to see our client’s wardrobe first and make them try each and every garment to explain that why the garment works for them or why should we remove this or restyle it in a different manner. Then a list of essentials and missing elements is been made. We also like to advise our clients on different tips and tricks that can work for their body shape. We then take them for shopping as per our client’s budget another round of fitting is done to ensure the right fits. We also like to share a lookbook with our clients for their future assistance.
Introduction to Communications and Etiquette Consulting, including:
Corporate consulting
We mostly like to conduct personal branding workshops for our corporate clients. Presentation skills, communication, body language and powerful professional presence are some focus areas.
Pay scale
Most image consultants take on individual or corporate clients or both. Typically, one needs to start their career in image consulting with the sole perspective of creating a credible portfolio. Most beginners charge their clients anything between Rs`1000 per hour to Rs `4,000 per hour. Experience accounts for a lot. Also, it is important to get creative in this field. Go out and design interesting workshops for women clubs, friends get together, corporate offsite, Sunday brunch et al. A little bit of extra work in the initial years will pay off in the long run.
Future prospects
India is the second fastest growing economy in the world and simultaneously hosts the youngest population globally.
With a huge youth population competing fiercely in global markets, the demand for image consultants is all set to grow exponentially. Also, with the dissolving international boundaries, it becomes imperative for our workforce to be culturally sensitized, and project them at a global standard.
Fortunately, everybody is waking up to the value addition that image consultants bring on the table. A multi-billion dollar business abroad, there is aplenty of opportunities for newcomers.
(The contributor is director at Urbanista Image Consultancy llP in New Delhi)