Do you have an uncanny knack for dressing up well? Do you also keep abreast of the latest fashion trends? Do you dress to impress and for success? If your answer to these questions is yes, you should be getting into the most talked of career of the decade- that of an image consultant.
In India, the need for Image Consulting is catapulting and people are realizing the need for projecting the right image in order to have a better personal, professional and social life. Looks matter. And people seemed to have realized that. With human lives being enveloped by social media Tsunami, there is an increasing awareness among people from all walks of life- corporate execs, interns fashionistas, singles looking for partners how relevant it is to cast a good first impression and to immaculately retain it. India is the youngest country in the world today and statistics saying that by 2020, the average age of India is going to be 21, the competition and the need to be one up is going to be more than ever before. More and more people will look for an Image Consultant to enhance their lives. With this, the demand for Image Consultants will grow exponentially. This provides an excellent opportunity for becoming to take up Image Consulting as a career.
Career Avenues:
As an image consultant, you would be majorly self-employed and work with individual clients or work with an image consulting agency. There is also work with groups, conferences, department stores, and presentations. This is an entrepreneurial profession that gives you flexible hours, your own business, and client control. You can choose to work full or part-time; from home, office or commercial premises.
Here are some job avenues you can aim at:
Recruitment or Training firms:
An image consultant can find a job easily at Recruitment or Training firms. These companies need to have expertise in dealing with people and set the benchmark of the perfect image of employees. So image consultants can add value to their service.
Airlines and Hospitality Industry:
Here the success of the industry is mostly dependent upon by the company employees. Be it ground stuff or front desk executive the service delivery of such company is mostly depended upon the employee’s image.
Fashion:
Fashion is akin to an image. Image consultants are very important to build up the career of an upcoming fashion model or fashion designer. So an image consultant can get hired by grooming institutes for a model or individually work as image consultants.
Organized Retail:
As the number of people who buy garments after changing fashion and without implementing their common sense much, the retail industry now appoints persons who can advise buyers for what to buy for certain occasions or for certain projects. People will obviously love to get advice from a pro instead of getting advice from a salesperson.
Getting in
No specific educational qualification or experience is necessary to enter into a career as an image consultant. However, you may find it useful to have experience in areas like public relations, fashion, hair and beauty therapy, consultancy, human resources management. There are certification programs available for those who wish to receive job training. These programs cover image consulting, fashion design, body types, and clothing portfolios.
Institutes:
- Image Consulting Business Institute, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Nagpur
- Impact, Image, Style and Etiquette Consultants, Gurgaon (regular courses in Bangalore, Mumbai)
- Istituti Callegari, Mumbai
- First Impression, (a unit of Frankfinn group), Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Amritsar
- Xavier Institute of Communication, Mumbai
- Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication,
- Mudra Institute of Communication, Ahmedabad
- Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi
Online courses:
- Fashion Image Institute
- The Image Maker Inc.
The Road Ahead:
Image Management is ubiquitous. Everyone needs it. From CEOs to employees at the lowest rung, multinational companies to startups, people living in metros to the smallest towns and villages, high net worth individuals to those from the lower socio-economic strata, from homemakers to retired personnel to career people, everyone needs image management. And these different segments of people are seeking the services of Image Consultants.
This is the reason behind the large Rs.624 crores per annum market size of Image Consulting in India. The more interesting aspect is that this market is growing exponentially. If celebrities, the rich and the famous were the only people to hire Image Consultants, the market would not be a quarter this size, nor would it show the kind of tremendous growth it has been showing.
Therefore, join the bandwagon and be a part of the most talked of career of the decade
