employ a consultant

Meaning

This phrase means to hire an external expert or advisor to provide professional advice or services. Unlike hiring a permanent employee, this typically refers to a temporary, project-based contract.

Examples

• We decided to employ a consultant to help us restructure our marketing strategy.

  We decided to employ a consultant to help us restructure our marketing strategy.

• It might be cheaper to employ a consultant for this short project than hiring a full-time specialist.

  It might be cheaper to employ a consultant for this short project than hiring a full-time specialist.

• The school board plans to employ a consultant to evaluate their digital learning program.

  The school board plans to employ a consultant to evaluate their digital learning program.

• Before you employ a consultant, make sure to define the exact scope of work.

  Before you employ a consultant, make sure to define the exact scope of work.

• They had to employ a consultant to guide them through the complex legal regulations.

  They had to employ a consultant to guide them through the complex legal regulations.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ We should employ a consultance.

  ✓ We should employ a consultant.

  'Consultance' is not a word for a person. A 'consultant' is the professional person, while a 'consultancy' is the firm or agency.

• ✗ The company will employ a consult.

  ✓ The company will employ a consultant.

  'Consult' is a verb meaning to seek advice. The noun for the specialist you hire is 'consultant'.

Related Expressions

Practice

• We don't have tax expertise in-house, so we need to ___.

  💡 Hire an external expert.

  Show answer

  employ a consultant

• It was a smart move to ___ to fix our software security issues.

  💡 Hire a professional adviser.

  Show answer

  employ a consultant