| Topic Name: |
Work/Life Balance & Consulting Hours |
| Message Name: |
So what are the advantages of this lifestyle choice? |
| Date Posted: |
04/12/2002 |
| In Reply To: |
I work for one of the Big 5 in consulting. Some of my coworkers flatly tell their managers that they cannot work more than a certain number of hours or days per week. Those are the consultants whom managers do not put on their projects. Those are the consultants whose chargeability is very low - they are the first to get cut.
Consulting is a lifestyle choice which requires you to be incredibly flexible, you will never know your schedule more than a few weeks out (at most!), and it is difficult to plan anything. As a single person without any commitments, let me tell you this is hard to get used to. If you have a child to care for...I cannot imagine trying to consult at the same time.
Some of the others who have posted are very accurate...sometimes the time commitment is 80 hours/week, sometimes only 20. However, if you show a willingness to put in any overtime required and change your plans at the drop of a hat, it will make you very popular with managers and you are more likely to be staffed and busy more often. This is way to have a successfulo career in consulting.
My suggestion: go do phenomenal work for a corporation where the average work week is 40-50 hrs. Put in your 55 and look like the office star. After a couple years of solid experience, when your son is a little older, re-consider the consulting lifestyle and go in as an experienced hire. Maybe the economic climate for consulting will be better then anyway.
Best of luck. |
| Message: |
I also work as a consultant with the big five. I fail to see the advantages. you are either working your ass off or sitting around doing nothing on the beach.
The money is not much higher than industry. The only way to get big $$$ is to wait around until you are a partner. Its not like I Banking or some other industries where you can make big money.
Its dificult to have any kind of life because you travel so much.
And the experience so far is meaningless. Its so broad and interspersed with beach time that I feel like I haven't learned anything.
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