One thing you need to realize when you interview for your job: you won't spend all that much time in the firm's fancy quarters in NY, LA or SF. Mostly, you will work from the client's site. And the client will give you an office. Not necessarily your own office, mind. Privacy is for lawyers and academics. If you are lucky, you get wedged into a cramped hole with your consulting colleagues. If you're not, you find yourself in the client team room. That means: constant surveillance, constant availability, constant display of competence. It also means: no web surfing, no bitching, no gossip, no private phone calls. On my current assignment, my desk is directly facing that of the middle manager in charge of the client team for our module. We have a choice of staring either at our computer screens or straight into one another's eyes. Good thing he finishes work at five p.m. sharp every day.
Believe me, we would both change the arrangement if we could. But the space was allocated by the CEO himself, who made it very clear that he wants the consultants to co-operate closely with his own people. He has a point, frankly. If we were left to our own devices, we'd run this project from home, fly in once a week and deliver a big thumping report at the end. That's the way this business used to work, and it's exactly what the CEO wants to avoid. Implementation is included in the deal, whether we like it or not (we mostly don't). And he knows how to make it happen. He should: he's an ex-consultant himself.
1 comment:
Well remember the experiences you recount myself; getting up at 4.30 a.m. every Monday to catch the first flight out etc.
Thankfully in those days the expenses were virtually unlimited and at least the pay and bonuses were good. Now, well they just have not kept pace, and in many cases have actually fallen, which is why many Consultancies are having trouble getting professional experienced staff (see Top Consultant's latest salary survey)!
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