Career tips : Trying not to over react

This work situation has me besides myself. I know that I do have a tendency to over react , or react without thinking it through 100% and I am trying not to do this..... Here is my situation, all comments welcome.

I work as a consultant for a major agency. It is really a ramped up temp type of situation. This is a management division, most consultants are doing Sr level work and earn a base salary of 75-80 K per year.I am a perm employee of the agency, receive full benefits (paid vacations and holidays, health insurance, 401K, ect). I have a set hourly rate, and if I work OT I am paid straight time. In the event that the agency does not place me an assignment I am paid a 40 hour work week based on my set rate. On an average each assignment is about 3 months... The idea is that even though the agency bills out an overtime rate, and I am paid straight time, a kitty is accumulated for times when I am being paid and not working...... The problem....

After a year and 1/2 with the company for the first time they could not immediatley place me on a new job and this is the first week that I will be paid and not work.... They found an opportunity that would require a 1/2 hour commute to the train, then another hour (at least) to the office location. At the best the round trip will be a 3 hour a day commute, not counting time waiting for trains, ect... Further, in the state I am in this area is a tough commute and most employers in the area will pay close to 20K a year more than other areas.I told the agency that the commute was unreasonable, and then the blow out began! They insisted that I need to be flexiable,and take the assignment and that it will only be for a month.

I always felt that we worked as a team. I really sold the OT to the client usually working 45 hours a week. I represented the firm well, received raves from the clients on the product I deleivered. All was great until it was time for the agency to payback.. When I took this job I also took a 20K a year pay cut. so that my life would be less stressful and more local, giving me a better quality of life.... Now I am gong to an area I would not ever conisder doing the commute on a perm basis, regardless of the preimum salaries being paid.. Although I do not have it in writting, when I signed on with the agency, they said that they would not place me hours away from my home.. Now they stated that this is a new program and to be patience and bear with them while the work out the kinks.

I so much feel like I have been taken advantage of and the agency does not respect its consultants. I agreed to take the job, and am quite sorry right now that I caved in. This week-end I started to submit my resume to other companies. Even when this project is over I cant see how the mutual respect I thought we had can be repaired.... So, am I over re acting??? I promise I wont over react to comments!!

Commuting is a part of life in many parts of the US. Unless you' ve got a deal with the company that you won' t commute more than XX hours to any assignment, then they have the right to REQUIRE you to do so, or let you go. I understand not wanting to spend 3 hours in commute, but that' s the trade off you' re making for not having to go out and find your own consulting gigs.

If you can do better elsewhere, feel free to look, but it is pretty sweet to be paid when you' re not working. You' re not likely to find a lot of jobs that will do that for you.

Would you consider happily doing the job if you were paid for travel time? That is something you could propose as a compromise.

Three hours a day travel time is in my opinion beyond excessive. A lot of companies that perform services charge for travel time.

If your employer has a problem with that, I suppose you could tell them they need to be more flexible. It's easy for them to tell you how you should be when it's your time they are spending.

Otherwise, if it is possible in your particular case, why not ask them to provide temporary housing for a month? They can always pay for a hotel/motel room or an apartment for a month.

Just don't "cut off your nose to spite your face."

I as much expected you to respond this way... These thoughts have gone through my mind too and that is why I had the fear I was over reacting. Being a salaried consultant it hardly ever happens that a consutant is out of work. Prior to the agency placing a consultant with a client ,the client agrees to a 3 week notice that the project is going to end. This gives the recruiter enough lead time for the next placement. We get placed above the needs of any temp employee. Like I said with an average of a contract lasting 3 months this is the first time in a year and a half that I have not gone off of a job and right on to the next. In this case the merger I was working on fell through very quickly and the job ended with a 4 hour notice. I suppose the agency could have recourse with the client, but this is not likely going to happen. This "not work" and get paid is not as sweet as it sounds... I would of much rather been placed within in hour from my home with no down time instead of the situation I now have. The agency is in a reaction mode and I end up feeling the pain of it. Frankly, I am not even sure I have the proper background for this project.

In the end I guess I need to consider what is important to me and only I can answer that.. A 3 hour commute is pretty high on my list of what I dont want, so perhaps after all consulting is not a right fit for me. My biggest problem really is that I earned enough money for this agency with overtime that I was not compensated for to cover this down time. I was always fine with not being paid for the overtime so that when the situation occured it would not be an issue..... It is this inequity that bothers me more than anything else that I cannot seem to get past.

Sure, being paid for my travel would of made me feel better. At least I would of felt that OK we have a situation and we are working through it together.

I am trying to understand, so let me see if I get this - you are in management consulting, right? You are paid a salary, not an hourly rate; right? When you are not billing (time on the bench) you are paid anyway; right? On top of your salary you receive benefits; figure that the company is paying 1.5 for you; meaning if you earn $75K then they are actually paying $112,500 for you.

On average you are likely billed at a 22% to 28% margin after overhead and operations costs have been applied and the average "cost" rates have been allocated for your grade.

Now let me give you some realism on consulting, having been in this business for more than 15 years. Nearly every week I get up and get on a plan, I commute on average 3 hours by plane to my clients, I also have an hour drive to the airport and have to be there at least 90 minutes before departure (remember that is two ways). I usually work two clients so I do planes 4 times a week, on average. This is the norm for most consultants. Most consultants are required to travel. That you are not means that you are lucky.

The overtime that you work is part of the job. Most consultants work 45 to 50 hours a week. Sometimes the work Time & Material contracts which means that every hour they work is billed, sometimes they work Not to Exceed contracts, and many times they work fixed price. It really doesn't matter, you are paid a salary. Your employer is in the business to sell services, in this case yours and if they can sell a few extra hours then that is better for them (profit). If as you say you are working for a Major consultancy than you are also on a bonus plan. I suspect that you are on a utilization bonus plan, meaning that you will get paid for those extra hours ultimately because you will meet your targets and thus get your bonus.

If you are in consulting you do need to be flexible. You need to take the assignments that you are handed. You shouldn't have even batted an eye, sorry. Consulting comes with some downsides and one of them is "no choice" in jobs, take the assignments you are given or change jobs.

Yes, you do have it right. with a few exceptions. I am not on a bonus plan. The company also has offices in most major states so we do not travel out of state. We can however, request to work out of state, which I have not done.

I hear you though, this is the life and I suppose the down side of consulting. As I said I think I just need to think through if this postion is the right fit for me. I took a pay cut to take this position and I am leaning pretty heavy towards that they pay cut was not worth it. For me, there just might be too many down sides to consuting. I do however apprecaite your comments and the wake up call. I am curious though, why is it that you have chosen the consulting path? The upsdies?

One more quick question.. I am a CPA and prior to consuting held positions as a controller. For the agency my resume begins with my software skil set, which is rather extensive, followed by my education.. Should I decide to pursue a perm position, do you think this area should now drop to the bottom of the resume?

You ask a difficult question and one that I ask myself frequently - why do I stay in consulting? Lets list the major CONS first, these are not just for me but for anyone who chooses this career / life path and stays with it, keeping in mind that most don't stay longer than 5 years.

CONS

Travel, most are road warriors meaning 75% + travel. These days travel is even harder than it use to be and then add to this that airlines have cut services so even being a road warrior doesn't give you the bennies that you once got.
Physical wear and tear. Comes from bad diet, long hours, many drink far to much, late nights, running through airports with suitcases; the list goes on.
Emotional wear and tear. This career path is hard on relationships; no ifs, ands, or buts. When you are gone 5 days a week it is difficult to sustain personal relationships even strong marriages sometimes suffer. If you aren't in a long-term relationship it is hard to find and start one. If you are in one it is hard to maintain intimacy when you aren't there. There is also the issue that both people get into routines during the week and overtime can grow to resent the other person. Divorce rates are exceedingly high in this world.
Stress. Performance stress is through the ceiling, always. You have to be always on your game; clients aren't paying for you to have a bad day. Then add most consulting firms are political nightmares to work within; if they are partnerships then they are usually made up of small fiefdoms with the partner at the top and everyone else bowing and scraping as they walk by, hoping to get noticed and hoping to advance one step closer to that next partner opening. If they aren't partnerships then they are still filled with people from the old Big 5 who have brought the "Up or Out" mentality with them. Learning to survive your organization and your clients is an art in and of itself.

Now to the PROS and their are a few:

Diversity of work. For me, well I grow bored easily and so consulting is a great environment for me as I can work with multiple clients over the course of a year and have constant challenges placed in front of me.
Travel (yes I know it is a CON); if you are in this life long enough you learn to work the system. I don't mind the grind of travel and the long-term benefits are that my husband and I take nearly "free" holidays 2 and sometimes 3 times a year on my miles and hotel points.
Pay, in most cases consultants simply make more money than their industry counterparts. By the way I am shocked that you are not on a bonus program, this is nearly unheard of in the consulting world! If you wouldn't mind telling me what you are consulting "in or on" I would be interested.
Personal Growth, opportunities abound and it is up to the individual to take them. Industry employers rarely open the number of doors that consultancies open. I have never been told "no" you can't further enhance your skills if I was able to provide logical progression of revenue benefit to my employer. This is the one great thing about being "billable"; if I can show my manager how to make more money from my hours then they will always approve my requests for additional training.
FREEDOM TO ACT. Probably the most important component in consulting. Once you earn your stripes you have enormous latitude. Consulting is primarily a trust based business this is true with both clients and employers. Yes of course there are rules but within them I want and need the freedom to act and I have that more so in consulting than in any industry job I have ever held.

For me personally, I love what I do. I haven't always loved my employers and I certainly haven't always loved my clients, but I love what I do. It has at times been hard on my friends and family, but we work it out I am fortunate. I suppose I have a gypsy spirit even in my career choice. I have lived and worked internationally and with some great companies. I have had career experiences that most people will never get and that have enhanced me as a person and a professional.

As to your other question, great consulting answer; It depends. What are the software skills? Are the highly relevant? Personally I have always liked resumes that provide both hard and soft skills along with specific sample of major "projects" where your contribution made a difference.

If this is a one month committment - I would make the committment for that time and negotiate a flexible work arrangement if the assignment is extended. Two days work from home - 3 days in the office.

I would be grateful if I could find one like this.

Thanks everyone for the input/suggestions... This is sox testing so I dont know how much at home I could do. But after some thought I am going to see if I can work flex hours so at leastt I am not fighting against the traffic, and just suck it up!

This is a fairly new program in my state although the company has offices in other states that have been successful. The firm is mainly a perm recruiter and temp agency that is branching out. The director of the program is new and has never run a program like this before.There is still a lot of the temp mentality not so much inside the firm, but from the clients.The director told me that they know they dont have it running the way it should just yet.

As to what I consult in... A lot of SOX work, my last project was special purpose financial statements and footnotes for a division sale . I also assist with getting clients ready for external audits. Many of the clients use the service because they need accounting assistance and they have zero time for hand holding. So they put someone like me on the job where I can hit the ground running, produce immedialty. I am beginning to think maybe I picked the wrong firm to consult with.... Perhaps I could make a better salary elsewhere but I know of no other firm that pays for downtime. I also do like the status of a perm employee for credit purposes, ect. I dont participate in any of the medical benefits, but it is good to know that I can.

Perhaps I need to look at what other consuting houses have to offer. It is all so confusing.

Given your background I would say that you would be a invaluable asset to some of the big guys, where by the way you would be paid a salary, receive benefits including "beach" time, and be on a bonus plan.

There are lots of consulting firms that specialize in this type of work by the way. Just do a Google search; type in Sarbanes-Oxley and Consulting, you will get hits.

Career Tips

Trying not to over react