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I was hired into a new department and looked at their processes (I was an employee, not consultant). Some of the processes proved to be ancient and the first thing I did was to get rid of paper reports and automate the reporting via queries and online software. I saved my department about $20,000 on printing costs, my job was easier and my bosses were ecstatic. BUT! My co-workers were so unhappy with me because now they couldn't claim the 2 hours they were spending shuffling the paper reports. I disturbed their sense of routine and "balance". They could no longer scream that they are SO BUSY, SO BUSY when managers tried to give them more responsibilities. So, I did gain the respect of the management, but not my fellow co-workers. Maybe they were just plain jealous!
BTW -- love the photo of Memorial Drive!
I liked your closing para, a summary of the consultant's job.
Helps a lot to clarify the thoughts of those of us who think a consultant's job is the ultimate.
Steve, I've assumed that you work for a company that finds consulting roles for you, and places you into those roles (correct me if I'm wrong). That makes it a bit easier (my skills are too eclectic for someone like that to take me on, so I have to find my own clients). However, you do yourself and your employer a great favor if you are on the lookout for opportunities.
@Bubelah: I do think that's the source of a lot of anti-consultant bias. They don't really have a "stake" in keeping things quiet, so regular employees get irritated with them.
@Ken: You're right. I have more trouble with it in terms of the blog (although it's less time-intensive, I do feel I need to work on it sometimes instead of spending time with my family).
@Curmudgeon: True, simply by performing a task you are in effect selling your client on the ability to do the NEXT task. I find that it's fairly easy to sell, but I do such long-term consulting contracts (2 out of the last 4 have been for more than a year) that it's a different type of selling than other types of consultants have to do.
And you're right, I work for a company that doesn't provide support of any sort (they don't give me supplies or computers or a boss or admin assistants, etc.) but they do provide two critical functions: they do "lead searches" and find potential clients for me (I have to close the deal myself) and they do bill collection (and THAT is something I would hate to do). So you are correct, I don't have to generate leads for business from nothing as a truly independent contractor would. At the same time, I am free to do identify clients on my own and I do, on occasion. It is not entirely without incentive, either - if I identify my own clients I get a kickback on the "finder's fee" normally paid to our lead generators.