I'm sitting in this hotel room watching monday night football after dinner and six beers at a TGI Fridays, and all i can think of is that this is no way to go through life. how do those people do this every day?

ive known people who have done it. ive never known anyone who did it for more than 2 or 3 years.

i just remembered that my dad did this for like 5 years. i guess i just remember it as him not being around a whole lot. still, i guess it would be fun if you were in a real city or something, but it seems like you always end up in an office park or something. at least, I work in an office park, and when I hire consultants that's where i put them. but they're always indian and I assume that they're mentally tougher than me.

It's a tiresome lifestyle, and that's for true. Hotel living sucks, but I can't find any other way to make as much money for little actual productivity.

the positive is that my friend has like a million frequent flier miles. the negative is that he spent a few years in places like Oklahoma City, Fresno, and Topeka.

I was in consulting before school, but it was a niche that didn't require much travel. So yeah, I can't understand it. My school is full of people who did it and now want to do something else as well as people who haven't done it yet but now want to. Morons.

i think I'd be an awesome consultant. Assuming someone needed consulting on cartoons dated before 1990, flaming dog poo and the human response, ways to piss off abortion protestors, driving in reverse, drinking binges or snarky responses.

I've never been a consultant, but have travelled a lot for business. I took each city as a new adventure and wander about after I was done with my work day. I'd interrogate the locals and ask about interesting things to do or check out. One huge suggestion -- stay away from the hotel bar.

Dad did for 25+ years. Could do it if needed but wouldn't enjoy it much. One thing I made sure with all my job interviews in college were that they were in-house jobs.

I'm in consulting, but rarely travel. I prob won't stay in for more than a couple more years. Thankfully I haven't been staffed anywhere like my old roommate, who spent 8 months travelling every week to Des Moines during the winter. He hated it.

Crack, you should use this time on the road to start 6 or 7 satellite families, ala Charles Kuralt.

What the hell does a consultant do!?

Is this a necessary profession?

i would also like to know this.

Provides industry-related (usually IT) skills and/or expertise. Only necessary to the point where companies want stuff done without having to provide medical benefits or full-time contracts.

/thread

(That said, I'd love to know to what-all Charlie & Hunter got up when they were deployed to Brazil in the early- to mid-sixties...)

I just talked with a company whose name I won't mention, yesterday, abt this. The two guys were slicked-back hair, go-go-go sorta guys, and are here drumming up interest in consulting jobs for their company.

What's the % of time spent traveling?
"100"
Huh. Where do you live?
"New York, sorta. My stuff's all in storage."
Are either of you married?
-they exchange looks-
"uhh, No." ...as if to say "of course not, stupid. No woman would put up with that."


=Not For Me.

I had that exact same interview the summer after undergrad was over. Their big selling point was that i could "live wherever I want and share a house with my buddies". I said come on motherfuck, I'm pushing thirty, the last thing I want to do is live with these scumbags. I try not to even give them my phone number. We reached a tacit arrangement to end the interview there.

The dirty truth is, consulting like that is for starfuckers, in my humble. You have to want to have it on your resume, to do something ELSE later, usually. You have to want to say "I worked for Accenture (or Deloitte & Touche)" or some such. Because people really are impressed by that - you just have to have nothing above maybe a fern or a cactus at home waiting for you for however many years it takes to build some experience up.

I like my life. I'm not looking to escape from it.

but is that impressive to have it on your resume? when i read that i don't say "he smart!", i say "this motherfuck doesn't have anywhere to be and will stab his momma for a dollar. Maybe I can put him in a cube and have him do some shit that I don't want to do until March", and I say that shit OUT LOUD. To myself.

Another reason that this life sucks: this TV doesn't have Tivo OR hidef. I should have stayed at home.

now that i think about it, maybe the market is different in finance or accounting consulting. i'm lousy with IBM duders over here and they're nothing special.

It says a few things, most of which you covered... aggressive personality, "tough," emotionally detached, etc. Plus you were good enough for that famous company to accept (and not fire), so that's a proxy for "he good." If you're looking for an A-type go-getter, it's a strong endorsement.

I, myself, tend to find those people unbearable. So no, I wouldn't see it as much of a positive.

On a side note, my former employer was at the job fair, and was openly pursuing people with my specialization... there are 5 of us in total. 1 is military (not seeking job), 2 are internationals. It took all I could muster not to walk over, engage them in a conversation, and then when they ask for a resume say "you had me for $10 an hour and fired me, and I made sure to tell the others in my program how I was treated. Have a nice evening."

yeah make'em beg for it.

actually as much as i love flaunting the cliches of business school, burning bridges out of spite is never a good idea.

I'm happy to say I have enough common sense that this not only occurred to me, but immediately seemed like the proper course of action. That's a rare, happy surprise.

The best revenge is to get a killer job somewhere else, I suppose.

nah the best is driving those mothers out of business entirely. there was a record store in the 'burg that i always thought was kind of racist, and i took great pleasure in scooping up all the (admittedly meager) rap business in town and then physically shutting down their store and liquidating their inventory. the rise of napster/audiogalaxy may have had something to do with it too, but i take complete credit on my own.

They were on track to do it themselves for a few quarters there, but now they're selling pretty well again. But never count Sears / K-Mart management out - they could fuck almost anything up.