The last few years, I’ve been consulting more than intended; it began with an unexpected layoff from what I had hoped would be my “dream job, home ’til retirement” position and has run a rather meandering gamut from telecom to retail to telematics since.
It’s a good run, for all that I am still quite committed to finding that “til retirement” home. Of course, most today are decidedly more cynical than I in relation to “permanent” positions (understandable, given that in the last ten years, the average “permanent” position is only about 3-5 years in duration).
All the same, I’m hopeful. The way I look at it, every consulting opportunity is a chance to have a look inside a company, experience the reality of the environment and culture, and determine if it’s really a place I’d want to make my “forever home”, so to speak.
Initially, I was quite annoyed with returning to consulting; if you have more than a year or so of it, it seems the companies seeking permanent positions become leery of you. That’s not very conducive to my goals, so I’m going out of my way to look for conversion opportunity and assessing each engagement in this light.
Happily, there are several “irons in the fire” at the moment and all but two of them have solid full-time potential. I wish to make the transition and reach my goal within the next two years, so not only am I assessing these opportunities more closely, I find I am more selective in which I pursue (particularly given that each one contributes to the above mentioned leeriness I’m working to overcome).
I think it a positive outcome that my choices along the way have so well rounded my professional competencies. It doesn’t hurt that a number of my peers in practice have since recanted their skepticism at my choice of pursuits and preferences. It occurs to me that there may be some training/teaching opportunities in this (much as with “Caught in Translation”) and I am noodling this even now to decide if I really want to load my plate for such a venture or if I’m content to hand it all out “for free” and in the name of karma.
Tough call, that. Mental note: I really need to write about my “issue” with the whole “self help” industry and, contextually, with the notion of monetizing my insights. I suspect it would cause arched brows from most (except those how know me, of course).
ObHaiku:
Teaching is a joy
But enabling stasis,
Not the goal I seek