How do consultants change job if they work 14hr a day?!

I always wondered how you change job if you work 14 hrs a day?

I used to have interviews during the day and go out for 1 hr to have a F2F preliminary interview.

I wonder how you guys manage to change. Do you need to go on holiday to have interviews?!

;-)

Or do you resign and then look for a job?

You can interview while you're on the bench (if the timing works out) or wait until you have an office-based project and then take time at lunch.

However, if you're staffed on out-of-town projects or working intensely then it's not always viable to get time off without more notice that you'd have for job interviews. Most people I know who've changed firms have quit first, or planned a long break and then set up interviews.

I love these "how long is a piece of string" conversations!

I have been in consultancy for nearly 10 years and never met anyone who has voluntarily left 1 job to look for another.

Lilly - what are your circumstances in terms of where you want to work, where you are now, etc?

I am based in London but was on a long-term contract in Sheffield. When I decided to change firms, I arranged to spend 1 day per fortnight at the London office to meet a couple of colleagues for lunch etc. I then let my rec agent know my dates and asked for interviews to be slotted in at those times. No-one in Sheffield cared that I was spending time talking about my assignment with experienced colleagues and no-one in London knew what I was doing at the times I wasn't having lunch with them.

Of course this took a while and meant rearranging dates quite frequently but the client always knew their bases were covered.

I can imagine this would be much more difficult if you have no control over your own diary and / or you are "supervised" or micro managed.

I only take leave if the whole process takes more than a couple of hours.

Good luck

D

Depends on the Situation.

If on Bench - No Problem

If on Project at Client Site but in the same city as Interview - Arrange the interview first thing in the morning or last thing in the evening and work couple of hours extra in the day to make up for the lost hours

If on Project at Client Site in a different city - Not it gets messy - Sometimes you have to be away only for 4 days a week - So friday usually works fine for interview. If one is stuck on 5 days away projects then either you take a holiday or a sicke on a Monday or Friday and sort out stuff - Either way its a logisitical hassle but needs to be done if one wants to move on.

I have never seen anyone resign and then look for a job - But desperate times call for desperate measures and I was once close to doing that because I was going through lot of mental stress at my project and I was very close to calling my Line Manager and saying I quit. The plan was to look for a job once I resigned but cudnt get myself to do it, considering the financial risks involved.

Hope this helps