Advice please: importance of employer 'brand'.

[lupinwhite1]

Hi All,

I work for a consultancy and am considering a move into contracting. I've been a BA (in title) for 4 years, but in all honesty, for 2 of that I've been doing anything that my skillset would lend itself to on projects. I now feel it's time to move on and, since putting my CV on the web, I'm having calls from people trying to recruit me into companies like Deloitte, IBM, and Accenture. Some would consider these companies to be of a better 'calibre' than my current employer. My question is this: would I be foolish to overlook the potential importance of working for such an organisation (in the long-term)? Would having an IBM or deloitte on my CV be beneficial as a contractor in the long-run, or does it not really matter?

Some other info: I'm in my early 30s and wish to contract again (I did so before several years ago, but as a DBA and 2nd-line support). This 'curve ball' however has been thrown my way as a result of recruiters calling me. I want to contract, but it makes me think it might be worthwhile taking a perm' job for say, 6 months, getting the 'big name' and then going solo.

Thoughts? Many thanks...

[craig1]

Big names with big reputations always help on your CV as both a permie and contractor. A couple of years at a big name can give you the connections and name-dropping to get into plenty of other companies.

That said, soul-less places that might suck you into the death spiral of long-term permie

[lupinwhite1]

Thank you for your reply. Apologies for not acknowledging it -- I was incognito due to personal circumstances and have only just got my life back in order. Many thanks for the advice.

[cojak]

If you have a wobbly private life it might be a good time to go permie, at least until the economic situation has stabilised.

[GB9]

Hi All,

Would having an IBM or deloitte on my CV be beneficial as a contractor in the long-run, or does it not really matter?

Thoughts? Many thanks...

Any CVs I get that have Deloitte or PWC etc. on them usually go straight in the bin. I've worked with lots of them and invariably they aren't skilled in what they claim to be. My current client has a few in now and basically anyone who has been on the bench has been directed towards us and is now learning on the job to the detriment of the project.

Better off being good at what you do and being able to demonstrate it.

[nomadd]

Big names with big reputations always help on your CV as both a permie and contractor. A couple of years at a big name can give you the connections and name-dropping to get into plenty of other companies.

That said, soul-less places that might suck you into the death spiral of long-term permie

This^

And...

OP: I've worked for two of the big consultancies as a contractor; one contract went fine, the other one was a nightmare. What you will find is a lot of "attitude" and "managerial posturing" in these companies, which isn't very helpful when it comes to simply getting the job done. Having a couple of these names on your cv isn't going to do it any harm (especially if it's just smaller company names on it at present), but don't expect it to be some form a great door-opener either. Much better to get a few "real" big companies on the cv. Having said that, you'll probably find that the big consultancies will just body-shop you onto a big customer site anyway, and in that case you can put down both names on your cv (that's what I've done on mine.)

[bobspud]

My current client has a few in now and basically anyone who has been on the bench has been directed towards us and is now learning on the job to the detriment of the project.

The old consultancies used to talk about buying T shaped skills. That meant that the consultant has a seriously strong core of expertise in the middle but has a wide range of understanding so that they don't feel exposed and out of their depth, when moved to the left or right of their skill sets. This principal has served me well over the years and meant that when I got bought in as a Unix TDA then farmed off as a VMware expert I had enough understanding to spend a week training myself up with some books and looked better than the rest of the room when I stepped infront of the client. I could do that because I took 15 years experience, planing NFS and SAN layouts for Solaris machines and HA apps and moved them to VMware... Unfortunately the talent pool is looking more and more like a minus sign and without that core knowledge its hard to jump around the skills and as you rightly say many of the junior consultants are a little out of their depth for most of the time.

Lupin What you need to ask yourself is: Do you have a deep understanding of a core skill? I mean living breathing understanding not just turning up for work. If you do then you might learn something from a year or two in a big shop. six months will look lame and you couldn't make the grade. If you can get through 2 years it shows you can deliver a few projects, and in the meantime will show you stuff like how to write technical documents properly. How projects really run. How to build a proposal. How to derive requirements...

If you don't have a good core skill you will end up spending most of your time trying to learn technologies on the job and miss the valuable soft stuff.

[lupinwhite1]

This^

And...

OP: I've worked for two of the big consultancies...What you will find is a lot of "attitude" and "managerial posturing" in these companies, which isn't very helpful when it comes to simply getting the job done. Having a couple of these names on your cv isn't going to do it any harm (especially if it's just smaller company names on it at present), but don't expect it to be some form a great door-opener either. Much better to get a few "real" big companies on the cv. Having said that, you'll probably find that the big consultancies will just body-shop you onto a big customer site anyway, and in that case you can put down both names on your cv (that's what I've done on mine.)

Couldn't agree more. Since I started this thread I've already registered myself as limited and am in the interview process for a few opportunities. The next step will (hopefully) be securing a gig and getting an accountant. I appreciate all the helpful advice. I know the climate doesn't look great but I'm not for staying permie at the moment...the "wobbly" circumstances were a bereavement.