In the software field, consulting jobs are very common. In the United States, it has been proved that relatively more number of foreign immigrants (especially from India) take up consulting jobs instead of full time. Is it worth to work as a consultant instead of taking up a full time job? The perspective differs from person to person.
Check our previous post on Full time vs. Consulting .
In the current scenario, consultants face a lot of issues working for consulting firms. Although, the consulting firms have their answers for it. We had a brief survey and interviewed few consultants as well as their respective consulting firms. Here is the story!
Consultant 1 Argument:
I rather prefer full time! I went through a lot while I was working as a consultant. Uncertain job, unknown contracting period, difficult to get a client letter and a lot more I suffered from. I initially took up consulting expecting I could earn more.
Once I have gone through the training on a specific platform, before I could start my first consulting job, my employer got me into a 2 year bond with his firm and I had to only work for that employer for the next two years. Also that my client pays around $120 per hour, but I ended up getting around $50 per hour for the first 6 months.
I then decided to change my job and then realized I had a 2 year bond with the employer. I just had to wait to finish the other year and then moved out looking for a full time opportunity.
Consulting Firm 1 Response:
It is a lot easier to blame consulting firms, but we have a lot of ground work behind which is not visible to the employees. We provide free training and free accommodation spending a lot of money just for the candidates to not suffer during their jobless phase.
After spending so much of money on one employee and giving him full training and making him get a job, we would expect he/she needs to stay with us at least for a certain period of time so that this would cover our expenses we have put on that candidate before that person is placed into a company.
Also that we have to pay for having the candidate getting his/her H-1B and also file green card in future and also pay the mid layers between us and the client firm. We also do have expenses for running the company, certain software costs, providing training and also to set up the infrastructure and maintain it. Considering all the expenses, we would end up getting $2 to $3 per hour per consultant. Considering the efforts we put into, this is a reasonable profit we make.
Consultant 2 Argument:
I joined in a consulting firm and got placed in two months after finishing my training on a specific technology. I never had a stagnant job. I changed about 2-3 jobs just in less than a year and I was not having a pleasant and satisfactory career.
I then decided to move to another consulting firm and learn a different technology and get placed. The whole process of going to another consulting firm and getting a new job took me around 4 months. I went through a tough phase in terms of looking for another firm and also getting a new job.
Consulting Firm 2 Response:
We have been a consulting firm for more than 10 years now. We do have employees who are laid off from their jobs and look for another and again get laid off and again look for another one. And we do also have employees who have continuously worked for more than 2 years in the same contract.
So, I would say it’s how you take it. During the training and knowledge transfer process, it is important for the candidate to learn the technology completely before he would get into the job market. If he/she do not learn the technology thoroughly, it is hard for the candidate to support his job and keep up the job.
Are you a consulting firm or do you work as a consultant? Do you want to share your experiences? We would love to hear from you. Please write us to [email protected] and we will be glad to post your experiences on our page! This will help the whole H-1B community. Write now! 🙂
hey all click this link its a petition to eradicate the difference in payrate between employers` billing with the client and what exactly the employee gets payed.
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/h1b-minimum-wages-should-be-standardized-based-profit-employment-agency-makes-through-h1b-contractor/d1RfvtHy
Bond is not valid & not sure whether enforceable by law..
From the consultant point of view, he can only get salary, company gets the profit, so company should get the loss too..
If the consultant feels not good with company, or have higher openings, he can exit by providing 1 month or so notice period..
Business has loss / profit, & company has to bear it
Consultant has no loss/profit but can change companies
Never end bonds, if companies ask so inform in web sites & labour departments so no future employee enters into trouble.
easy way to exit while on bond: say the company you won’t work, say the client the same too, then the company will terminate the bond..
If it is mentioned in the bond , The consultant has to return the training expenses if he/she breaks the bond.
Having a consultancy on my own, i would lose $7000 per employee, if they leave after getting trained.
Hi Infosystem, how do I contact you to check my valuation… Thanks
The consulting firms spend money on consultants during the period of training, accommodation, travel…e.t.c.Let’s say roughly it rounds up to $5000 per consultant till they get placed.For example the consulting firm would get a minimum $50 and the consultant gets a min $32.So on an average whatever the expenses the consulting firms puts on the consultants, they recover that with in 3 months and this continues till 1 year and they gain more from us leaving us with reaching a max of $40.So, who’s gaining and who’s loosing ??
You have no idea how a consultancy works!! There will be tiers between a client and the employer and we receive the money after all the deductions from the tiers. Sometimes, the clients pay the salaries late and there would 2-3 month delay in the salaries. But being a good employer, we always pay my employees on time. We also pay for h-1b and green card processing which would be atleast $10 k. We have other administrative expenses too.
We do get profit but that is always very minimal. After all, we are doing business not a charity.
We know how consultancies work!! Stop fooling us saying you guys get less profits. Thats bullshit. Stop leaching the employees!!
Did even a single consulting firm admitted that they fake the candidate resume with 5+ yrs of experience even when the candidate has like 1-2 or some case no experience
So after all this, how can a candidate survive at a job place !
Thats is a known secret!! Shhhh!
If the candidate cannot survive the job, he has ask his employer to not fake his resume. It is that simple. The candidae will get what he is capable of. Don’t blame it on the employer!!
u know wat fk off.most employers fake consultants resume.Soon all these fakers will be kicked off this country
read this link and sign the petiton to avoid such problems in future
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/h1b-minimum-wages-should-be-standardized-based-profit-employment-agency-makes-through-h1b-contractor/d1RfvtHy