[Courses] [Careers] From 'I must have a job' to 'I must have a wonderful job'

[Julie Bovee]

On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 17:14:23 -0500, Katie Bechtold
<katie at katie-and-rob.org> wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 22, 2005 at 11:07:12PM +0100, Karine Proot wrote:
> > "service" companies (do you have a proper name in Australia? I couldn't
> > find something suitable)
> 
> That arrangement sounds very similar to what I (in the U.S.) would
> call a consultancy.
> 

We call them consulting companies in the U.S., and the people who work
for them are called consultants. I have some friends who do that for a
very large firm, but they're very unhappy: bad pay, long hours, little
choice of the work to do, and contracts that prevent them from being
hired by the company the are contracted out to.

Some people here are very successful at doing contracting work without
going through a consulting company, but the disadvantages are that
when the contract is over they don't continue to get paid until they
find a new position and they don't get company-paid health insurance
and retirement plans.

I've encountered employers on job interviews (in the U.S.) who did not
look favorably on consulting jobs. They actually considered it a
reason not to hire someone. I found that same negative attitude toward
work experience at start-up companies, too. I never did understand why
some had those attitudes.  Does anyone have any ideas on that?

Julie