Advice Need from other Consultants

Thanks theBestExtraordinaire, I was really hoping I wouldnt have to jump before two years. This fucking blows (I know I'm bitching and I could have it a lot worse like not having a roof over my head) but come on....I guess I'm just angry at the firm for wasting my time. The only thing I can't buy is more time.

Yeah, jumping ship is probably the best move. PM me if you want (some) info on that...

Take all your energy into getting a lead. That would be really fun and be an interesting story if you happen to interview for another position. You can use your newly minted business cards and badge access into the home office to leverage up a lead. An external lead rather than a internal one. Maybe a business card from a small start up laying around. I'd probably start by cold-calling anyone.

Oh, will someone get upset and mad if you start drumming up business?

This is a win-win, either you get a deal rolling or someone notices you're providing value and picks you up for work. You're sitting on the bench in jeopardy of being released anyway. Just think if YOU started bringing business upward!

I can go out there tonight with the materials you got and make myself $15,000. Can you? Money's out there, pick it up, it's yours.

I've seen a few alums jump even before their 1 full year were up and they seem to be relatively well (all went into industry rather than another consultancy)

ChicagoMammoth - Thanks for the advice but yes this will lead me to get fired, we were told during orientation that we can't do biz dev without clearing it with whichever partner "owns" the F500 relationship (and in most cases it leaves me making more decks for the partner. Also, most startups that can afford our services are much smarter than hiring consultants to do the work my group does.

So strange, I'm having the complete opposite experience. Was immediately thrown into multiple, major engagements without any sort of training or relevant work experience.

I would schedule a meeting with the partner to discuss. Say you are happy to help with RFPs but for developmental purposes it's important for you to get some client exposure on an actual case. Even if he doesn't have work, perhaps he can refer you to another case. This is a strange situation...I'm sure it's not ideal for the higher ups either

The big4 has a lot of different groups. Try to get on a long term project or rotation in a group which needs skill sets similar to yours. It will atleast help with your utilization.

Thanks for the replies everyone....another wrench in this, is that my partner won't loan us out for other projects, he is shielding us to ensure we got on projects that match our expertise. I would kill to be on federal sector project right now, it might be boring as hell but at least i would be doing something.

when is the FY end? is there time to meet overall utilization targets or other scorecard benchmarks? a convo with partner and HR necessary. voice your concern. i work for a big4 as well (a higher position however) and always tell my staff to network and prostitute themselves out internally to the firm. got to build an internal brand to get staffed. relying on a partner and other managers is a quick way to get a poor rating, little bonus, and gain 15 lbs sitting around eating chips and oreo's.

The FY ends in spring, so I won't meet my target this FY. But, at the rates projects are coming through into my group I'm not going to hit my target next year most likely. My partner would rather have us work on group "thought leadership", and not internal firm projects.

Have you reached out to your coach or other SAs in your group who are currently staffed? They may be able to shed some light on things.

Sometimes certain practices will hit a dry run - it's just the nature of the business. Guy in my group at B4 was hired on and was on the bench for 8 months straight to start, but hasn't been on the beach since then (6+ months).

They're still hiring SAs, so it sounds like they're gearing up for some sort of run in the market and are making sure they have the man power to make it happen. If you had a few projects under your belt and weren't getting staffed, it would definitely be cause for concern, but I wouldn't worry too much just yet.

Why are you on WSO?! You're post mba from industry.. dont you have a company card, shouldn't you be at lunch/drinks with your contacts from industry? Go make your boss money! ... only kind of kidding.....