The pull of consulting

In order to create more flexibility in their lives, many people in the industry are becoming successful consultants. Penny Pryor talks to Chris Condon, Angela Ashton and Jon Glass about the difficulties and benefits of going your own way.

The twenty first century workplace is an ever-evolving beast. It is becoming increasingly fragmented and either by desire or necessity, more and more people are becoming consultants and contractors.

Along with the uncertainty of work, consultants need to deal with the irregularity of payments, basic small business administration and the lack of anybody investing in, or even interested in, their career development.

"[Contracting] suits activities that require thought, not the helter skelter of an open plan office." Chris Condon

But many say that they would have to be offered a very unique role to trade the flexibility and freedom that working for themselves provides. Some have even discovered they are more productive out on their own.

Chris Condon (pictured), former chief investment officer at MLC Investment Management, went out on his own four years ago and particularly enjoys being away from an open-plan office.

"I've always railed against [the open plan office]," he says.

"I used to work a lot from home when I was in a corporate environment."

Often Condon found that his most productive time was when he could remove himself from the "noise" of the office.

"[Contracting] suits activities that require thought, not the helter skelter of an open plan office."

But working as a consultant does require discipline. You need to create your own networking opportunities and situations in which you will be able to discuss work ideas and concepts in a non-judgemental way.

"You want to be able to discuss concepts confidentially," Condon says. "I've had to create that environment in a number of ways."

That could include taking on a non-executive director-type role, as Condon has done, or joining a mentoring or industry association.

"No one develops you, [they are] renting what you have now." Angela Ashton

There is also a necessity to create discipline around, not only work practices, but also leisure activities, which many consultants may not realise they are missing out on.

"Because you don't have a lot of disruptions [working by yourself] you miss out on that implicit relaxation," Condon says.

He spends half of his time working at clients' offices and has a good home office set up and knows it would have been a lot more difficult if his children were younger.

"Mothers who try to do this have an extra challenge," he says.

Angela Ashton (pictured) is technically a consultant but prefers to think of herself as someone who has a series of part-time roles. She has been a consultant for five and half years but previous (full-time) roles included senior strategist on the QIC Investment Strategy Team and general manager, managed fund research at IWL.

She works set hours in an office each week but also has the flexibility that means she can do the school run and sometimes take Friday afternoon off.

Like Condon she reports she "has a lot of coffee" and needs to make the effort to build and maintain her network of professional relationships.

"The negatives are that no one invests in you," she says.

"The other big thing is people want you for your current skill set. No one develops you, [they are] renting what you have now."

Of course the positives are that there are no office politics and it can be easier to get the job done.

Jon Glass (pictured) has had periods of consulting and full-time jobs - as a chief investment officer and head of strategy - throughout his career.

"Typically I've been employed full-time," he says.

He agrees that the benefits of running your own business include being more in control of your time.

"...you have a choice over the work you want to do." Jon Glass

"You're no longer in that continuous flow of activity. You can be as busy, or not, as you choose and you have a choice over the work you want to do."

With a one-day a week job, Glass says he is semi-retired, but he wouldn't mind an additional one-day a week role to keep him busy.

Although the initial decision was scary and all were concerned about finding clients, Ashton and Condon report that it would now have to be a pretty special job offer to pull them away from consulting.