Things to Consider Before Becoming a Consultant

[Health IT Social]

So, you’ve been thinking about getting into consulting for a while. You have one or two areas of expertise that you have spent years in, and you’ve proven you have unique skill sets and experiences. You’ve been through enough go-lives, upgrades, migrations, optimizations, and found and corrected enough flaws in the system to last a lifetime. You might not be challenged anymore, feel undervalued, or you just want a change all together. You might not want to be considered an employee anymore, and want the freedom consulting can bring. You think, why not, let’s go after it?

Depending on your current role and responsibilities, these are some of the positives you have probably heard about consulting:

1. You’ll get paid more.

2. You can take a little time off between jobs. As you’re getting paid a little more now, why not take all of July off and go to the lake?

3. You’ll get to choose where you go. You’re living in Wisconsin and it’s getting colder, “Ya, I’ll take a 4 month gig in Arizona. Thanks!”

4. You’ll be able to do your job from home (this varies by assignment).

5. You’ll be less involved with corporate politics. As you’re coming from the outside, people will not bore you with gossip and internal problems.

6. You’ll always have a job waiting for you.

7. The project you are put on will be adequately staffed, and include people that are as knowledgeable as you are.

8. You’ll work in new hospital environments and get a whole new perspective of Siemens and how it can be implemented and used.

9. You’ll meet many interesting and friendly people, and create a whole new network of contacts.

10. You are your own brand. You have complete control to build this over time.

Interested in learning more about becoming a Consultant?

Shannon Mahaffey is a Recruiting Director who has worked extensively in Siemens hospitals to help their staffing needs.  Virtelligence is a sponsor of Health IT Social.

Click here to connect with her.

[Patricia L Hale MD, PhD]

But what about the down sides?

Here are some off the top of my head:

1. Travel is very difficult right now with delays etc

2. You may not get to choose to work in your region requiring long travel times

3. You may be separated from family and pets more than you would like

4. You will feel like an "outsider" in some settings and not all staff may be welcoming

5. May have more paper work keeping track of hours etc.