Traveling to client sites

[sdyson31]

I have recently received an offer from Professional Consultancy firm in North West; job looks good, good salary and a lot of training. I will have to go through security clearance as I will be appointed on government projects.

My only concern is traveling; I don’t mind traveling to client sites but not keen on staying away too long from home as I have got young kids.

[Bullett]

Is there a question here or is this just a statement?

[Jasandjules]

Yes.

[randlemarcus]

You've picked the wrong career then. When you're done at HMRC, every other client in the world means working away from home. In ten years time, i.e. a few years after the divorce, you'll be able to pull 2 nights away, 3 billable days onsite and 4 billable to the client, with the other one being practice overhead. As a junior grunt, I'd be wanting you there five solid days. Which is rubbish, but hey, I got my divorce a while back

[jkh112]

You need to speak with your new employer. They are not all the same regarding requirements to work on client's sites for extended periods.

[jjones]

Jasandjules said:

Yes.

no

and what security clearance? Some levels are a lot more than a formality.

[sdyson31]

jjones said:

no

and what security clearance? Some levels are a lot more than a formality.

Security Clearance (SC)

[Blown2CV]

I spent 10 years doing this. Not quite travelling salesman mileage but maybe 30k a year in long journeys. This was before I was married. Try it and see how you go. The people that do well with it either have a v strong or v weak family life. No one likes it, you either get on with it or you don't. I hated it to begin with. Now I work for a large consultancy and I'm placed long term in the same place, near home so that's far better. Above all, think of the money and make sure you get paid well.

[sdyson31]

Blown2CV said:

I spent 10 years doing this. Not quite travelling salesman mileage but maybe 30k a year in long journeys. This was before I was married. Try it and see how you go. The people that do well with it either have a v strong or v weak family life. No one likes it, you either get on with it or you don't. I hated it to begin with. Now I work for a large consultancy and I'm placed long term in the same place, near home so that's far better. Above all, think of the money and make sure you get paid well.

They are offering good money (same level as in south) and i know i won't get this kind of offer again from north but there is some risk involved, we will have to relocate for this job with kids and if it doesn't work out than i will be stuck in north as there aren't many jobs in north with good salaries. I normally don't tend to stay in one job for more than 3-4 years as i get bored working on one project but in this role i will be placed on different projects once the first one is done.

The main advantages are;

- Good salary and more saving (housing is slightly cheaper)
- Opportunity to learn and work on new technologies
- Training courses

and disadvantages are;

- May be a lot of Traveling
- Relocation
- Risk if it doesn't work out then stuck in north, plus relocation cost

[MBBlat]

jkh112 said:

You need to speak with your new employer. They are not all the same regarding requirements to work on client's sites for extended periods.

This, there are some that are basically glorified temping agencies ie staff spend all their time at clients sites, whereas others all the work is done on their site with only occasional trips for meetings, and every level in between. I've worked for one engineering consultancy that did both extreams, to the extent some people were specifically recruited to work at a clients site and were never seen whereas others hardly ever left the office.

[brickwall]

1. Travel
Talk to the employer. Some will have very good arrangements (e.g. only work from client site Monday-Thursday, decent flexibility over which projects you take, generous expenses regimes etc.). Some will not be so accommodating.

2. Clearance
SC is fine, and lets you work on most stuff. Not quite a formality, but as near as damn it so long as you aren't:
- A dodgy criminal
- Have dodgy financial arrangements
- Being watched by the police/security services for some reason
DV, on the other hand, is a whole different kettle of fish.

[Blown2CV]

sdyson31 said:

Blown2CV said:

I spent 10 years doing this. Not quite travelling salesman mileage but maybe 30k a year in long journeys. This was before I was married. Try it and see how you go. The people that do well with it either have a v strong or v weak family life. No one likes it, you either get on with it or you don't. I hated it to begin with. Now I work for a large consultancy and I'm placed long term in the same place, near home so that's far better. Above all, think of the money and make sure you get paid well.

They are offering good money (same level as in south) and i know i won't get this kind of offer again from north but there is some risk involved, we will have to relocate for this job with kids and if it doesn't work out than i will be stuck in north as there aren't many jobs in north with good salaries. I normally don't tend to stay in one job for more than 3-4 years as i get bored working on one project but in this role i will be placed on different projects once the first one is done.

The main advantages are;

- Good salary and more saving (housing is slightly cheaper)
- Opportunity to learn and work on new technologies
- Training courses

and disadvantages are;

- May be a lot of Traveling
- Relocation
- Risk if it doesn't work out then stuck in north, plus relocation cost

on the money side, i think you'll find that many consultancies don't differentiate wage by where you are based, as you quite often aren't office-bound (as discussed) and might end up stuck doing work down south whilst based up north or whatever anyway.

Working from home is a ground rule to set from early on. Friday and/or Monday as a minimum, and any time you're not actually needed on-site. You don't say whether you are actually delivering PS billable days or whether you are an 'enabler' of some kind, but i used to put up with some pretty horrid long journeys to ensure i spent as much time at home as possible. Like 8 hours in the car in a day, round trip, often once or more a week. I'd set the expectation i wasn't going to be there till 10:30 and i was leaving at 3:30 though. Even in my most recent job I had an engagement in sheffield and did a 3hr round trip every day to be home at night. Early out early back. Everyone will do what they are comfortable with though.

One thing to consider though: the travelling is not an option. You can't gripe about it; you can only mitigate its impact in other ways. It's better for the soul to just accept it, as hard as that may be in the first few weeks, months. If you still hate it after a year, get out.

The up-side of the travelling thing is you can base yourself where you want to live, and not where the jobs are. I've prided myself on never being forced to live in the south east, even though that would have made much of my career easier in some ways (but my life notably stter).

[CubanPete]

What does the missus say?

My Dad did a fair bit of travelling, was usually not home till 7 or 8, but didn't often stay away.

[pherlopolus]

sdyson31 said:

Security Clearance (SC)

It's a bit like fight club you know? and SC is more than a formality, I know people who have been refused for some very trivial items.

[Blown2CV]

pherlopolus said:

sdyson31 said:

Security Clearance (SC)

It's a bit like fight club you know? and SC is more than a formality, I know people who have been refused for some very trivial items.

Compared to DV it is trivial.

[pherlopolus]

Agreed