A few decades ago, most workers moved into the job market searching for a company to spend years with and eventually retire, hopefully with a large pension fund. However, as time marches on and the economy and job markets shift and change, traditional jobs are becoming far less common, and employee values are changing. Today’s workers are beginning to prioritize quality-of-life and interesting work over long-term job incentives. To keep pace with these changes, employers are beginning to look toward non-traditional staffing solutions.

Many employees seeking work in engineering and technical fields are, in turn, finding consultant work offers them personal freedom while they continue to learn and grow. In this post, our engineering and technical recruiters at One Tech Engineering talk about the benefits of a career in consulting.

The Gig Economy Culture

Millennials pioneered the widespread expansion of the gig economy, and it has in many ways changed the way people live in every sector of our lives. Rather than bringing in a salaried position for each job, employers are able to locate exactly the talent they need and hire them on an outsourced basis. This allows them to connect with highly specialized professionals for as long as they need them and keeps the work challenging for employees. This is especially true for more involved long-term projects and rollouts of new technology and initiatives.

Just as working with consultants provides these organizations with a higher level of flexibility, the same is true for the consultants. Hiring the same consultants on a repeat basis allows these companies the opportunity to work with highly specialized professionals who become more familiar with their needs.

Benefits of Working as a Consultant

For professionals choosing to forgo the traditional model of employment and branch out into consulting, working under this model offers many benefits. Consultants are often able to work as little or as much as they need, scaling their workload as desired. They’re also able to focus primarily on projects that are better suited to their professional interests and grow their skills in certain areas.

Here are a few more incentives for working in consulting:

●        Competitive Compensation - Rather than getting stuck in a firm that may not provide many long-term opportunities for better compensation, working as a consultant offers engineering and technical professionals the opportunity to work where the pay is better without making a risky career move.

●        Interaction with New Systems and Processes - Staying with the same firm for many years can end up working against you if you need to change jobs down the road. In these situations, employees typically have limited experience working with only the software or management systems their company directly used. Working as a consultant, you’re constantly growing and expanding in your skills and competencies, making you far more marketable in the long run.

●        Opportunities to Create and Build Professional Connections - Working with different firms gives you the professional opportunity to build connections and bridges in many different companies and professional tiers. And for employees whose ultimate goal is still to find a full-time opportunity, consulting can allow you the opportunity to forge connections that lead to one.

Contact Our Twin Cities Engineering Recruiting Services

If you’re a Minnesota engineering or technical professional looking for an exciting new professional opportunity, maybe it’s time to consider a career in consulting. At One Tech in Minnesota, we help connect Minnesota’s top firms with the best professionals in the industry to create meaningful and mutually beneficial working relationships.

We offer competitive benefits and work with professionals in a wide range of specializations. Contact us to connect with consulting opportunities in engineering, CAD/design, manufacturing, robotics, construction, and more. Find out more about our engineering recruiting services by connecting with a member of our team at 952.884.9199, or contact us to post an opening.