Advice on Working as a Consultant

Advice on Working as a Consultant by Steve Devereux CEng I have consulted in the oilfield Drilling business for several years and have learned some things which will help you be successful at it. Many of these things are of course applicable to looking for nonconsulting work. Preparation If you are still employed, this gives you time to prepare. If you are out of work then at least you have more free time available. CV issues Your CV is often what creates that vital first impression. Don’t stint on it. Get it updated and print a dozen copies, preferably on a laser printer. Have some good quality photos professionally made (slightly larger than passport size) and attach one to the top right hand corner. Keep a good stock of these photos. CV’s sometimes need to be tailored to the job for which you are applying. There may be aspects of your experience which can be “emphasised” to match the requirements of a particular job. Amend your CV accordingly, print off on a high quality printer and attach the photograph. If you have to fax your CV, leave off the photo. It’s better to fax it direct from your PC with a fax modem. Some general tips on CV’s:   Avoid putting hobbies and outside interests on your CV. I once heard the comment about my CV that maybe I was too busy with all my hobbies to concentrate on working! Keep it short, concise. A CV should be no more than two pages long. Recent experience will be of more interest to an interviewer than things you did many years ago. Recent experience can be described in more detail and older experience summarised briefly. On my CV I put personal details and academic experience on the first page and experience, languages and computer skills on the second page. My consulting work is summarised in a table just giving Company, my position, type of rig and duration. DO NOT clutter up your CV with names & ages of children, passport number, whether married etc. This is of no interest to the prospective employer and makes your CV harder to read. Use good grammar, check for spelling mistakes. Choose a font and stick to it, don’t try to fancy it up with lots of fonts, bold, italicised, sizes etc. Presentation is everything.   Page 1 881ec7ce-a8c3-4ef6-b1f4-3c32031c24af.doc Last updated 17 January, 2009 You should consider how to improve your CV apart from increasing experience. I recently became a Chartered Engineer through the Institution of Mining Engineers - this gives me credibility outside the strict confines of the Drilling world. Being a CEng is recognised internationally. If you are not chartered, get some info from the Institution (which must be registered with the Engineering Council in the UK) and see if it’s feasible. Although I don’t have a degree, being over 35 opened up the Mature Candidate route to charter; this involved writing a technical paper of 5,000 - 10,000 words and being interviewed by a panel. It took about 18 months from starting to getting Chartered. References In the past (say 8-10 years ago) no one bothered to ask for references for Drilling people. Now they do and it is well worth collecting good references from the people you work for. I don’t leave it until I’m at the end of a job to get a reference, I find most bosses can be flattered if you approach them properly. Often they will suggest that you write it and they’ll sign it - this is great but don’t try to tell lies or exaggerate your qualities or this will annoy them right quick, they may not sign it and they may not be willing to give you one at all after that. Emphasise the achievements of which you are proud, especially where these relate to helping train other people, reducing operational costs, improving safety etc. After doing the job for a few months, ask whoever you report to for a few minutes of their time. Ask them if they are happy with your work and if they can suggest any way you could improve on it, help them out better etc. If the feedback is favourable then ask them if they’d mind writing out a reference for you. Say that you are not looking for work but would like to have their reference on file in case you are no longer working for them when you need one. Make it sound like a personal thing - that their opinion is valuable. I have excellent references from each of my last few jobs and my current job. I wrote some of them myself at the request of my boss but they tell no lies nor do they exaggerate my achievements. They simply emphasise those achievements that I’m proud of (and can therefore talk well about during an interview) and that I know that future potential clients will find valuable and will remember when going back over the pile of CV’s that mine lies buried in. No one had problems signing these references. Information is power. Information on potential jobs can be culled from many sources so you need to organise and cross reference that information in a way which will be useful to you. I categorise work information by geographical location, company, source and date. A computer database (either a simple spreadsheet which allows sorting or a more sophisticated database application) is useful. Look at the media (mags, papers, TV, radio, Internet newsgroups, press releases etc) from the point of view of “how will the information [in this article] affect the availability of work that I do?”. For me, news of a large seismic survey means that at some future time, exploration drilling is possible. Or a drilling contractor has got a long term contract with an operator in a certain area or an operator just signed a concession agreement with a government flags up possible work. These things point to possible future work and are worth storing details on - sufficient detail so that in a year’s time when you are looking for work, you can deduce where the work may be. Cut out articles or photocopy them and put them in your clippings file with entries in your database to keep track of them. Page 2 881ec7ce-a8c3-4ef6-b1f4-3c32031c24af.doc Last updated 17 January, 2009 Join the Expat Network and put your details in the Joblink register (Expat Network; tel: UK 0181 760 5100, fax 0469, Web site http://www.glen.co.uk/expatnetwork/, Email Sheila Hare at fk28@cityscape.co.uk). I had my details on here and I was contacted a couple of times, though at these times I was working so no jobs resulted from them. However the contacts were made and I stored the contact details in my database. Many offices and workplaces have copies of industry related magazines. Make a point of browsing through these for potential nuggets of useful information. Read the adverts. If there are World Wide Web sites concerned with your industry or other online sources, get to know how to access them. I’ve found that having my own notebook PC with fax modem gives me independance and allows me to use online resources, both while working and while on the move. I recommend anyone considering consulting to get so equipped. My Web site has a Classifieds page at http://www.drillers.com and there are links to other Drilling related pages there. Saudi Aramco has a page including job adverts at http://www.careermosaic.com/cm/aramco/. Other sources of information of this type can come from conversations with colleagues, friends or competitors. Make notes and store them with the rest. I also keep a substantial database of contacts - both business and personal. My database at present holds over 950 people and 400 companies. It’s on my computer using an Access database; when I get a business card I add the details to the database and throw away the card. Access allows predefined reports to be easily printed and in my Filofax I have three lists; Personal sorted by surname, Business sorted by Company and Business sorted by surname. I can locate anyone’s details quickly without carrying hundreds of business cards with me. If you have Access 2.0 or later there is a copy of this database on my Website which anyone can download (point your browser to http://www.drillers.com and go to the Files area). If you already have a copy of it I sometimes update the forms, reports etc and place the current version on the site. Download CONTACTS.ZIP and only copy over CONTACTS.MDB; this will update you without affecting your data, which is kept in the file CONTDATA.MDB. Networking Build up your contacts who may later on pass information to you when you need it. I regularely get contacted about work and if I’m not interested I pass on the name and contact details of someone in my line of work who may be interested. I then let my friend know that I have passed on his details to someone, first so they can be ready when/if the call comes and second so that they know I’m putting opportunities their way. When I’m out looking for work I pass the word out among my network that I’d like to be suggested if anyone gets an approach that they are not interested in and the favours I’ve done by passing opportunities out to my network are repaid. My network size increases with time as I make more contacts with people in my industry. Some of these people may be prospective employers or other Consultants or just well placed people. Make sure you keep their contact details. Page 3 881ec7ce-a8c3-4ef6-b1f4-3c32031c24af.doc Last updated 17 January, 2009 At Xmas I send out a short letter to my contacts with a card, keeping them up to date on my activities and contact details. I also try to keep a single place where I can always be contacted through; in our case we don’t rent out our UK home and my wife’s parents go by the house regularely and check the fax and answering machine. I also log on regularely (usually twice a day) to Compuserve and I can access my Email box from any phone in the world - making it easy for anyone with Email facility to contact me. Many Drilling people are now online and many (like me) much prefer Email to fax or snail mail. With personal contacts, don't ask them to get work for you. Ask them to let you know about anything they hear regarding suitable work for you to follow up. If it does happen that there is work going in their organisation and if they want to tell you about it, they will. You need to preserve your network and treat them as you would wish to be treated because there is no obligation on them except out of friendship. Agencies Specialist agencies can put good work your way. The quality of agencies varies and some general suggestions are: 1. 2. Get a written contract, preferably subject to UK law or some other proper juristiction. Check this contract out carefully. Commissions vary a lot. Agencies I’ve worked through in the past have deducted between 13% and 28% of my dayrate. Payment terms also vary from within a week of submitting your invoice to over a month and in some cases you have to spend weeks chasing your money. Check whether your travel days are at full rate, reduced rate or not paid - it makes a difference. Some agencies are good at hitting the streets hustling for work, others can sit on their hands and wait for clients to contact them; I guess they figure that they are such a big or successful agency that they don’t have to get after it. Watch these people because they don’t seem to care much for their consultants either. 3. Make sure that any agency who has your details knows that they must clear it with you first before submitting your CV anywhere. Once you have agreed to one agency submitting you for a particular job, don’t let anyone else submit you for the same job. Having your CV going to the same firm from different sources benefits nobody and the client will get the impression that you are probably desperate to have your name coming at him from different directions. Especially if the CV’s are different in emphasis (see “CV issues” above). Action plan While you are in work, draw up an action plan and keep it updated. Your action plan describes what you will do in the event that you become out of work in order of priority. Page 4 881ec7ce-a8c3-4ef6-b1f4-3c32031c24af.doc Last updated 17 January, 2009 1. List all those people that you would contact to notify them of your availability. Agencies or network contacts who would be able to look out for work for you. This will be your first step in the process; if you’ve left CV’s with them previously then ensure they are current. If not then fax or send somehow your current CV. Your first step will be to call round all these people and tell them what your availability will be and what you are looking for. I reckon that within 30 minutes of having access to a phone line or a fax machine, I’ll have most or all of my principal contacts alerted. With agencies and network contacts now looking for you, you need to look for yourself. Get out your clippings file, look over your database and try to spot opportunities that might arise in the short term. Look at industry magazines, national newspapers and access online information on the Internet to see where work might be generated in the short term. Research opportunities to see who you’d have to approach for getting work. Don’t forget to read up press releases and adverts as well as articles. For engineering type jobs look at Nexus, Thursdays Telegraph and the Sunday Times Appointments. Update your Joblink details & let them know you’re available. (Joblink is a service with the Expat Network where they hold a register of people available for work. I’ve had contacts via being registered on this list so it can work for you). Start to talk around any secondary contacts you may have; people who may be in a position to know of suitable projects or opportunities. If you have no immediate prospect of work review your current spending levels and see if anything can be reined in. I was once out of work for 8 months but it took me about 6 weeks to realise that I was likely to be without an income for some time. During that time I continued spending at the same level as when I was working - it would have been much better if I’d been quick off the mark and cut out the unnecessary spending at the start. Consider other work you could do which may be outside your mainstream activity. Anyone who wants to consult long term is well advised to have alternative sources of income. I know one Drilling hand who has a boat and goes diving for oysters, scallops etc. He reckons that he can make enough to pay the bills while enjoying diving - and he declares this to the IR as well! 2. 3. 4. 5. Have a file somewhere containing your CV, photos, references, certificates etc. If you work in remote locations you could leave this file with your spouse or someone else who can make and post copies of these if you would not be able to respond fast enough from your location. If you require any current certificates for doing your job, make sure these are kept up to date. As a Drilling Manager I would not give any Drilling Supervisor a job who was not up to date on well control and survival certificates - in some areas I would have no discretion on this anyway. I keep all my certificates current. Page 5 881ec7ce-a8c3-4ef6-b1f4-3c32031c24af.doc Last updated 17 January, 2009 Money You sometimes end up in the enviable position of having several offers. Of course you want the one which offers the most money - but think longer term here. A job that may last a long time can be more attractive than a high rate short term job. It depends on your own objectives, family and financial requirements. Try to resist the temptation to answer immediately; make sure you know everything about the deal and that you are satisfied that you will get paid. If the agency or company is unknown to you, try to talk to someone already working for them. If you have access to one of the company databases (Jordans, Kompass & others can be accessed via Compuserve) you could check up on the financial history and health of the company. You should know something about the company. People do occasionally take jobs with 3rd world companies and not get paid afterwards. If you have serious doubts about being paid, rather than just turning the job down see if you can negotiate payment by Irrevocable Letter of Credit before you depart on the job (your bank manager can advise on this). Dayrates are difficult to advise on. It will depend on the job position, rotation/living in country, location (pleasant or difficult), current market conditions, your experience, how well you negotiate etc. For Drilling jobs I’d say Night Drilling Supervisors would vary $500-$750 a day, Senior Drilling Supervisors, Drilling Superintendants/Managers $800-$1200 a day (rates current last quarter 1996), for some specialist jobs could be over that. If it’s tax free, so much the better! Good luck comes from being well prepared - so good luck. And if you can offer advice to add to this note, please drop me an Email to steve@drillers.com. The current version of this document is always available on my Website at http://www.drillers.com. Page 6 881ec7ce-a8c3-4ef6-b1f4-3c32031c24af.doc Last updated 17 January, 2009