Hi guys, I was wondering how we can use this little community to even more mutual advantage.Sharing info and advice with each other is great... but how might we be able to take it a step further and introduce each other to new clients/opportunities, employers, etc? I have a feeling we're missing a trick here. Even though most of us wouldn't know each other from jack, there's still gotta be something we can do to refer work to each other or open doors. Gotta look after each other! Any ideas?

LOL! You don't perhaps think the "not knowing jack $hit about each other" might be an obstacle to providing introductions and recommendations!?!?"So Mr Cool, we're a bit disappointed that the BPO guru you directed us to via an anonymous website turned out to be a twelve year old boy with an interest in Star Wars Lego..."If it wasn't for the fact that I'm a 65 stone housebound agraphobic grandmother, that sort of thing could wreck my career...

hehe, yes that's the main problem of course... is there some way we can all collaborate without putting personal reputations at stake?

The IRA managed it for years. Surely a bunch of clever consultants can manage it too.

Can we start by finding me a new job please? Thanks

[quote]Can we start by finding me a new job please? Thanks[/quote]Me next :p

[quote]is there some way we can all collaborate without putting personal reputations at stake?[/quote]Frankly my personal reputation hasn't recovered since recommending my 12 year old nephew to Cool. Apparently Cool just didn't know enough about Star Wars Lego.

BEP - I use meetups for networking (have been involved in some shape or form with startups in the past).It's a tool you can use to setup informal meetings - I would presume somewhere in London for TC would be suitable where you could openly network. Perhaps this is something you might want to discuss with the forum owner.

I dunno how that would work BEP - for a start you've openly discussed how disillusioned you are with consulting and that you pretty much work to rule these days. Now on that basis who is gonna recommend you for a job/ project? On the flip side, if this did become a 'proper' networking community instead of an anonymous forum for about 10 people to be cynical together then no-one would be as honest and truthful as they are! So you'd destroy the very thing we all love in the process!

I don't "work to rule", I'm commercially astute and I protect my team from being abused by clients who would, left to their own devices, work them into the ground for no extra reward... :)

Ha fair enough. I notice you didn't deny the disillusioned with consulting point though!

hehe, well spotted.... :)i think a lot of the problem with consultancy these days is driven by people thinking that consultants have an easy job or by things like unhelpful supplements in the Times that you see every now and then... the ones with titles like "HOW TO GET INTO CONSULTANCY NOW! URGENT!" and "GETTING RICH IN CONSULTING" or suchlike. Followed by a deluge of semi-retired ex-public sector frumps who suddenly have a clarion call and realise that they are "ideally suited to consulting" and then usually go on to screw up a whole bunch of stuff and give the "profession" a bad name before deciding to go on a cruise for a few years and disappearing into the ether.