Having attended multiple presentations by Richard F. Gillett P.E., he comes prepared with facts obtained at no small expense. Last month’s Chicago Rockford Consultant’s Network presentation was on how to make intelligent hiring decisions and then passing this intelligence on to any responsible hiring manager. I always take good notes because I can use this information in a setting where a hiring manager needs help making a hiring decision and then I can walk them through it in a friendly way that leaves nothing to chance. This is due to a breakdown of salary of a new engineering graduate with fringe benefits. A hiring manager considered the numerous factors that could change the consultant’s fee. An obstacle for some hiring managers, cost, is no obstacle at all, which makes the practice of hiring consultants very favorable to bottom line accounting.

The conclusion, supported by research into the IEEE USA 2014 Consultants Fee Survey, was that if a hiring manager encounters a choice between a direct hire candidate and a consultant, consultant is better, the same, or more expensive, measurable in $$$, and whatever the difference, it is a small difference offset by gains of hiring a consultant. Richard F. Gillette P.E. proved it when he entered non-hypothetical amounts in a spreadsheet for attendees, using their numbers, using research, on May 18th, 2015, where he presented “The Dollars Value of a USA IEEE Consulting Engineer”.

Look for the topic of our next meeting to be posted in the Chicago Section calendar soon.

Paul M. Johnson, P.E.

[1] R. Gillette, “The Dollars Value of a USA IEEE Consulting Engineer”, presented Chicago Rockford Consultant’s Network, 5/18/2015.
[2] IEEE USA 2014 Consultants Fee Survey.