Mark K. Sullivan’s Blog

I started work a few weeks ago, but didn’t have a project to roll onto initially. As a consultant, you get ’staffed’ on projects, typically for other companies that hire your consulting company. When you’re ‘unstaffed’, there isn’t much to do, other than training and other self-improvement activities. Being unstaffed can also be referred to as being on the bench, or being on the beach. A few weeks of training is more than enough for me. Benchtime is somewhat typical and expected during this time of year. The summer hiring stampede creates a surplus of available consultants needing to be placed on projects. After a couple weeks, they’re placing the call to the bullpen and bringing me into the game.