These three tips will help you transition from consultant to FTE

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Aconsultant recently converted their vendor contract though Amaxra into a full-time job at Microsoft. For a significant portion of consultants in our area, becoming a full-time employee (FTE) at large employers like Microsoft, T-Mobile, and Amazon is a career goal.

As much as Amaxra would love to keep our consultants with us forever, we know that some FTE opportunities are just too good to pass up. Here is our advice to help those looking to transition from temporary vendor to FTE at a large company:

Expand Your Network

As a vendor, you meet and work with all sorts of people from multiple departments at every level of the organization. You might not find that unicorn FTE role with the team you are currently contracting with, but as FTE roles are established, the first thing the hiring manager does is start to ask around: Who would be great in this role? Can you send me their résumé directly? You will be higher up on their list of candidates if they either know you from your work as a vendor or if someone inside the organization recommends you to the hiring manager.

Submitting your résumé on a large company’s career website often feels like tossing a pebble into the ocean. You will achieve much better results getting hired for FTE roles with an internal referral thanks to your expanded network gained as a vendor.

Hone Your Skills

At many enterprise-level companies such as Microsoft, many of the software tools to perform important jobs are created internally. Working as a vendor “insider” before taking a FTE role in these situations will put you far ahead of any “outsiders” competing for the role. Of course, your demonstrated competence with any internal tools will make you indispensable to your team as a vendor—but it is also a good strategy to help you secure that FTE role if you want it. Having direct knowledge and experience of a company’s tools, systems, and corporate culture makes your transition to FTE easier.

Beyond a proficiency with internally-created tools, the experience you gain working at just about any vendor role in an enterprise technology company can make you more valuable. As one recent Amaxra consultant who transitioned to full-time employment said: “I didn’t have a computer science degree, but the vendor consulting gig with Microsoft I had through Amaxra really guaranteed that I could get enough experience to stay in the field for a long time.”

Consider Your Options

We’ve blogged in the past about how to succeed as a consultant and know some people would never give up the inherent flexibility of consulting work. However, some people crave long-term stability in a career. Many of the Amaxra consultants who have worked as a vendor prior to converting to FTE say it was an invaluable experience. However, the converse is also true. If you’ve always been a salaried FTE, you might not know that you’re more suited for consulting work until you try it.

No matter where you are in your career, Amaxra is interested in you. We’re always looking to connect talented people with projects they are passionate about.
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