As an early 20's chap, analyst at a well known consultancy I've noticed an alarming number of my superiors without wife and kids (or divorced from them). I'm wondering what sort of options we have as consultants when you reach 30's, think about having kids and have a solid 7 or 8 years consulting experience behind you. The idea of being away mon-fri and longer when I have a newborn isn't an option so what options are there really? Can you stay in consulting and still sleep in your own bed at night? Get a good job on the strength of consulting experience? What are the options?

See thread 23661 'Just for the cram...'The world is your oyster. You just have to know when it's right to get out and gain leverage from your time in consulting.The pace will be slower, which will be hard for a while. But most directors in business work fewer hours than your average consultant.

Mid 30s, we realised that a bundle of joy was not going to arrive unless I managed to be home Mon to Fri. In big 4 consultancy, the nearest I ever was to home in Manchester was Oxford. My answer was freelance and now I work for large and small consultancies but I only work in the North West. Been doing it 18 months and so far (touch wood), have not been more than a week between projects. I occasionally have a sleepless night about where the work is coming from and the money is good (but not as good as a lot of people think). A good thing is that the same qualities that made me very chargeable in Big 4 seem to be what is attractive to consultancies in NW. I always happier delivering rather than aiming for partner. And best thing is that baby is due in summer! My only question mark is will work still be obtainable as I move into my 40s and 50s? What does anyone think?

Is the option of taking a lesser paid "normal" job on the strength of your consulting experience an option?The whole reason I'd got into consulting was so that when family came along I could get out and get into industry in a senior position where I could sleep in my own bed each night.It's not always as straightforward as it sounds but who would you speak to about such matters? Recruitment Consultant?

I'm interested in this too so any ideas for what to do after life as a consultant would be appreciated

Tricky; My other half lives in the north west (nr Kendal), she doesn’t want to leave and as I love it up there too, I’m moving up so we can live together. However, a good job is important to me, so we’ve compromised, and we’re both moving to Leeds. If you’ve been consulting around different firms in the north west, do you know of any places outside of the big cities which would offer exciting work to young and fairly inexperienced candidates? I’m not asking you to name any names here, it’s just that I’ve had a look and can’t find any, so am resigned to loving in Leeds. Should I keep on looking??

MikeI understand that KPMG tend to localise their work in the NorthWest, so there is less need for mid week travel.Might be worth a look and it'll establish some contacts to then move on. Manchester is the regional hub for consulting but they have a Leeds office.

A big job in industry is totally obtainable for an ex-consultant.I joined consultancy from industry and the directors and MD's above me who had the widest concept flexibility, vision and ability to actually deliver were ex consultants and accountants.We work in a much more disciplined, time constrained and dynamic arena than 95% of industry workers. That generally means that your used to a higher level (quantity and quality) of output than those who develop their skills inside industry.It makes perfect sense for a business to be happy to pay you £100k pa when they used to pay your fees at £2k per day!And there is a key point; if you have a move to industry in mind then you need to work towards it and tick some boxes much in the way you did to get yourself into consultancy: get some management experience where possible, choose longer and deeper engagements where you work very close to the client, get some secondment work, and pump your network as these are the guys who you want to be poached by!