Consulting also offered lasting personal rewards. You're away from home, so you tend to have dinner with these people every night and discuss shared problems. Naturally, you tend to develop strong relationships. However, the partner now wants to move to a corporate role. You miss a lot when you're on the road all week.
Some consultants manage to balance their family and career demands.
With older children, Brent Lohrmann, a partner at Diamond Technology Partners who had been a technology specialist at a large mail-order company, has found ways to compensate for being away from home frequently. For it to work, you have to really plan the weekends ahead of time. If you don't make plans, you're likely to come home and find everyone else busy while you sit there alone. Talk with your spouse and other family members about the demands you'd face and decide if the tradeoffs are worth it before considering an offer. All consulting firms aren't alike, so make sure you consider only those firms that specialize in areas that suit you.