My company (or rather the company I work for), a BI/DB consultancy, seems to be lining up a lot of work for the coming year, and I’ve been tasked with trying to extend our consultant network so that we have a trusted set of contractors to call up when a large deal comes in.

Aside from the usual jobs boards, which seem a bit too random, I’m thinking that a linkedin profile for the company may be a good place to start. Any other ideas about where/how to develop consultant connections?

I already spend a lot of time on STW. Obviously. 🙂

Who do you work for?
where is the work based?
What aspects of BI?
What tool sets are you after?
Do you just want contractors or perms as well?

I know a few friends who are BIO consultants who might be interested in moving jobs but most are perms

Sounds like you’re BI-curious?

and join BI groups on LinkedIn, so you’ll be able to find the members more easily.

best bet is to milk personal contacts rather than a blanket company linke din profile.

talk to your existing BI people – ask who they know who they recommend, talk to those people and go from there. Linked in is a good way to build networks like this but you need to put some effort in.

Chakaping – that was quality 🙂

Oh btw anyone else see the irony in the OP? 🙂

Nope, those of us in the industry are tired and bored of the stupid jokes…

Chakaping – that was quality

t’was. But no.

Who do you work for?

Don’t want to associate the company with the dumb crap I say on here, so would prefer to keep the name off the forum…

where is the work based?

Usually on client sites in or around London.

What aspects of BI?

Core is architecting and implementation of massively parallel data warehouses. But we get involved in the entire process, from early requirements capture right up to presenting the working solution around the organisation.

What tool sets are you after?

The tools vary from project to project, but data warehousing experience is key.

Do you just want contractors or perms as well?

talk to your existing BI people – ask who they know who they recommend, talk to those people and go from there.

We already have a sizable network of trusted contractors that we call on project by project, and this is exactly how it was put together. But now looking to extend it further. So it’s really contractors that we’re after.

You asked a little too late, th BI forum obviously!
BI Forum

Nope, those of us in the industry are tired and bored of the stupid jokes.

Is Business Grumpiness an associated discipline? 🙂

where to bi consultants hang out…um, soho?