Pros
Paid while in between assignments; Reimbursements for books and other continued education; Would be great if relocating without a family.
Cons
I was recruited from out of state and arrived with my family on the 2nd of the month. My start date was the 3rd. I arrived with my wife and four children which we were staying in an extended stay at first. During orientation it is explained clearly that if we need to get anything done to take care of it while you are on bench (in between consulting positions). I did just that. We had to find a home to rent, get all of our utilities, cable, internet, kids registered in new schools (which couldnt be done until we found our place), get new furniture, transfer vehicle registration, transfer drivers license, find new doctors for the entire family and even have to drive 4 hours twice just to go to Cincinnati to deposit check into the only Bank of America ATM in Ohio. This process had taken some time since I am a family of 6. I was given 3 days of PTO time on start and had accrued another 12 hours during my employment. I had to take all of my PTO and then some in order to get settled in. To move a whole family and get settled it takes some time. It is obvious that there is not that much experience relocating whole families and my associate advocate was not very understanding of this. Taking my PTO during time on bench is exactly what I was told to do so it does not interfere with time onsite with clients. Yet I was terminated note even a month in due to missing days. This was absolutely outrageous since I moved and the very next day started working there. I was given no lead way with getting moved into the house we rented, and taking care of everything else I had mentioned above. I had completed all I needed to and was ready to start at my first client when on my last week ICC had an error in payroll and had to issue another paper check. I bank with Bank of America and was expecting direct deposit. Since ICC had a company error not only with me but everyone else that started my date, direct deposit did not work and I again had to drive down to Cincinnati which is a 4 hour drive round trip. I am called while I had to take the time to deposit the check saying I am terminated because they have been flexible enough with my time out. I did not violate any rules and actually followed protocol by taking time off during bench time to relocate my whole family. I missed a total of 5 days during my employment. Not all at once but spread out. The fifth day was due to the company error in payroll. I had the PTO to use. So in the real world my termination was uncalled for. Now I had rented out my home back where I moved from, rented a home here, purchased all new furniture and got my kids into school here only to be unfairly terminated.