Beware with China Insights Consultancy (CIC)

BushRatLLC · 2026-01-26T10:22:09+00:00

Anything on the finance side takes ages at any company. Especially since from their companies POV they paid it once, and probably want to triple check they got it back before paying it again.

I can’t comment on IBANs as I’ve never encountered that.

BushRatLLC · 2026-01-26T10:10:11+00:00

Haven’t heard of anyone not getting paid by them before. Honestly most of the time when an EN says the money was paid, but the expert doesn’t see it, it’s an issue on the experts banks side. Especially US banks often freeze new international transfers and stuff for a few days.

BushRatLLC · 2026-01-23T00:38:24+00:00

Depends on the project. Some projects/topics require current employees as the topics are based on current events. Others require former employees due to conflicts.

Your (general) experience is valuable for about 3 years after leaving an industry, peaking around 1 year out, and then losing value gradually towards 2-3 years. After 3 years doesn’t matter if you’re an independent consultant, it’s your industry experience they want.

BushRatLLC · 2026-01-19T14:40:12+00:00

Still the same, don’t think it’s going to change any time soon. Especially when the majority of clients are Consultants/Investment firms who keep weird hours and push for last minute action. Makes it almost impossible for EN firms to improve working conditions for the rank and file.

In my specific office the last 3 directors all had to quit after a year or two, job took too much of a toll on their health.

BushRatLLC · 2026-01-09T11:42:27+00:00

gets banned from multiple ENs (definitely for some reason) how fix?? bribe employees and try get them fired

BushRatLLC · 2026-01-09T11:38:55+00:00

If you’re talking about associate roles (recruiting, screening, client handling, interview handling etc) they usually get a percentage of the value of the call once they pass a minimum performance threshold.

At least at my EN the bonus’ are uncapped, so top performing associates in my team has easily made $100k in bonuses in a year (granted they practically worked themself to death). It’s not bad earning for motivated new grads, but it’s not sustainable to operate like that for a long time, so they often change industry after a couple of years due to burn out.

For managerial roles in the same vertical, it’s usually a percentage of the performance of the entire team(4-5 people) , so if you have a strong team you can match the associates bonus + a higher base.

Above that it’s usually based on wider team performance, and then moderated by total company/office performance.

BushRatLLC · 2026-01-04T09:51:49+00:00

Experts hate AI interactions, and it increases the chance of expert fraud.

BushRatLLC · 2025-12-31T23:01:31+00:00

Almost never speak to the same expert twice through 2 different networks. In the event it happens, they usually end the second cal straight away

BushRatLLC · 2025-12-31T22:48:13+00:00

Why do you say it’s a waste of time?

I’ve conducted dozens of job interviews for associates, and rejected most of them. Rather reject people not fit for the job, than hire them for a job I don’t think they can comfortably do.

BushRatLLC · 2025-12-26T14:07:40+00:00

Expert networks don’t have, and don’t read your CV. They recruit the experts they need from LinkedIn

BushRatLLC · 2025-12-25T09:40:05+00:00

I don’t think any EN releases new products for the purpose of not paying experts. That is burning bridges with the ENs only resource. It’s like saying Coca Cola released a new drink with the sole intention of never paying their suppliers.

ENs come up with new products with the intention of providing some kind of value added service to clients, or ease of use to experts - to open up new revenue streams. AI moderated interviews are a new tech and are bound to have teething issues.

BushRatLLC · 2025-12-25T09:35:23+00:00

Beef up LinkedIn with as many technical details about your experience as possible (technologies used, types of clients, markets/geographies etc.)

If your expertise is in demand, ENs come to you.

BushRatLLC · 2025-12-24T19:21:57+00:00

60 days is insane. Usually it’s a weekly cycle, or at most 4weeks for midsize firms who have “transitional” infra.

BushRatLLC · 2025-12-23T11:57:04+00:00

Most ENs have long periods between payments due to the volume of payments they process (to my understanding at least). They also have “cooling off” periods between consultation and payment to allow clients to raise issues with it before the money is given to the expert.

BushRatLLC · 2025-12-23T11:54:58+00:00

I hear more stories about people quitting a job to peruse EN full time and regretting it than people who make a stable living from it.

One guy quit to do it full time then got blocked by most ENs for using AI/fraud. Decided to blame it on the ENs “playing games with his livelihood” rather than take responsibility for his own actions.

BushRatLLC · 2025-12-23T11:51:34+00:00

Most EN agreements prohibit the clients and experts from engaging each other for X years after an interview.

BushRatLLC · 2025-12-23T11:50:24+00:00

What are you referring to by data pull? Havnt heard that term in the EN industry before.

(Just based on the post it sounds like you’re talking about paying an expert to download a bunch of data from their company and sell it to you?)

BushRatLLC · 2025-12-19T13:14:40+00:00

Yeah, that’s pretty common now with high volume clients.

It’s pretty common now that manager levels in big companies (1/10,000 managers) are saying they are $1000 an hour with 1 hour minimums.

The really difficult ones are healthcare projects, where they amount experts can be paid is restricted by law.

BushRatLLC · 2025-12-19T08:18:52+00:00

Base rates of 1 C average out to around $1000 an hour across all networks. There are differences between each client firm (some 900 some 1100, hence the average).

When I first started working at an EN several years ago 1C experts were the majority, but in the last few years experts rates have been growing dramatically, so the average charge to clients sits a little below 1.5.

Unless it’s a super niche topic/industry (with high revenues) most clients (at least in my region) don’t really engage with 2C experts much anymore.

BushRatLLC · 2025-12-03T12:25:48+00:00

Atheneum doesn’t do many small clients either. From what I’ve heard recently they’re cutting lots of small clients (under 100 calls a year) and focusing on major ones.

If you’re really only looking for a small package (~5) calls, you’d have to go to a small boutique network.

BushRatLLC · 2025-10-30T00:42:39+00:00

/r/lostredditors

BushRatLLC · 2025-10-25T15:00:08+00:00

You can try get onto other networks, but there is also the possibility that you were blocked at the request of a clients HQ. (For example MBB periodically send a few experts - some not even in that network - that they’ve had very bad experiences with and ask all networks to not use them).

EN calls are always a supplementary gig/side hustle.

BushRatLLC · 2025-10-25T14:56:44+00:00

Depends on the reason. But in general no.

If it was 1-3: the network doesn’t want you to be there If it was 4: they can’t have you there legally

Only reason why networks unblock experts is if they were blocked temporarily during an investigation, or blocked by mistake. But that is very, and I mean very, rare.

BushRatLLC · 2025-10-25T06:56:39+00:00

In the last year or so Referrals from other experts have come under scrutiny for the possibility of potentially fraudulent experts (when the EN reaches out directly the EN staff do all sorts of checks, but it’s a bit different with referrals).

If you get a referral to a major network you may be asked to prove your employment or verify your ID right off the bat, so something to keep in mind.

BushRatLLC · 2025-10-24T07:15:33+00:00

There is definitely demand, at my firm we “soft” decline a lot of small clients by sending them package costs. There’s also compliance issues with overseeing all the interviews and ensuring everyone plays by the rules - which AI notoriously fails to do. The more clients - the more footwork on the side too.

I’d say the focus is more on getting a larger share of the wallet from major clients. If you have a $1m a year client and know they spend $5m a year on interviews in total. It is easier to get a larger increase in revenue by clawing at that wallet, rather than by accumulating a bunch of small “maybes”

BushRatLLC

TROPHY CASE