sushsmart15 said:
Well, that is your opinion and I respect it.
However, there are many candidates on this forum like me who have already hired consultants only to find out that what they advice and educate you is nothing different than what you can study yourself on IRCC website. Also, I got much knowledge and information on this forum than that I can ever get it from my consultant.
In fact, due to the knowledge that I have received from this forum so far, I feel more confident than I would have otherwise felt.
Atleast a hundred people on this forum will agree with this above statement.
I'm using a consultant as well, but this is the right approach. I've done freelancing work in the past, so after a lot of research myself, much like what volodyalysak said, I got a consultant purely from a peace of mind point of view.
I sat down with them, negotiated the deal and made it very clear that for their services, I would be paying them on a milestone basis i.e. Advance payment is X, successful submission and approval of EoI data is Y, final receipt of visa is Z. No lump sum payment upfront and they need to earn their money at every step of the process.
In my case, I negotiated value as a prime motivator - consultants, like lawyers, want easy cases that are "dead certs" in horsebetting parlance. It makes them look good, attracts more business and is a cakewalk to get through the process. With my particular circumstances and sitting at 481, that is exactly what I am - as a result of this, while two out of the three consultants I spoke to walked away because they pretty much demanded money up front (and a lot more than the average for what I saw was very little USP) and were already somewhat annoyed by the fact that they could bullshit (pardon the language) me on the steps and couldn't inflate prices for the WES ECA, UK PCC and IELTS (I got these done before I approached them), the one I currently use was both very happy that I did this and was absolutely fine with the contract I made them sign regarding the payments.
In short, your mileage may vary or YMMV. If you are a busy person who would much rather leave the tedium of document of it to someone who is fairly experienced to doing this as their main profession (especially consultants who are used to going over a standard set of documentation), then consultants are a good idea, so long as you both have very clear expectations going in, sufficient amount of trust in their procedures and have a set schedule to follow up with them.
If you would rather choose to handle it yourself, then you are free to, but also remember that in case a problem arises, it could involve a fair bit of your time to resolve and the path to resolution may not always be clear.
Both have their pros and cons, so with that in mind, choose wisely. If choosing a consultant, it's important to understand a few things:
a) What their plans for your application are.
b) What they would suggest are viable ways to boost your scores
c) Is there any sort of existing clients network that you could tap into to get a headstart on job hunting for your chosen professions?
d) How many candidates have they successfully processed specifically through the Express Entry Program? Could you have a few references of successful candidates to talk to them about the experience? It's important to make this distinction, because a few tried to BS me about the number of candidates they've specifically processed through the new system, quoting numbers that were nearly half a decade old!
e) If the Canadian migration does not come through, can they pivot your existing applications for other countries such as NZ or Australia if you were interested?
Think of it as a job interview where the consultant is the one being interviewed. Any sign of a dodgy weaselese answer gets a hard pass.
