What's your job about?
Oliver Wyman is a management consulting firm, where consultants like me work with a range of partners and experts to help deliver breakthrough analysis for clients.
My day and tasks can vary quite a lot between days and weeks and drastically vary from each project to the next.
One week I may be looking at the entire renewable market across Australia, then dive into the details of the process of renewable farms to understand the value chain, ending up in modelling market potential for specific clients, which can then change to the week after to look at global digital advertising trends and the social media industry.
Everyone, including students and teenagers, should be able to understand the consulting process, as it is problem-solving at the fundamental level. The finesse is in how we come to the solution and, what we are doing to support the hypothesis we have arrived with.
What's your background?
Despite being born in India, I have been a Melbournian all my life. The important stages so far have been the end of high school to the end of university, where I had no clue what I wanted to do, just that I loved science and was more of a numbers person.
Throughout my years at Uni, each experience changed my perception of what I found enjoyable. I did an internship at an Oil & Gas company where I got to experience data science and digital marketing for the first time. Returning to the university that year, I added Econometrics as my major as it felt like a gateway into data analytics and data science. Continuing that trend, I then joined a large Telco as a finance graduate where I got to try a few areas out: Supply Chain Analytics, Project Management, Treasury & Banking and Strategy.
Ultimately shaping where I am now, I found consulting like a science where we try to test hypotheses and use numbers and theory to back up our assumptions.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Someone with a different background can do my job. It is quite important that we have consultants of varied experiences and backgrounds as they provide unique solutions to the same problem.
The key characteristics to breaking into consulting would be the interest in solving unique business problems, interest in constantly learning & comfort in tasks changing rapidly, ability to adapt to changing thinking, and some creativity.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
I love that my job lets me jump around to different industries to try something new with every project. I can go from working in energy, all the way to media and communication. For someone who does not have a narrowed industry preference yet, it is great, because I get to do tasks that I find interesting (e.g. financial modelling & research) for a range of companies and sectors.
The work can be quite rewarding retrospectively, looking back at all the things you learnt and all the new material you created for the company in a short span of time.
What are the limitations of your job?
Of course, consulting can have its limitations as well. The biggest limitation would be the nature of the work itself. It can be a very fast-paced project or be in a nascent industry with no supporting research or expertise. There will be times when you feel rushed and/or lost, but the support within the company is there!
Otherwise, be prepared for periods where it is busy, and where it quietens down – keeping a healthy routine is the key to not making the busy periods feel like too much.
3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student.
If I were a student, I would tell myself this: