Tom SpencerA career is as unique as the individual. Most people I talk to, regardless of what stage they are at in their career, can connect the dots as to how they arrived at their current position. However, if you asked them to predict their current job 5 years ago, most of them wouldn’t have been […]
Each industry, company, and project team consists of people doing specific types of work. As you join a new firm or a new group within that firm you will need to leverage what you already know and be prepared to learn new things. You will have some time prior to accepting a new position when […]
Career paths which are dominated by knowledge workers all have one thing in common. The personal interests of the individual drives their career. I have heard about and personally experienced the “choose your own path” phenomena of consulting. Wherein you can express interest in a certain type of work and network with managers and principals […]
Whether it’s your first time on a new project, or a task you have done many times before, you will always have to balance the volume of work with the time available. If you are working in a new functional team serving unfamiliar clients in a new industry, then there will obviously be tasks that […]
As work and non-work activities become increasingly blended, having a clear purpose and creating your own definition of work-life balance will be critical to a sustainable career. As most of us spend the majority of our time working, it’s important to consider where that time is spent, how to manage your tasks and energy, and […]
As the number of opportunities you have increases so too does the complexity involved in making a decision. For example, think of the last time you tried to pick a movie to watch. How long did it take you? The average Netflix user takes around 18 minutes. This is partly because there are lots of […]
4 Stages of Learning to Help your Projects and Career The difference between knowing a lot of facts and understanding how to use those same facts can be observed from the level of insight obtained. Often the same information is available to many people, yet some can reach greater insights and create more value. This […]
If someone is willing to give you 20 minutes of their time, what is the most value you can extract from that conversation? I networked my way to an interview. I cold messaged over 200 people on LinkedIn and had 50+ conversations with current consultants. The conversations not only helped me get referrals but also […]
Numbers are at the foundation of understanding both science and business. Both fields rely on translating real world events into data points which are then used to answer questions and generate insights. Coming from a health and science background I am familiar with looking at health data and being able to gain insights to make […]
The ability to learn faster has become a more valuable asset as the amount of knowledge produced continues to grow on a daily basis. When starting a new position, you will need to learn the technical skills and background knowledge to perform on the job. During these transition periods there is a large knowledge gap […]
Your manager recently told you that you did a good job on a project. This is great news, but how can you assess for yourself that you are doing well? This becomes a tougher question the further you progress in your career as there are fewer established metrics to base your assessment on. In college, […]
The greatest accomplishments will follow a focused person. Our society rewards specialists more than generalists, and the way to become a specialist is to remain focused on one area for a prolonged period. At all stages of our life there are times to explore and times to focus. When playing sports as a child exploring […]
Case coaching is an industry of its own. It seems like coaching is a necessary part of the consulting interview prep process and without it you don’t have a chance of getting an offer. It can be a tough decision as the price point for case coaching can be very high (10x more than the […]
There is always another skill to learn or article to read, yet there is often limited time and attention to devote to these activities. If you are short on time and looking to upskill here are some tips. Drawing on your past experiences If you are less than a year away from applying for jobs […]
A job can be defined as a group of tasks and responsibilities that are assigned to one person. We have all had some type of job where we had to do a certain set of tasks in order to help the group or organization be successful. How we perceived the tasks that made up the […]
If you are interested in consulting you have probably heard of the case interview. It is a key component of the consulting interview to test how you approach problems. Practicing cases can teach you how to think like a consultant, yet they can also be a large source of stress and anxiety for candidates. It’s […]
Not all schools have a consulting club, extensive alumni networks in consulting firms, or recruiters that come to their campus looking for top applicants. If you are at one of these schools you may find yourself at a disadvantage (to be honest you probably are) but people do still get into firms from non-target schools. […]