What's your job about?
Grant Thornton (GT) is a professional services firm working with a range of companies across the country and the world to assist in financial and other services. In Management Consulting (MC), we work with government, not-for-profit, retail and other industries to improve performance, strategies, projects and program management. Each day can be very different, particularly with the range of clients and projects I work on, and the different partners, directors and managers I work with.
In most projects I have contributed to, I take care of project management, conducting research and analysis, and sitting in on consultations and interviews that my senior colleagues conduct with stakeholders. Weekly I will send out project status reports and towards the end of the project, I pull together the final report. I love the variety and exposure to different industries and am able to learn from multiple team members across the team. It is great to be able to interact, grab a coffee and have a laugh with senior team members easily!
What's your background?
I grew up in Sydney where I completed my first ten years of school. My family and I then moved to Perth where I completed Years 11 and 12. The move was difficult – I left all my friends and extended family behind to face a strange city where I did not know anyone. However, in hindsight, I am glad we moved! Perth is an awesome city, WA has the nicest beaches that I can never get enough of. After high school, I moved to Melbourne to commence my uni degree and moved into a residential college where I have made lifelong friends.
I grew up loving maths and hence completed a Bachelor of Science (with a maths major) at the University of Melbourne. Throughout my degree, I worked casually in pubs and at the MCG.
After I graduated, I landed my first full-time job at GT. I came across the opportunity on LinkedIn and was given an offer the day after my interview. I have now been in the job for 6 months and have loved the flexibility with working from home – although employed in Melbourne I am currently working in the Perth office while at home visiting my parents!
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Most of my fellow grads in Consulting have Commerce or Business backgrounds however the beauty of Consulting is that the variety of the work means there is a place for most, if not all, backgrounds!
Key qualities for Consulting are effective communication, problem-solving, being a fast learner and team player. It helps to be familiar with Microsoft Office, I spend most of my day on Excel and PowerPoint, but do not stress, I learned how to use these applications while on the job.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
Clients come to us with problems to solve and it is always so interesting to discover underlying issues and how they can be fixed. Whether these discoveries come up in interviews with stakeholders, analysis of data or in research, it is satisfying to be able to put findings on a page, share them with the client and see their reaction. I particularly like when we find things that the client does not expect.
What are the limitations of your job?
Starting in the new job was a bit daunting, being thrown straight into the job and into a project. There is an expectation to be able to take responsibility and work things out for yourself but where this isn’t possible, being confident to contact people to find or guide you. Being a confident and outgoing person, I managed okay however I can imagine it would be different for someone less comfortable with reaching out to strangers. I had to be able to learn fast about how the team operates and our methodologies.
3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...