What's your job about?
I am a management consultant. Essentially when companies can’t solve problems internally, they will bring us in to give them strategic direction and advice on the issue. It is extremely diverse, where each project can be tackling a different problem, in a different sector.
Day to day I am either at the client side or at the Oliver Wyman office. It can involve lots of client interaction, but when it comes down to work its generally split pretty evenly between excel, doing analysis and powerpoint, synthesising the key outputs and putting together a cohesive and concise deliverable for the client.
What's your background?
I grew up in Perth, and went to Scotch College. I studied Math and Economics in University, after starting an engineering degree but only loving the Math part. I was quite involved in WAUC (Western Australian University Consultants) which provides volunteer consulting to NFPs, and loved it. That’s what drew me towards getting a job in consulting.
I went on exchange to Amsterdam, and would love to continue travelling, another big pro for me in consulting. Ideally I would like to move overseas for a while, and fortunately I have the opportunity through this work to do so. I will be going to Bhutan for 3 months in 2023 to do some NFP work.
I have always loved being challenged, and the one thing I was looking for in a job is to not be bored. I want to always be learning and growing, and the diversity of problems and work we deal with in consulting is perfect for keeping me constantly challenged!
Prior to Oliver Wyman, I worked at a technical consulting firm, but wanted to move towards more strategic work. I have been here for about a year now.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Yes, anyone can do consulting regardless of your background. You need to be driven, flexible, and a quick learner. You are constantly being thrown different problems and questions and the faster you can pick up the key information the better!
Having some experience in excel can be helpful, and generally people tend to come from a business or science background.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
The best part about my job is the diversity of work. I have been on projects this year with a big four banks, a top Iron Ore mining company, a leading grain distributer, an international tech mining services company. The range of projects have been from Strategic direction, a digital assets strategy, a commercial due diligence etc.