When I graduated from the Wharton Schoolofthe University of Pennsylvania last May, I sought a job that wouldallowme to continue developing the fundamental business skills I hadlearnedin the classroom, while exposing me to a wide range ofindustries. Idecided the consulting industry, my first choice, wouldallow me tochange industries regularly, and to analyze complexbusiness problemsthat top companies have to solve.
Rightfrom the start, I've been given the autonomy, andaccountability, forcoming up with solutions that address tough clientproblems—and to putthose solutions into action. In just a short amountof time, I haveworked on several different client projects in severaldifferentindustries (telecom, health care, online retail) and havehoned myanalytic and communication skills.
My Bain & Co.colleaguesare incredibly smart and down-to-earth people whocontinuously push meto do better in my job. And while getting resultsfor clients is key,it's not all work and no play. Officewide communityservice projects,happy hours, and annual worldwide soccer tournaments(this year thetournament will be held in Spain) are just a few of theways that thecompany creates the culture of working hard and havingfun.
Here's my typical day:
9:00 a.m.—Iarrive at the office after my five-minutecommute through Boston's BackBay. When I visited the city, it wasthriving with great social andcultural attractions, so it was an easydecision for me to pick theBoston office. I make myself a bowl ofinstant oatmeal, turn on mycomputer, and read the news headlines.
9:15 a.m.—Iopen the file of client data that I wasworking on late last night. Ihave a few more lookups and pivot tablesto create before I will besatisfied that I have completed theanalysis. No matter how muchprevious Excel experience you have (manynew employees have none), Bainmakes sure that within a few months youbecome an expert.
10:30 a.m.—Ireview the results of my data crunching_What conclusions can I draw?How can I effectively communicate theseinsights to the client? Most ofthe data confirms the team's originalhypothesis, but a few of theresults are surprising. I create severalpresentation slides toconcisely convey what I've found. Then I e-mailmy findings to a seniorteammate to get his feedback.
1:55 a.m.—Iread the 10 e-mails that have been sent toall of the associateconsultants (ACs) discussing our lunch plans. It'sMeatloaf Sandwich Dayat the local sandwich shop, which seems like theconsensus. Although Ienjoy a good meatloaf sandwich as much as thenext associate consultant,I already have plans to have lunch with mymentor. With my current casewrapping up soon, I am hoping that mymentor will have some advice as towhat types of cases I should betrying to work on next. I also want todiscuss my transfer-abroadoptions.
1:00 p.m.—Imeet with my teammate to walk him throughthe slides that I created thismorning. He notices a few areas where Ineed to develop my analysisfurther. His suggestions remind me of abusiness strategy I used in myprevious case; I think that themethodology would be applicable here. Imake the revisions and hecombines my slides with those that he hascreated, and forwards theentire slide presentation to our case teammanager.
2:45 p.m.—Icheck e-mails and voicemails before mynext meeting. There's anofficewide voice message from the managingpartner of the Boston office_He shares news about recent client winsand thanks various teams fortheir contributions and achievements.
3:00 p.m.—Iarrive at the 10th-floor conference roomand dial into a conference callwith my team (a partner, manager,consultant) and our client. We arediscussing the current draft of thedeck, additional information we needfrom the client, and our plannedagenda for the remainder of the case_The client has several questions,one of which revolves around theanalysis that I performed last week_My case team manager gives me the"it's your analysis, so you shouldanswer the questions" look, and aftermy two-minute explanation, theclient seems to be satisfied and proceedsto the next question.
3:58 p.m.—Client meeting ends. I dash by the kitchen to grab a banana and then off to my next meeting.
4:00 p.m.—Imeet with a team of two other ACs todiscuss a pro bono case that we areworking on in addition to ournormal caseload. Since the team onlyconsists of ACs, I have had theopportunity to take on an even largerleadership role.
5:00 p.m.—Imeet briefly with the consultant on mycurrent case to discuss myresponsibilities over the next few days. Ialso ask for feedback on thework that I have been doing over the pastfew weeks.
5:30 p.m.—Istart working on my new assignment. BeforeI dive into the work, I dosome up-front planning so I get the list ofactivities and timeallotments right. Casework always presentsroadblocks, so the more Iplan now, the better off I will be. I alsobudget into my timeline thefact that I am going to leave work earlytomorrow for a recruitingevent. I look at the time—it's almost 6 p_m_and I'm looking forward tothe next item on my calendar. Before I headoff, I compose an e-mail toone of my client contacts asking for thedata I will need for this nexttask.
6:00 p.m.—I'moff to "Manager Beers," our monthlyhappy hour event. I wasn't able togo last month because I had to work.I typically work 50- to 60-hourweeks. Today, however, I am at a goodstopping point.
8:00 p.m.—Iarrive home after having dinner withcollege friends who live in thearea, and take some time to watch TV,read, and e-mail about weekendplans.
Midnight—Onelast check of the BlackBerry and then tobed. I don't have anything onmy calendar until 11 a.m., so I'm goingto take advantage of what I hopewill be a quiet morning and get to theoffice early for a jump start.
Aftera year here, I still believe that I picked my perfect firstjob. From myvery first day, I was challenged—whenever I think I'mbecomingproficient at my job, I'm encouraged by team members to assumenewresponsibilities. I continue to learn new skills, have theopportunityto make real contributions to our clients, and enjoy thepeople I workwith. Outside of work, a few of us are taking sailinglessons together.
Duringcampus recruiting, I remember the Bain partners and managerssaying thatthey offer the best general manager training in theconsulting industry_So far, that training and the entire experiencehave exceeded myexpectations. Although I expected to learn quickly,the learning curvehas been steeper than I expected, but worth thejourney. My advice torecent graduates is to look for a job that isboth challenging and fun:The work, the people, and the company cultureare all very important.
Meet admissions consultants, alumni, and other prospective MBA students in BW's MBA Forums.
/STORY
Goldmanis an associate consultant at Bain and Company, and holds a BA from theWharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
/1 
发表于 2008-9-20 23:27
收藏