i-Speak Session-19Oct09
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The i-Speak session is a unique initiative by the NUS MBA Consulting club in which current students who have worked in the consulting industry prior to their MBA share their experiences with the rest of their batchmates. The intent of this is to provide some background and information about the industry to those who seek to join it after their MBA.
The first speaker to talk about his experiences was Arthur. Arthur was a consultant for Accenture in Canada and the US prior to his MBA. He has a dual degree in Engineering and Business and had joined Accenture as a fresh graduate. Arthur talked about his diverse experiences working for different clients across various industries, the kind of role he was expected to play, his career progression etc. Along with this, he also shared his insights about Accenture as a whole, their work culture, environment and importantly, their recruitment processes.
The session ended with a round of questions to the speakers who addressed specific issues like training for consultants and the need and demand for MBA’s within their companies. They were then given small tokens of appreciation from the club for taking time out in their schedules to chat with us. As is the norm in NUS, the session was followed by snacks where the audience could interact with the speakers informally. Kudos to the organising team who did a great job with the arrangements and logistics. It was a good learning experience with lots of positive takeaways for the audience.
This semester’s session took place on the 19th of October. Though this was a hectic time for many with projects and submissions due, the session was well attended. The speakers were Arthur Leung from Canada, Hyun Sik Ko from Korea and Arpan Bagchi from India. The session began with a small introduction from Rituraj, the emcee for the afternoon. He gave us an overview of why this initiative was started and how it helps students to understand the industry from an insider’s point of view.
The first speaker to talk about his experiences was Arthur. Arthur was a consultant for Accenture in Canada and the US prior to his MBA. He has a dual degree in Engineering and Business and had joined Accenture as a fresh graduate. Arthur talked about his diverse experiences working for different clients across various industries, the kind of role he was expected to play, his career progression etc. Along with this, he also shared his insights about Accenture as a whole, their work culture, environment and importantly, their recruitment processes. Next up was Hyun Sik Ko who had some very insightful comments about I.T. consulting in Korea and what it takes to become a consultant. He told us how the mindset in Korea is different from
what one expects in the US or other developed countries and that it might be difficult for non-Koreans to adjust to this. He talked about the importance of client satisfaction and forming long term relationships with one’s clients.
what one expects in the US or other developed countries and that it might be difficult for non-Koreans to adjust to this. He talked about the importance of client satisfaction and forming long term relationships with one’s clients. Lastly, Arpan talked about his journey since starting off as a I.T. Techie in Infosys India to becoming a data analytics consultant for GE. Arpan talked of the drive and commitment needed to succeed in this industry. He also talked briefly about the specific skills needed for his role within GE. Those of us who have started small and have lofty aims walked away with a great deal of inspiration from his words.
The session ended with a round of questions to the speakers who addressed specific issues like training for consultants and the need and demand for MBA’s within their companies. They were then given small tokens of appreciation from the club for taking time out in their schedules to chat with us. As is the norm in NUS, the session was followed by snacks where the audience could interact with the speakers informally. Kudos to the organising team who did a great job with the arrangements and logistics. It was a good learning experience with lots of positive takeaways for the audience. -Rajas Karandikar
Class of 2011
i-Speak Session
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Talking to the Interns
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
The MBA program at the NUS Business School is renowned for its practical approach towards academics. Like the leading business schools, NUS relies heavily on the case method to develop sound analytical, persuasive and business skills, and develop capability to deal with incomplete knowledge in the participants. But is that all it takes to make a successful career in the Strategy/Management consulting world? Who else could answer this better than the peers/seniors who have been exposed to this challenging world through internships and prior experience?The Consulting Club-Intern talk at NUS Business school was the first event to give the new entrants to the MBA program a good flavor of what it takes to make it to the demanding world of management consulting. Organized on the 15th Sep 2009, the event was an amazing success in terms of participation and the experiences shared by the students who have had opportunity to
work at the leading Management consulting firms. The list of firms included the who’s who is the consulting world namely, McKinsey, PricewaterHouse Coopers, E&Y, KPMG and IMaCS. The diverse background coupled to the colorful experiences of the participants made the session very interesting and useful. The attendees were an equally diverse and receptive bunch of medical practitioners, engineers, IT specialists, investment bankers, consultants and marketeers.The seniors shared their experiences that stretched from long drawn out preparations for the extensive interviewing with management consulting firms to actual experiences at work. They advised serious introspection and understanding oneself before plunging into the internship hunt. One must know one's passions and career goals. If one can answer these questions in advance, the ensuing confidence shall be a great help in the entire process.They emphasized that "practice" is the key to success in tackling management consulting interviews. In addition, they also underlined the importance of improving analytical, communication and networking skills to make it click at management consulting. Through real life experiences the seniors ensured that the ideas were communicated effectively and were of use to the attendees. The Q&A session, that followed, was a reflection of the interest and curiosity that the seniors had managed to unleash. The thought provoking replies and assurances to assist the new entrants ensured that the next few events of the consulting club are headed to be livelier and even more useful.
The discussions and Q&A continued to the delicious snacks waiting outside. This provided a nice opportunity to go one-on-one with the seniors and deliberate with them on specifics of ones career and path ahead.
We are sure that the participants and the attendees had a great time interacting and the events of the Consulting Club shall continue to be even more informative and useful. So, please be on the lookout for the next one.
- Michelle Sung and Karunesh Pandey
Class of 2011
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Kick-Off '09
Thursday, August 27, 2009
The activities of the Consulting Club started this semester with the Club kick-off on 20th Aug 2009. And the response to this event was commendable, something that speaks volumes about the enthusiasm of the new batch.NUS consulting club plays a very important role in life of aspiring students: may it be by equipping the student body with resources to make informed decisions on consulting careers, providing tools necessary to build successful careers in consulting or by providing opportunities to promote extra-curricular excellence.
This session gave us a flavor of what the club is all about and how it can assist us in fulfilling our dreams of developing successful careers in this consulting industry.
The session started with a short presentation by Shipra, the current President of the club. She ran us through the history of the club, its objective, mode of operation, the various events held in the past etc.
She then took us through some of the more specific examples from events that were organised in the past one year, including career interest groups, interview preparation workshops, the new initiative called i-Speak, and the NUS MBA flagship event, Consultant Unplugged.
Shipra’s Presentation was followed by a presentation from Bani. She gave us insight on the recruitment process of different companies like McKinsey, BCG and A.T. Kearney etc.
Most of the discussion was centred around the kind of work consultants do in general with focus on
strategy firms. What is consulting? What kind of work the consulting firms do? How is a typical day in a consultant’s life? What is the usual work-life balance and the amount of travel involved? All these and many more such were effectively answered.A consultant’s typical day was also discussed and it was emphasized, that though consulting careers give one a great opportunity to constantly learn, innovate and challenge oneself, it’s a tough job at the end of the day and one needs to be geared always to succeed.
All in all, it was a great session, informative and comprehensive; and gave us good insights on both the club as well as the consulting industry; just the kick-off we had hoped to get!
-Payal Keswani
Class of 2011
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