5 Things I’ve Learned That are Shaping my Consulting Experience

Thoughts and Reflections after 1 year as a tech consultant

After 3 years and a handful of entrepreneurial experiments and adventures, I made the decision to go into consulting and learn how large organizations deliver services and grow their business and that of others.

As I approach my 1-year at Accenture, I decided to document what I’ve observed and share my perspective. The best thing that can happen as a result of this article is that I re-read it next year and feel like I’ve grown. The 2nd best thing is that those that read this take what they like and leave the rest.

I started out in a role that I didn’t know much about but was open to trying. After a few months and learning about Accenture’s Innovation Hub, I realized the role I was hired to do was not for me. What I wanted was to join the Innovation Hub and after a few interviews and conversation, that’s what I did.

This article won’t discuss my role in the Hub (although I may write something about that soon), but will mainly be about things I’ve experienced, witnessed and heard from colleagues.

Lesson 1: Don’t buy into the “just accept anything you get” philosophy

Personally, I don’t believe in the “just accept anything you get” philosophy. The only way that works is if you are genuinely open to experimenting with absolutely everything, which is not what most people want. I’ve heard this message being shared by some senior members (not my bosses) and although it worked out for them, we’re not hearing the stories of their 49 other colleagues for who it didn’t work out or that wake up dreading every day of their careers.

That being said, it depends on everyone's individual situation. It’s ok to experiment with different projects and realize that it’s not for you…that happened with me. Everyone has different goals and ambitions.

Lesson 2: Know what you want

If you know what you want, try your best to secure a role where you get to do that. If you can’t secure a role in the area you want, reach out to the managers in that area, tell them you want to work in their field or on their team and ask if you can support them with anything…in other words become a free resource. If they accept, be realistic with what you are capable of doing because you might have to put in extra time to get the work done. Once all sides have agreed, make sure to deliver great work. If they are happy with what you’ve done, they will want to include you in a more official capacity as soon as the next opportunity presents itself.

If you don’t know what you want, at least know what you don’t want, stay away from that, and experiment with everything else.

Lesson 3: Always be learning

To be clear, I’m not saying to fill your calendar with training. There is a time to learn new concepts, a time to experiment with them, and a time to let them go into your subconscious only for it to smack you with an insight when you least expected it. What I mean is to maintain a curious mentality and a positive attitude to change.

There’s a brief feeling after graduating from university of “I’m done, no more learning for me anymore”. Although it’s a totally valid feeling when celebrating the end of an academic challenge, you don’t want that feeling to remain. If you are not trying to improve your skills and learn, you risk stagnating while others who are growing receive more opportunities.

Look at who is doing the work you want to do, look at the skills they’ve acquired, and set out to learn them.

Lesson 4: Google is your friend, not your enemy

Many (including myself sometimes) feel this pressure to always know the answer to everything. And if you don’t, then you don’t deserve the job. This could not be farther from the truth. Using Google to find answers doesn’t make you incompetent or make you unqualified for the job. It’s a key skill that demonstrates resourcefulness.

You have access to the world's information at your fingertips. Why waste so much brainpower trying to retain everything?

Lesson 5: Try before asking

This one is still a tough one for me, but I’m working on it. This isn’t to say not to ever ask questions, in fact, questions are important if something isn’t clear. However, once you’ve been given a task or a challenge, before asking your manager how to do it, try to figure it out. Then if you still don’t get what you need, demonstrate to them that you’ve tried and would like their help.

For example, if you’re looking for a document and can’t find it. Instead of asking them where it is, you can say something like: “I’ve looked in these 3 folders and wasn’t able to find the document, am I looking in the right place or did we change the name of the file?”.

Or, “I’ve built these slides like this because I want to bring the client’s attention to these points. What do you think of this approach?”.

If you do this, a good manager will appreciate your attempt. Sometimes that file isn’t in the right place or someone changed the file name and it wasn’t communicated. Sometimes the manager might have had an idea in mind for a slide but after seeing yours, decided to do it your way instead.

In 1 year alone, I have learned so much. However, I find these 5 to be some of the foundational skills a junior consultant can learn to be effective in their role and their career. I am not a master at any of these. I’m constantly working on all the points mentioned above and I do see progress from when I’ve started until now.

Accenture is a great company with opportunities in almost everything. If you are curious about learning more, feel free to reach out!