Demanding hours and workloads, rigorous work dynamics or the extremely competitive environment are some stigmas around a consulting career. Tiago Kullberg (The Boston Consulting Group – BCG), Ana Gabriela Pedrosa (AT Kearney), Joana Namorado Rosa (Accenture), Susana Barroso (EY), Gonçalo Santos (Deloitte) and David Amaral de Brito (Everis) were the invited speakers of the 15th Alumni Talks, held this Tuesday, December 10th.
About 30 students and Técnico alumni met in an informal atmosphere. The Técnico alumni clarified students’ doubts, recalled their academic journey at Técnico and listed some reasons why they do consulting.
The opportunity of working with companies from different fields and with people from other cultures; the new perspective and range of expertise that each new project brings to a consultant; the large contact networks and the possibility of working with the best professionals in each area, were some of the advantages pointed out by the Técnico alumni. “The balance between a consultant’s workload, the constant learning and the possibility to work with fantastic people is very positive”, said David Amaral de Brito. “As a consultant you can expect a faster career development and wage growth. This is a very demanding career, like many others, and it turns out to be natural at an early stage of a career”, he added.
Team diversity, the international opportunities and training provided by the consulting companies, the job requirements, the recruitment procedures and the importance of being a Técnico graduate were some topics addressed by the students. “What sets Técnico graduates apart from the others is their reasoning skills and versatility”, said Susana Barroso. “It is important that you prepare for a job interview, so that you can demonstrate your skills and expertise. Don’t worry if at the end you have the feeling that something went wrong, because it’s perfectly normal, it happens to everyone”, says Tiago Kullberg. “At the beginning of a consulting career, engineers have to work harder than someone with a management background, but our ability to think outside the box and our strong problem solving skills will help us to stand out and to add value to the company”, stressed Joana Namorado Rosa. “Engineers like a lot of things, they want to do a lot of things, and that also differentiate us”, said David Amaral de Brito.
The alumni explained that work peaks are not constant, and pointed out that rigorous work planning is the strategy for never missing out any birthday dinner or family event. “There are times when we have to work harder, but if we manage our time well, everything will be OK”, said Susana Barroso. The idea of extreme competitiveness in this job was demystified by the alumni “the world of consulting is extremely dynamic. Opportunities come up all the time. If we work hard, we can all grab these opportunities”, said Susana Barroso.
