|
Name: Tim Parsons
Class Year: 2018
Major: Corporate Finance and Accounting
Position: Business Technology Analyst
Company: Deloitte Consulting
My first experience with Deloitte came as a junior. I was accepted into the Deloitte Consulting Externship program, which is a program open exclusively to Bentley students, where I worked with a team of fellow students to write a White Paper for Deloitte. Throughout the program, which ran the entirety of the spring 2017 semester, I became interested in and applied for the Business Technology Summer Scholar position. Soon after the interviews were complete, I received a call from the Deloitte Consulting campus recruiter offering me an internship for the summer after my junior year, the summer of 2017. Upon completing the internship program, I received an offer to join as a full-time analyst upon graduation, which I accepted!
When I first came to Bentley, I thought I wanted to start my career in an audit role. However, after attending the Deloitte Consulting Externship information session last October, I became intrigued in consulting. I was fascinated as to how complex and intertwined a company’s technology infrastructure was to their financial performance and the wide variety of opportunities in the consulting field. When I first became interested in consulting, I thought that most of the daily responsibilities were focused around computer engineering. After talking to and working with several practitioners in the profession, I learned that this was not the case. At Deloitte, for example, I am able to work with several different divisions of the client, such as Finance, Human Resources, Marketing, etc. I am able to help them pinpoint inefficiencies within their department to create a sustaining technology infrastructure. In such a role, most of the daily responsibilities do not involve computer engineering, but rather require an understanding of how the business division operates.
There are many things about my job that I find rewarding. Every day I get to work with the client to solve a problem that they either do not know how to solve, or have never seen before. I get to offer new perspectives and insights to help solve these problems helping the client to become more efficient and profitable. Each client engagement I am on is unique, which allows me to learn something new every day. Along with my client engagement work, I also participate in the Bentley campus recruiting events. I enjoy participating with the on campus recruiting events as I enjoy interacting with other prospective students interested in and passionate about technology consulting.
Tim (back right) celebrating with his team.
As for challenges I’ve faced, there was definitely a learning curve at first. When I started on my project, I did not really understand what was going on. There was a lot to learn in a short amount of time. However, my team knew that this was my first project and they were eager to explain to me what we were doing, as well as why we were doing it for each step of the process. There were a lot of moving parts to the project and at times I needed to manage multiple projects simultaneously, each having very tight deadlines.
For anyone interested in consulting, I suggest being open-minded, studious and flexible. Every day, you work on something new that you have not seen before, allowing for great learning opportunities if you take advantage of them. As consultants, we are expected to be knowledgeable in all sorts of topics, ranging from how different business units operate to how specific technology can be leveraged to enhance efficiency. This requires continuous reading and learning of how new technology works, and how it can be optimized.
On a more basic level, attend the on campus recruiting events to learn more about the specific roles within Deloitte and to see where your interests are. Be inquisitive, research the company and ask a lot of well thought out questions pertinent to that company and career path. Do not be afraid to reach out to individuals in the profession and learn more about their specific roles!
If you’re interested in pursuing a career with Deloitte, or you’d like to learn more about their career opportunities click here. More specifically, if you are interested in their Deloitte Consulting Externship, stop by Career Services for more information on this Bentley exclusive programing. Also, be sure to connect with Tim on LinkedIn if you want to learn more from him!
