a day in the life of an acuiTy consultant
Whenever someone asks me what I do for a job and I respond telling them that I work as a Management Consultant, I am invariably met with a vague look of confusion. In fairness, I had absolutely no idea what a Consultant did before I started working in the industry four years ago. In a nutshell, I describe my job as trying to help businesses solve their problems, whatever those problems may be. It really can be as open ended as that, and it’s that variety that I love about my job.
At the moment I am working with a large public sector pension provider, helping them to improve the training programme they provide those joining their Pensioner Admin team. On average I spend two to three days a week on client site, which means travelling up to Manchester at the crack of dawn on a Tuesday morning. Once on client site, I spend a good chunk of my time in the Learning Development Centre, sitting in on initial training sessions. It’s a great opportunity to catch up with the Training Team, as well as those who have recently joined the business and are currently receiving training. Together with the Training Team, I have recently designed some new training materials so it’s good to get feedback on how these are being used and received. It’s a really gratifying feeling to see something you’ve been working having a positive impact.
Often consultants are brought into a business to provide an objective appraisal of what’s going on; what’s working and perhaps what could work better. After a morning in the Learning Development Centre, I’ll often spend time with some of my client’s senior stakeholders to discuss the overall training strategy and where we might be able to improve the current offering. Based on our conversations, I’ll usually go away and try and pull together some draft materials that I can then work through with the Training Team the next day.
One of the best things about being a consultant is the fact that there is no “typical day”; in all honesty no two days are the same. It’s impossible to predict what you’ll get up to each week and whilst that can be challenging, it is also what keeps it interesting; you are constantly being pushed and are continually having to learn new skills.
The life of a consultant can be a nomadic one, so it’s really important for me to have a strong support network back in my home office. It’s great to have a team of people with whom I can bounce around ideas and who are always at the end of the phone should I ever need advice.