Life of a consultant

There is no typical day for a consultant but this is example of week on a traveling case. Again schedule depends from person to person and case to case. Also, this is based on my first couple of weeks on my first case so take this with a grain of salt. However, this should give you some insight into what to expect.

Monday

5:30 AM - Get up

6:30 AM - Cab to airport

7:30 AM - On flight, hello to other team mates on the flight and quick updates. catch up some quick work/reading for the case or get some more sleep

9:00 AM - land in Melbourne

9:45 AM - Client office

9:45 AM - 10AM - E-mails, quick chats, some planning

10 AM - 11AM - Joint planning meeting with client

11 AM - 12:30 - Getting done to some work Primarily follow ups but also Analysis, planning, data gathering or thinking time

12:30 - 1:00 PM - Lunch with team

1:30 - 2:00 PM - work stream planning and updates with Case team leader

2:00 - 3:00 PM - Discussion with partner

4:00 - 7:30 PM - get down to work

7:30 - 9:00 PM - Dinner and D chat with case team leader

10:00 PM - 12:00 PM - finish up days work. Must do work for client presentations next day

Tuesday

6:00 AM - get up

6:30 AM - 7:15 Am - Gym

8:15 Am - at work

8:30 AM - 10:00 AM - Call to international clients

10:00 AM - 11:00 AM - issues/roadblocks/planning discussion with CTL

11:00 AM - 12:30 PM - work

12:30 PM - 1:30 PM - working lunch and case team discussion

1:30 PM - 7:30 PM - Work (Data collection, Analysis, client calls, Thinking time, brainstorming, discussing hypothesis, solutions)

7:30 PM - 9:00 PM - casual dinner with team or other traveling consultants

9:00 PM - 11/12 - urgent work for next day

Wednesday

Very similar to Tuesday some different meetings, different activities. More stressful.

Thursday

Simlar except

5PM - Catch cab to airport

Work in the airport/plane and back home if a C-level client meeting is coming up.

Friday

9 AM - At Office

9 - 10 AM - E-mails, catch up

10 - 11AM - Administrative work, expenses.

11 AM - 12PM - Work

12PM - 1PM - catch with other consultant/friends over lunch

1 PM - 4PM - Very focussed at work. Get things done!

4 pm - 6 PM - Office meeting(once a month). Drinks and cake(always)

7 PM - After work drinks...

Ready for weekend

Summer Internship

I realise I haven't really talked about my internship yet. If you follow other MBA bloggers you might be seeing their posts on internship progress, while I continue on and on about my travels. The reason is I haven't started it yet; I start tomorrow. I am interning with a top consulting firm in their Sydney, Australia office. The world of consulting excites me and I feel lucky to have secured an offer from my top choice firm. I am equally excited about working in Australia. I have never traveled there and continue to hear excellent thing, especially about Sydney. I first fly to a destination within US for a 3-day training and offsite, and then head down to Sydney. Its going to be a long flight!

Since I came back from Europe I haven't done much except eat, sleep, drink, watch movies and read books. Though I did take a intermediate salsa class and play a few games of tennis. All in all it was a pretty leisurely time. Now I have to change gears again to a hectic work life. I am not sure how I feel about that. I was getting used to doing absolutely nothing and living at my own pace. Well! lazy thoughts apart I am still pretty excited about Sydney and consulting work. I shall keep you posted on my progress.