Degree Apprentice
Atkins
My parents originally inspired me to get into consulting, as they observed my ways of thinking and doing, and found that aligned with the characteristics of a potentially great consultant. Once I started sixth form in September 2019, I was researching into career paths and undertaking questionnaires to find out which career in the professional work environment gives me the opportunity to help people, solve problems and use my management skills. Alongside the questionnaires, my parents, economics teachers and career coach helped steer me in the direction of consulting, which was when I began researching about it more, finding work experience around this area and looking into pathways that could help me become a consultant.
The start of the week always begins with checking my emails and going over my to-do list to ensure I keep up to date with my tasks. I work with a lot of different people due to the nature of my role being varied, so I check which meetings I must attend in the week. During the meetings with my colleagues, I discuss how to tackle tasks, but also have a nice catch up. My university commitment only takes up one day a week, which is when I attend my lecture or study in preparation for my assignments. Throughout the week I complete my tasks and have regular check-ins with my colleagues for support and guidance, and sometimes for coffee chats to socialise and play games. Throughout the week I also set myself goals and create ideas on how I can be proactive, using my initiative to help the business in areas that need improving.
My home office location is in London; however, I travel to Bristol every 2 months to meet with the other apprentices, graduates, and placement students. It is lovely to meet up with people who are sharing similar experiences and to be able to grow my network within the community of young professionals.
I work with a lot of different people from a range of experience levels, such as seniors, experienced hires, junior consultants, and apprentices across the company. I have also worked with people from other countries such as Denmark and Norway!
My role is based around business development and capability development within the Programme Delivery practice. I mostly use my creativity to create placemats, slideshows, and spreadsheets. I have worked in the learning and development area where I have organised different skills frameworks for the company’s sites. Additionally, I work on facilitating meetings, preparing slides for the line management and practice calls, steering groups and away days. In support of equality, inclusion and diversity initiatives, I have been fortunate enough to be the project manager for implementing a shadow board. This is designed to enable young professionals, such as apprentices and junior consultants, to collaborate with the Operational Leadership Team to discuss and solve problems within the business. Furthermore, I work on recruitment tasks; creating induction packs, organisation charts, swim lane diagrams and creating a recruitment film for the company, which consists of my own ideas.
I enjoy the variety of activities that I work on, as I am not too fond of repetitive work. I also enjoy the ability to work with many different people and work on different internal projects that adds value to the business.
I can find it challenging to keep up with the number of opportunities available. There are many programmes to get involved in which is great, although having other work commitments as well as university makes it hard to balance it all. Therefore, sometimes I miss out on applying for some opportunities.
If you are someone that is determined, loves helping people, solving problems, and using your initiative, then consulting is a good career choice to exhibit these skills. Self-motivation and time management is important, as the workload can increase significantly at times. Although if you are organised and love to make a difference, then you should consider this career.