Consultant
Concentrix
If you’ve ever started a new job and felt that mix of excitement and nerves, you’ll know the feeling I get at the start of every consulting project. Even after almost three years, that “first-day energy” hasn’t faded, and I don’t think it ever fully will. That’s the beauty of consulting, every project brings a new client, a new challenge, and a new opportunity to learn.
One of the most surprising parts of my early career was the level of responsibility given to me from the very beginning. I expected to spend months observing from the sidelines, but instead I found myself contributing ideas in client meetings, owning parts of projects, and delivering work that had a real impact.
At first, I thought being a “good consultant” meant having all the answers and I worried I didn’t know enough to add real value. The reality is that consulting is about asking the right questions, listening carefully, and bringing structure to complex problems. As young consultants, we sometimes assume a lack of experience is a disadvantage, but clients, and colleagues alike, value our curiosity and willingness to challenge assumptions and legacy thinking. That trust has been incredibly motivating, pushing me to learn quickly, lean on my team when needed, and grow in confidence.
I also hadn’t anticipated just how diverse my experiences would be. One month, I was supporting an operations team at a wealth management firm; the next, I was designing a contact strategy for a UK retailer. Over time, I’ve come to see that consulting gives you a unique lens, you begin to see patterns across industries and functions, even when the context seems entirely different.
Like most industries, consulting is also being reshaped by AI. Recently, I have been learning more about internal AI tools at Concentrix, which I have found useful for tasks like data analysis and summarising complex research. Tools like this don’t replace the fundamentals of consulting, but they do enhance the way we work. By speeding the manual tasks, AI creates space for me to focus on insight, problem-solving, and most importantly building client relationships.
Having entered the corporate world in the aftermath of COVID-19, hybrid working has been the norm for me. I split my time between working from home, our London office and client sites. The balance shifts depending on the project, but the variety works well for me. Being on-site helps me to build relationships and gives me deeper insight into client challenges; office days create space for collaboration and informal learning; and home days allow me to focus on delivering outputs without interruption.
If you’re considering consulting as a career, my advice would be to embrace the variety. No two days look the same. You’ll learn quickly, sometimes on steep curves, and you’ll be pushed outside of your comfort zone. But you’ll also gain a breadth of experience that few other careers can offer at such an early stage. Most importantly, you’ll be part of a team that thrives on shared learning and collaboration.