Last night, October 9th the Women in Business Club hosted our Women in Consulting Dinner sponsored by Mastercard at the Warehouse. This event is one of our 6-part dinner series, each hosting speakers and students interested in a sector voted for by our club members.
Joined by Eva Valbuena Global Human Resource Director at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), María José Sanz Jiménez Global Lead for AESG and Iberia Inclusion and Diversity Lead at Accenture, Pilar Linares – Rivas Senior Consultant at Monitor Deloitte, Astrid Ostergaard Senior Consultant at EY, and Jessica Castellanos Marketing Consultant at Mastercard.
The evening began with networking followed by a sit down 3 course dinner where we went around the table introducing ourselves, asking questions about the management consulting industry that we do not have access to asking in most career related environments, and shared our personal experiences as women in business. Key learnings from our amazing speakers and students that we’d like to share from this event include
Interviews
- If this is something that you truly want, put in the necessary effort focusing on as many cases as possible – it is imperative to ensure you are ready before you start interacting with the recruitment process as your performance in the interview process is recorded
- In an interview, the interviewer wants you to exhibit three things: 1) Problem solving skills, 2) Personal Skills and 3) Mental attitude
- Prepare with a friend who is equally committed
- Find what works best for you to ensure your composed confidence walking into an interview, whether it is a ‘Power Pose’ or recalling a memory of when you achieved something great!
- Know why consulting is for you and be honest
Life as a Female Consultant
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help
- Accept praise for good work with pride
- Try to always say YES to opportunities to work in different locations or positions; consulting companies are skilled at noticing talent and challenging you in ways that will help to develop you
- Find mentors who resonate with you – mentors both within and outside of your organization
- No matter what your age, industry or position, if you are not learning as you expected, ask for a challenge
- Do not fear to negotiate for yourself, first its important to become an asset through exceeding expectations
Our Dinner Series is designed in an intimate setting to facilitate open and honest conversation to flow between leading professionals and students – a learning experience and sharing of perspectives like no other. Future Dinner Series events planned until the end of the year include: Women in Luxury Retail, Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Technology and Leadership. Join the Women in Business Club here to be kept in the loop for future events.
We look forward to seeing you at our next Women in Business Dinner Series Event.
WiB Coordinators.
