What A Senior Consultant At Deloitte Wishes They Had Known Before Entering The Consulting Industry
Jorge, a Senior Consultant at Deloitte, learned that building a sense of belonging in corporate America requires a "strategic effort" unlike prior experiences in Teach for America, where community was readily available. The absence of readily available affinity spaces in Deloitte's corporate culture initially led to feelings of isolation, highlighting the need for proactive networking to find a supportive community.
Networking, Community Building, Diversity and Inclusion, Work Culture, Career Expectations
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Jorge Galan
Senior Consultant
Deloitte
University of Texas at Austin - 2013
University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business - MBA
Spanish & Other Languages, Fine Arts, Music
Consulting & Related Professional Services
Consulting
LGBTQ, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. Actively seek out community and networking opportunities within the company, as it may not be as readily available as in previous experiences.
2. It's important to proactively build relationships with colleagues who share similar backgrounds and experiences.
3. Corporate environments may not always have the same built-in support systems for diversity and inclusion as some other organizations.
Transcript
What have you learned about this role that you wish someone would have told you before you entered the industry?
Something I wish someone had told me was that it would take a strategic effort on my part to find a community within consulting where I truly belonged.
To give you some context, with Teach for America, diversity was always discussed from day one in training. There were affinity spaces for the LGBT, African American, and Latino communities. When I was a recruiter, these spaces were just part of the programming and expected. I never really had to try to find community; it was always part of the program.
In corporate America, that's often not the case. I did a lot of training at Deloitte. When I first started, there weren't any affinity spaces at the trainings. There were virtual calls, but sometimes you want that in-person community.
I thought I would just come in and it would fall into place, like it did at Teach for America. That's not the case. I need to actively network with people who share similar experiences. I need to seek out those diversity calls, even if no one is asking me to attend.
If you don't, it's easy to feel isolated and like you don't belong. I wish someone had told me this in the beginning because I came in with really, I guess, naive expectations given my prior experience.