A Day in the Life of an Associate Consultant at Mercer
A day as a Mercer Associate Consultant is highly varied; "no two days are really the same," with activities ranging from client meetings and data analysis to crafting presentations and collaborating with teams to solve diverse business challenges, such as market entry or acquisitions. This variety, touching upon "all facets of a business," is a key appeal of the career.
Problem-Solving, Teamwork, Communication, Data Analysis, Project Management
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Peter Yuan
Associate Consultant
Mercer
University of British Columbia
UCLA Anderson School of Management (MBA)
Finance
Consulting & Related Professional Services
Consulting
International Student, Scholarship Recipient, Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School, Transfer Student, First Generation College Student
Video Highlights
1. No two days are alike; work can include client meetings, travel, working from home, and collaborating with teams.
2. Consultants constantly work with people (teams and clients), data, and storytelling through presentations or memos.
3. Consulting projects are diverse, involving various business challenges such as market entry, acquisitions, revenue growth, and product expansion, offering variety and continuous learning.
Transcript
What does the day in the life of a consultant look like?
One of the interesting things about consulting is that no two days are really the same. Some days you might be traveling to and from a client site or co-locating to different cities, even though we're now in a more post-COVID world.
You may also be working from home. Your day-to-day could include client meetings, giving status updates, or presenting material you've worked on in the past couple of days or weeks.
You might spend time with your team, whether in front of a physical or virtual whiteboard, to think through a problem. You'll figure out how to tell the story of the problem you're trying to solve.
I think there are a couple of key elements required for any consulting job, regardless of whether you're working in strategy, operations, or implementation, etc. You'll be constantly working with people, whether that's your team or your client.
You'll be dealing with a lot of data, and you'll also have the opportunity to tell a story. This could be through a PowerPoint, a memo, or a deck.
So, it's pretty varied. I think one of the exciting things about this career is that a lot of the problems you get to solve are constantly changing.
One day you might be trying to help a company move into a new market. Another day, you might be helping a company acquire another company, or looking into growing a new revenue stream, or expanding a new product line.
You really get to touch upon all facets of a business. I think for a lot of people, myself included, it's one of the appeals that keeps us interested in this type of career.