Strategic Project Partners (SPP)

As an Associate, my day-to-day is a mix of analysis, slide-building, and client engagement. Analysis consists of both quantitative and qualitative aspects. The quantitative side might involve building financial models, running calculations, and creating charts to visualise trends or benchmarks, while the qualitative side often involves attending stakeholder consultations (interviews, workshops, focus groups) and synthesising the discussion into key themes. I then translate these analytical outputs into clear, executive-ready slides in PowerPoint, building a narrative that supports our overall recommendations. Finally, I regularly attend client meetings to present my work and walk through findings.

I was deeply challenged with an independent project - carrying an entire consulting project on my own (albeit with a made up client and problem, but still worthwhile). Greatest learning experience ever! It forced me to approach the entire project holistically and be comprehensive as well as concise. On the other side we also had lots of opportunities to be involved in real client projects, though in smaller ways than our independent project. We were meant to receive work primarily from our mentors, but I ended up getting tasks from many people in the firm, which was a great opportunity for networking as well as getting stuck into a range of experiences. This was not the case for all interns though so it did depend a lot on who the mentor was and what work they were doing at that time. There was lots of business proposal work too (trying to win work) but that is to be expected. I also think it was valuable in its own right as it demonstrated how partners think when selling work to clients and re-emphasises the value of consulting work generally.