Spring Break
Career Profiles
Charles Fan
Issue date: 1/28/08 Section: Features
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Charles Fan
Career Field Prior to HBS
Corporate Finance
Summer Internship
Deloitte [Consulting], Boston
What made Consulting stand out to you during interviews?
I liked the diversity of companies, industries, and functional roles that is inherent to management consulting. It provides a great deal of exposure to a wide variety of business models, as well as the opportunity to analyze what works and what doesn't in businesses. As someone who gets bored rather easily, switching projects every few months sounded interesting.
Why did you choose Deloitte?
I found Deloitte's people to be consistently intelligent and talented, but in a refreshingly approachable, non-arrogant manner. I am interested in working in the healthcare industry, so I was very attracted to Deloitte's eminence in this field. Finally, I liked the firm's operating model. Coming from a background in corporate, I appreciated Deloitte emphasis on practicality and client involvement.
Summarize your summer internship, the good, the bad and the overall.
My internship consisted of three separate projects: six weeks on a strategic integration project, two weeks analyzing a client acquisition target, and one week conducting primary research for a white paper. The best part of the summer was definitely the amount of responsibility that the firm entrusted to me. As a summer intern, I even had the opportunity to manage a project team on the acquisition target project. The worst part of the summer was inadvertently touching off layoff rumors at the client site, through an innocent information request. Even though our project had nothing to do with headcount reductions, some of the client's staff equate any consultant to the Bobs in Office Space. I definitely learned a lesson in perception management. I was very pleased with my experience at Deloitte. The firm represents a nice combination of interesting client work, professional development, wonderful colleagues, and inviting culture.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Management Consulting
posted 2/07/08 @ 5:35 PM EST
That sounds like a great story. What kind of knowledge, skills and background does one need to even get their foot into the management consulting world?
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