In a nutshell
At university, it’s hard to get a proper understanding of businesses and professions before joining them. However, it’s important to know if you think a company or career will be the right fit for you. That’s why we’ve asked Operations Consultant, Michael, to talk about what working at Newton is really like and to try and answer the age-old question, what is consulting?
WRITTEN BY
Michael
What did you think consulting was before joining Newton?
I hadn’t ever really thought about consulting before applying to Newton. It wasn’t on my radar as a career option. I suppose I just saw it as problem solving and that’s all I really knew about it.
If this was your understanding, what made you want to be a consultant?
To be completely honest, my initial application was from a graduate job website; I didn’t actively seek Newton out. However, the further I went through the process, the more I needed to find out about Newton and consulting. I really liked what I saw about the company, but I still wasn’t entirely sure what consulting involved.
I found it was the application process at Newton that drew me into consulting as a profession. By the third stage, I could speak directly to consultants and ask them about what the job involved. They were able to explain it in a lot more detail and, as someone who didn’t really know what I wanted from a career yet, the broad range of skills needed for consultancy greatly appealed to me.
What was the key thing that drew you to Newton specifically?
I think for me, it was the focus on development and how this was obviously a big part of the culture at Newton. The grad role was very much portrayed in the application process as the first step in your career. The assessors made it clear that you didn’t need previous experience and that the company expected to help you develop and grow into the role.
I’d say as a piece of advice to people applying to embrace the fact that you’re not the finished product. In your interviews, be honest about the development you want to see, and you can highlight to the assessors what your ambitions are and that you’re eager to learn.
The fact that you are given a lot of responsibility early on also appealed to me. When you join Newton as a grad, you are placed in a role rather than being on a rotating scheme. This means you are seen as a valued member of the team from the beginning and given responsibilities to match this.
Since starting, how would you explain what consulting is?
It’s true that consulting is essentially problem solving but on a large scale and with a team of open-minded people helping to crack the code. At Newton, we work across three different sectors: Public, Consumer and Defence & Infrastructure. Regardless of which sector your project is in, as a consultant your aim is to take a client’s challenge and find a resolution to it that has significant, meaningful impact on their business. This may be reducing costs, making processes more efficient or easing time pressures. A lot of the time you’ll be relying on data and analysis to solve problems which is why you don’t have to be an expert in the client’s industry in order to help them.
And how would you explain Newton as a company?
One word that sticks out is unique, both in its culture and ways of working. It’s a young company that has huge growth ambitions and this means there is a buzz and sense of excitement around the work we do. I think there’s the option to contribute from an individual level that you don’t get from other companies. Everyone at Newton is given some opportunity to input on how the company grows and develops which is an exciting position to be in.
