Vast majority say 'meaningful impact' is why they seek consulting career
A whopping 87 percent of Protiviti's interns this year say that an "opportunity to work regularly with different clients on dynamic issues and have a meaningful impact on their organizations" is the main reason they are attracted to a career in consulting. And one third—67 percent—of respondents say it's the "diversity of career paths within the industry" that attracted them to the profession.
The survey, in which respondents were permitted to choose all that apply when answering questions, was completed by 69 of the firm's 90 interns. It's the first effort in what will become an annual venture, says Jim Pajakowski, Executive Vice President at Protiviti.
Pajakowski, who has been one of the key drivers of Protiviti's internship program for the past 10 years, says the survey results are reinforcing of the firm's overall internship program and strategy.
Making an Impact
When it comes to interns wanting to make an impact and seeking a diversity of career paths, Pajakowski says he thinks interns "want to be involved in important issues facing our clients, and they want to be making an impact with clients and with our firm."
Pajakowski says Protiviti works really hard to give people that variety of experience internally so they don't feel like they have to leave the firm. "It's always been part of our retention strategy," he says. "Consulting has always been about giving people opportunities to build skills, get some experience and then go out into industry."
In the survey, only 25 percent of interns said "earning potential" was one of the attractive aspects of a career in consulting. "That might be surprising, but I don't think it's about interns not caring what they make, but rather, I think this group has the maturity to understand that if they're getting the experience they desire in different verticals and different solution areas, that will help build a foundation that will lead to greater earning potential down the road," he says.
Your Personal Balance Sheet
Pajakowski says he tells interns all the time not to just look at your income statement but rather to focus on your balance sheet. "Your balance sheet is you. It's your skills, your contacts, your network," he says. "The stronger you make your personal balance sheet the better your long-term income statement will be. It seems like that message may be resonating with these folks, which is encouraging."
Advancing a Career
The survey also touched on what factors will be most important to interns in advancing a career in the consulting profession.Category killers here were: Individual Mentorship from Senior Executives in the Workplace (66 percent); Professional Development from Industry Associations (61 percent); and Peer-Networking Opportunities (45 percent). Meanwhile, Advanced Degrees from Higher Education Institutions only accounted for 21 percent.
Pajakowski says he also is not surprised by those findings. "A vast majority of my learning and knowledge was learned on the job or from talking to others in the organization rather than sitting in a classroom or participating in a seminar," he says. "People want to have on-the-job experiences to help them build their skills. That's how we've designed our internship program."
The Intern Challenge
The fist phase of the intern program is called the Intern Challenge. The Intern Challenge is the first week of an eight-week program designed to give students the foundation they need to be successful not only in their internships with Protiviti, but also in their future careers. Built around a series of business simulations, the program also includes meetings and social activities with Protiviti's leadership team and small group discussions.
"There's really no lecturing; they learn by doing, and they learn by teaming with others," Pajakowski says. "And they learn by interacting with supervisors in a mentoring environment."
That type of interaction is lived everyday at Protiviti. For those who are offered positions, it won't end with the Intern Challenge.
The Art of Improv
Managers at Protiviti are required to take improvisation classes as a way to improve their listening and communication skills. In improv you have to listen, you have to take that information and then communicate it back with a solution. You have to build your response based on what the other people have said before you," Pajakowski says. And those listening skills are key to being a successful consultant, he says.
"Because of the way this generation of consultants use social media, and communicate non verbally with each other, one thing I worry about is their listening skills. Do they have the listening skills to be great consultants? Is listening becoming a lost art? If you're going to be a consultant, you have to listen," he says. "We try to reinforce those skills through the business simulations and the training programs we offer."
If the final survey results is any indication, the interns are listening. A stunning 98 percent of them say their interest in a consulting career either increased (68 percent) or is about the same (30 percent) as it was before the internship. That result, says Pajakowski, is very encouraging. "We're clearly doing something right," he says.
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