Management Consultant Inter Review

Management Consultancy at Tata involves a range of things - namely consulting with clients to gather their technical requirements, and then matching these requirements to Tata's internal capabilities. Over the summer at Tata, I was involved in drafting proposal for clients; liasing with my line manager to establish what Tata are capable of providing, and then acting as the intermediary between clients and the different teams within Tata to provide a top quality solution for clients.

Given that I study an arts subject, there is limited application of of my internship to my studies. However, it did teach me how to manage my time properly. Moreover, I feel like I can achieve more within a given day by waking up earlier and packing more into my day. Although we were given little technical training, there were a lot of sessions on presentation skills, how to interact with clients and general soft skills. This I feel is important because many interns do have the technical knowledge but lack on the soft skills necessary to succeed.

I was given a lot of responsibility during my internship. This responsibility increased over time as I became accustomed to the role however, from the beginning I was responsible for communicating for existing and potential clients as well as other employees at Tata. This involved things such as telephone calls to leading meetings. This exposure really allowed interns like myself to learn effectively on the job, which is a key skill in consulting where technical requirements change all the time.

Not as much as I originally thought - they rely on interns already having a good knowledge of Microsoft Office and other technical tools. However, I would say that a lot of support was given towards on-the-job learning and there was an emphasis on teaching interns to pick up new concepts very quickly. Since most interns are from a technical background, this helps somewhat however, even for arts students like myself, there was an atmosphere of inclusiveness and we were not made to feel guilty for asking for support.

Very good - before we were accepted, we had to learn the company's values inside out and there were numerous interviews in which we had to demonstrate how our own personalities align with those values. During the internship itself, this was enhanced through several team outings and strategy/culture days with senor management. They like to distinguish themselves as a consultancy that has the technical know-how for clients, unlike other companies that emphasize less technical solutions for clients.

My time at Tata was hugely enjoyable because there was a very supportive atmosphere for interns in which to thrive. They really treat interns as potential full time employees and that is reflected in the fact that so many interns return to work full time for them, although I did not take up their offer. The work was remunerated very well and I constantly felt as though I was welcome back. There is a real family feel in the sense that interns are considered to be no less worthy than current employees and rightly so because otherwise they would not find any benefit of hiring interns.

Yes

Go in there with an open mind and a view to learning knew skills. Consultancies often have a reputation for being archaic in terms of their managerial structure however, at Tata I genuinely felt as though my input was valued. Spend time practising the verbal, numerical and psychometric tests as they have a cutoff score that is usually quite high, although do not neglect being a well-rounded person for this, as HR want to see that you have a life outside of your studies.