Anamika Rajiv is a Corporate & Growth Strategy Associate at EY Parthenon in Los Angeles. She graduated from UCLA in 2020 majoring in Economics and minored in Accounting along with a concentration in Value Investing. On campus, she was involved in 180 Degrees Consulting, UBS Consulting Committee, Indus, and Bruin Hedge Fund. Outside of work, she enjoys trying out new restaurants and going to arcades. One piece of advice Anamika has for UCLA students interested in consulting is: “My number one suggestion for a resource would be the people around you. Your network is the best resource for you to address all of your questions and concerns about the industry. Being at a university, you are likely to be surrounded by juniors, seniors, and even alumni who have already been through the recruitment process, and you will surely learn a lot about the industry by reaching out to them”.
- What led you to consulting as a career?
I came into college knowing that I enjoyed M&A, and I wanted to find avenues to pursue this further. I initially thought that the only way to do this was investment banking, which is why in my first two years of college I was only focused on finance clubs. It wasn’t until sophomore year that I really began considering consulting as a career option. I joined 180 Degrees Consulting because I really resonated with its focus on social impact and emphasis on giving back to the community. This was a major turning point in my college life, as working on real consulting projects with 180 made me realize that consulting is actually something that I enjoy a lot more as a long term career opportunity. I realized that I enjoyed collaborating with people, strategizing, and working with clients more than the number crunching, and quant-intensive work that investment banking expects from you. Over the next few years, I gained experience not only through rising up the ranks at 180DC, but also through numerous internships that really showed me that consulting was the right path for me.
2. What does a typical workday look like for you?
Usually, I start my day with a daily morning check-in with my team. This is often followed by numerous calls for my projects during the day with different teams, managers, and experts. Later in the afternoon, around 4 or 5 pm, we start synthesizing everything we learnt throughout the day and get started on presentations and deck building. We have deliverables that we need to submit almost every week, so collecting information and making it look pretty on a slide is a fairly routine part of my job. Though this is a pretty general run-down of what my days look like, it often does vary quite a bit. A day in the life of a consultant usually depends on the project, the client, and what your team expects from you, so you really need to stay on your toes and be adaptable!
3. What is the best aspect of being a consultant?
There are two main things that I really appreciate about consulting. The first is that I get to learn a great deal about various unique sectors and industries that exist in the business world. For the past few months, I’ve been doing a lot of industrial projects, and I have learnt about the most random, interesting types of companies and sectors that are out there! Just in general, the whole learning aspect of consulting is something that really excites me. In addition, since my projects tend to be only around two to four weeks long, I can rapidly learn about so many different things over the course of just one year.
Secondly, I absolutely love the people that I work with. Working on so many different projects with different clients, I tend to change teams very often. I am fascinated that I get to constantly work with people from so many diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise. I definitely feel very grateful that I am in an environment where I can not only learn about the experiences of various people, but also hope to use all of that knowledge one day.
4. What skills are most important for consulting careers?
I think being adaptable is one of the most important for consulting. I know that “adaptable” is a very general word, but in consulting terms, I think it means being able to work with different types of people. People have different working styles, and if you change projects this rapidly, I think that it’s crucial to be able to adapt to those working styles. It is also important to be able to adapt to new unfamiliar environments, sectors, and industries. Personally, I haven’t repeated a project in the same industry — though it is always a little bit intimidating, it is important to always be open to change. In addition, I also think that communication skills are extremely important in consulting. As consulting requires you to interact with different people very frequently, being articulate and being able to communicate well is definitely a key part of the job.
5. What has been your biggest challenge as a consultant so far?
During the beginning of my career, when I was transitioning from being a college student to entering the consulting world, I found it quite difficult to adjust to the sudden change in lifestyle. The corporate lifestyle definitely requires you to have a lot more structure to your week, and making that transition was definitely a bit draining at first. Additionally, for my cohort, I think it was quite difficult to adjust to whole virtual aspect of consulting as a result of COVID. You tend to learn a lot more from in-person settings, especially in a job like consulting where interpersonal interaction is so important. Though it wasn’t a challenge for everyone, I think adding that virtual aspect to my work life was really something that took some time adapting to during my first year.
6. What were some resources you suggest students interested in consulting take advantage of at college?
I think my number one suggestion for a resource would be the people around you. Your network is the best resource for you to address all of your questions and concerns about the industry. Being at a university, you are likely to be surrounded by juniors, seniors, and even alumni who have already been through the recruitment process, and you will surely learn a lot about the industry by reaching out to them. In addition, taking advantage of UCLA’s various business and consulting clubs, the UBS workshops, and other such student-run organizations will definitely help you gain some real-world experience in consulting. Finally, casing practice is always the holy grail of consulting recruiting — practicing with different people and using a plethora of resources and case books will definitely get you far in terms of interview prep!
