Building a Career in Business Consulting — My Why Veeva
By: Nick Kenyon, Associate Business Consultant
My name is Nick Kenyon, and I am part of Veeva’s inaugural Business Consultant Development Program (BCDP) class. I graduated from Northeastern University in 2021. During my time there, I had the opportunity to complete two co-ops with McKinsey & Company and Bain Capital while also working part-time in an advisory role for a digital marketing startup called Scale — Marketing & Consulting. The experience at McKinsey sparked my interest in a career in consulting, and my advisory role at Scale was the perfect opportunity to sharpen my consulting toolkit while completing my undergraduate degree. I found that, oddly enough, the most exciting projects were the ones without a clear answer. Dealing with ambiguity in a team setting can be a daunting task for some, but for me, it was perfect.
Why Veeva?
Before deciding on Veeva, I pursued management consulting positions at Big 4 firms, boutique consulting firms, and even some competitors. However, I found that I was looking for a combination of my most recent consulting-based experiences. I thought the sheer size of the companies I was able to serve at McKinsey was extremely exciting, but I loved my role at the startup because it gave me the opportunity to ask “why?” and change processes as I saw fit. The truth behind most startups is that systems are put in place to address a core issue, but you don’t spend time optimizing those processes after the system is in place. After all, the problem has been solved, hasn’t it? I found it so exciting that I could come in with fresh eyes and look to change the process, and everybody supported it.
Enter Veeva. An established company with the high-profile clientele I was looking for that also featured a team of less than 100 Business Consultants. At Veeva, I didn’t feel like I would be a cog in the system. If I saw a process within our BCDP training that could be optimized, my manager didn’t want me to speak up; he actively looked for feedback. We have the brand recognition and resources to compete with massive firms for high-impact projects while also being a team of less than 100 management consultants. There are very few firms where you will find that level of exposure in such short order. In my first month, I completed several internal projects, including building our BCDP information repository to help the future BCDP classes, assisting in developing a recruiting relationship with my Alma Mater, and even interviewing potential future Veevans.
In my eyes, the chance to join an established firm at the ground level cannot be overstated. We are not fighting each other to make sure our performance utilization metrics surpass our peers. We work as a unit because our goal is to continue winning high-impact consulting projects for our firm. We work as a unit at Veeva. From the Associate to Director level, I have yet to come across a person at Veeva that won’t accept an agenda-less 30-minute meeting. The fact that you can send a meeting request, with nothing but a brief introduction, to a Director and know that you’re getting on their calendar is something I still can’t get over. What makes Veeva stand out to me can be exemplified by the first call I had with one of our Principal Consultants. She said, “Ego is death in consulting” and I couldn’t agree more, but I would go one step further. At Veeva, ego is death, and being team-oriented is a vital trait to Employee Success.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Veeva.
