Building My Consulting Career At Veeva
Career Journey
I joined Veeva in January 2020 as an R&D Associate Consultant with a passion and curiosity for technology and its limitless applications. My first project was APAC’s biggest project in the QMS application, which helped to challenge the limit of Vault functionality during the early stages of my Veeva career. Having experts in every and multiple domains really helped make the journey not only easier but enjoyable, as well.
About one year into CDP, I transitioned into a hybrid role between Managed Services and Professional Services Consultant. If I had to pick a moment at Veeva where I experienced the most significant change, it would be this moment. Managed Services allowed me to interact directly with customers daily — phone calls, zoom meetings, and onsite — a role I had not expected to be in until later in my career. The first six months were challenging as I started saying “Yes” to every customer demand. In the end, I realized that saying “Yes” to every request isn’t what a consultant does; I knew I had to change my approach. Directly interacting with customers this way offered me the opportunity to learn invaluable lessons throughout my career journey.
1 year into CDP, I became intrigued by the CRM side of things. I exposed myself to product demo presentations in areas I was initially unfamiliar with. This quickly grabbed my interest as I found it aligned closer to where I wanted to be 10 years from now. After a discussion with my manager, I was lucky to be given an opportunity to learn about the Commercial space after completing CDP. And here I am now working on my first Commercial Project!
Why Veeva
During the Job hunting season before joining, I always wanted to start my career in a fast-growing and fast-changing environment. I believe this kind of environment is conducive to learning, especially for young graduates because it gifts new challenges and bigger responsibilities more quickly. In this regard, Veeva was the perfect choice of workplace for me, especially at an early stage of my career.
Next Stepping Stone at Veeva
As for the long-term goal for my Veeva career, my aspiration lies in being a Practice Manager — a role where you are interacting with the Sales, and Services Team at Veeva while also managing and bringing the best out of your team members.
This aspiration is rooted in understanding what makes me happy at the workplace.
I am happiest when facilitating between different parties and stakeholders while trying to dissect and understand each of their needs and situations.
Biggest Takeaways throughout my Career
Make yourself an available resource any time you can. My biggest self-development came from a sudden role vacancy, and I would not have been prepared for the role if I hadn’t experienced diverse applications by pushing myself to try new and different things.
Advice to Young Graduates
- Think long and deep into where you want to be in 10 years’ time — would this role you are applying to help you get there?
- Before applying, close down the expectation gap between the actual role and expected role; seek advice from senior colleagues in a similar industry on what your day-to-day task would look like.
- Understand and reflect on yourself during your academic years; what kind of environment can bring the best performance out of you? Is this company culture the right environment for you?
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.
