Summer Business Consultant Review

I would typically perform a range of operations that form part of the Business Analyst's role. This included researching/doing due diligence/market sizing on a market, company, or industry. I would create slide decks in the IBM format. I would speak to colleagues as well as clients to understand the needs of clients and to strategise about what their next actions should be in order to achieve their objectives. This was a heavily numerate job.

I have developed a lot of skills in consulting - particularly how to create good powerpoint slides, and how to perform analysis in Excel, Tableau and SQL. This will improve invaluable in future, as top consulting firms are looking at digital skills and not just pure mental analytical ability. I learnt how to network with people, which was invaluable as there is a lot of networking involved in consulting - both in terms of winning clients and progression.

I was given a lot of responsibility given that I was still a student at the time. I was expected to perform at the level of a First Year Associate at IBM, which was a bit ask as there is a big difference in the workload of IBM and other professional services firms. Throughout my time at IBM, I was also expected to upskill other people in terms of my learning of SQL and Tableau.

I received a lot of support and guidance from my team. Consulting is a very collaborative industry, where business analysts rely on each other to complete projects for clients. I therefore spent a lot of time being supported and managed by colleagues. I recent guidance on how to analyse and present the findings of my analysis to senior stakeholders, including CEOs. This involved training on public speaking, modelling in Excel and Powerpoint, and other soft skills.

There is an amazing culture at IBM. The firm consists of many of the most capable business analysts and consultants. Clients have a great deal of trust in IBM and other professional services consulting firms because of the level of insight their consultants provide. There is a very intellectual atmosphere as the company selects new business analysts primarily on academic merit; but it is not overwhelming because most people also have the soft skills to complement this.

I really enjoyed my summer internship as a business analyst at IBM. It was a chance to put into practice many of the skills I had learnt in my degree into a commercial environment. I felt that I was being intellectually challenged all throughout, but not detrimentally so because I was given access to support and guidance where needed. I would say that there was a lot of competition amongst interns, but this was healthy.

Yes

I would encourage all applicants in future to firstly focus on getting the best grades possible at university, as routes into the firm at analyst level are based primarily on academic performance. Once your application has been sifted on academic performance, everyone is on a level playing field and all that matters is your performance in case interviews. These are difficult and require a lot of preparation, so make sure you do as much practice as possible.