Tareq Nazlawy, Boston Consulting Group
Junior consultant Tareq Nazlawy works for the Boston Consulting Group. He studied engineering at the University of Cambridge.
Why consulting?
Through talking with some finalists on my course I realised that management consulting could offer me what I was looking for – until then, I’d been focused on industrial career options.
Did you do an internship?
Yes, I landed one here in my penultimate summer. I worked on three very different cases in technology and financial services. These were subjects that I did not know much about, but I received an incredible amount of support and very soon I was discussing my findings directly with our clients. In those eight weeks I grew in confidence, found strengths I didn’t know I had and learnt more about my own potential than any other job or university had ever shown me. I was delighted to take a full-time position at the end of the internship.
What sort of projects do you work on now?
In my two years I have worked on a dozen projects in eight different sectors and five different countries. The work I have done has included modelling a product suite for a joint venture financial services company; developing a new strategy for a merged energy company; a portfolio strategy for a renewable energy investment company; optimizing marketing activities for a newspaper company… and many more.
What’s your role been?
My job is to help our team answer our clients’ business-critical questions. This usually means taking ownership of a module within a larger project and working with my clients to define the problem, plan the work, conduct the analyses and communicate the key findings from the work. I divide my time between research and analysis, sharing my findings with clients – often senior members of the organisation – and producing the presentation to communicate the key messages and inform the decisions the business needs to take. Long hours – myth or reality? Sometimes getting to the right answer on a tight project timeline means working long hours – about 55-60 hours a week on average. The issue arises when working hard gets in the way of living up to commitments we’ve made to friends and family because of the unpredictable nature of our work.
How do you manage that?
Many firms have different approaches to managing this, varying from not managing it at all, to time off in lieu for long nights and weekends worked. Here we are introducing an initiative which promotes transparency in communications within the team about commitments outside of work and planning around them. When I experienced this for the first time on a project I noticed great results.
Tell us about a particularly exciting project.
One of the most exciting and enjoyable experiences I’ve had here was working on location for a mining company in the Australian outback. The case experience was great, but the highlight was exploring a new environment with my team members – who were all from different countries around the globe.
What have you got out of consulting so far?
Working in consulting has many advantages: exposure to real business decisions; unparalleled variety; continuous learning; travel opportunities (if you want them); and great future employability. I love working with people I believe in and never doing the same thing twice. My job is to help our team answer our clients' business-critical questions.