Angela Kilby

NAME: Angela Kilby
EMPLOYER: Cyril Sweett
UNIVERSITY: University of Central England
QUALIFICATION: BSc quantity surveying

Why a consultant?

Working for a private quantity surveying practice that specialised in public houses and night clubs put a completely different perspective on clubbing for me! I worked part-time for this practice during the first two years of my degree, but prior to that I had also gained extensive work experience working for a builders merchants and another quantity surveying business. I did my placement year with Cyril Sweett and at that time, the company was developing its consultancy team and that's what I wanted to do. I rejoined the company after I graduated.

My job

As part of the consultancy team I specialise in the area of supply chain management, helping clients to implement performance measurement and benchmarking strategies. I also meet with potential clients, put together new proposals and work on proposals for the company as a whole. I enjoy the strategic aspects of my job and love coming up with new ideas and working creatively to find a solution for a client. For instance, recently we've worked through a scenario presented by a client and found that it will present them with problems. I'm now working on two alternative solutions that we will present to them in a meeting next week.

My work environment

My day in the office usually starts around 7.30 am. If some of the other consultants are in, we'll sit down and have breakfast together and catch up over a coffee. I leave at around 5.30 pm but it's heavily social here so we often go out straight from work. And, as I'm on the social committee I obviously have to be seen at all the events! I go out to meet clients and when I'm working on a project I may spend one or two days a week at a client's site. Some of the work we do is about changing attitudes and cultures within an organisation, so it's important to see how they operate and to build relationships.

My most unforgettable moment

I developed a five-year improvement plan covering 92 different business areas for a housing association that needed to gain a chartered status award to receive government funding. The housing association achieved their chartered status and we received commendation from the assessors for a well thought-out plan.