Consulting.....

There are many fields I/O Psych majors have an opportunity to get into. There is Academia, Corporate, Consulting, HRM, Research, etc. The different fields then have specialized subsets. During orientation, many of the faculty members made a comment saying "MOST grad students come in thinking they are more "I" or more "O" or thinking they want to do Academia or Corporate or Consulting." but as they grow within the program and learn more about themselves and interest these preferences change around a bit. They also suggest that as a graduate student you are in training, so take this opportunity to learn as much as you can, gain as much experience with the field your going into as much as you can, make mistakes and grow from them, because once your done with school and out in the "real world" its a different ball game!

Again, that statement says MOST when it comes to career choices. I'm pretty sure I'm an exception to that statement. I knew going into to grad school that I am definitely "I" and that I wanted to do Corporate or HRM (my research ideas are still everywhere, but thats neither here nor there). This still holds true for me and I also see changing preferences in my colleagues so that statement holds true for other people as well. I was recently given the opportunity to explore the consulting world in an academic/learning setting. The I/O organization, RIOPA, made an announcement to first year students about a Consulting Challenge that we all should get involved in, especially if we'd like to get a field of the consulting world.

So, not knowing much about consulting or if I still didn't want to be in that area, I decided to give it a shot. Our client, National Goliath Bank (I'm pretty sure its a made up company) sent my group a Request for Proposal (RFP) outlining any issues there company was facing. The main things we pulled out of the project were adverse impact issues (resulting from test measure) and the use of an unstructured interviews. While working on this section and thinking of ways to improve these things, we received more information that revealed issues with their performance appraisal system. We spent a few weeks gathering information, deciding on which routes to take to solve the problems presented to us and then had an opportunity to present our results to the company. I've never been through something so mind draining and complicated that wasn't for a grade!

If consulting is ambiguous as this project and as draining as this project, rest assure I am definitely not leaning toward consulting! Now granted, it was definitely a learning experience. I had the opportunity to receive a problem, consult with colleagues about a solution, present solutions to the company, here a rebuttal from the company, address their issues and concerns and overall learn more about the consulting world and know I DO NOT WANT TO BE IN IT!

Graduate school is full of learning opportunities, in and outside of the classroom. It takes an eager student who wants to gain more than classroom knowledge to seek out these opportunities. I write this blog to say, if a learning experience is introduced to you in graduate school, no matter how time consuming and complicated it can be, take the opportunity! You will learn more about yourself and address any thoughts or reservations you may feel about the opportunity and future goals. It can't hurt!! Overall, I really enjoyed the opportunity and I can't wait for more to arise!



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