Name: Brett Weiss ‘16

Title: Management Consulting Analyst

Employer: Accenture

Major: Economics 

Minor: Public Leadership

What do you enjoy most about your current position?

My favorite thing about my position (and the consulting industry more broadly) is the amount of exposure I have recieved. Ultimately, a consultant’s job is to fix his or her client’s problems. These problems can vary greatly and require different solutions. In my time with Accenture, I have been able to complete a wide variety of work ranging from business strategy, data analytics, change management, business process improvement, and technology implementation. Because of this, I am constantly learning at my job and being challenged in new ways.

What is a typical day like in your position?

Most days I have a number of meetings with clients and/or Accenture executives. These meetings may be to review the status of current work or develop requirements for upcoming work. The rest of my day is usually spent working on deliverables for the client or our internal Accenture team. Lately, I have been working with a colleague to develop my project’s reporting and analytics capabilities. This requires a lot of data pulling and clean up. Once I finish analyzing this data, I pull out interesting findings and I work to communicate these both verbally and visually to propose strategic improvements that can help deliver value to my client and my team.

Which undergraduate experiences did you find most helpful in preparing you for your current position?

I completed two consulting internships while I was an undergraduate student and those were incredibly helpful in preparing me for my position at Accenture. At my internships, I was treated like a first year analyst and given similar responsibilities to what I have now. This taught me what would be expected of me in my career and gave me the opportunity to build a solid foundation of analytical skills without the pressure of a fulltime position.

How has your coursework helped you in your current position?

My economics coursework has helped me in my career in a number of ways. Economics taught me how to logically evaluate a problem by breaking down its causes. I also strengthened my quantitative skills throughout my time studying economics, which has been very helpful since data analytics is a huge component of my role. Additionally, although I did not enjoy all aspects of group projects during my undergraduate years, these projects were incredibly helpful in terms of developing strong communication skills. In the workplace, almost everything I do is collaborative to some degree, so learning to work with others was incredibly valuable.

Any job or internship advice?

I cannot stress enough the importance of informational interviews. If you find someone who works in a field you are interested in (whether it is a family friend or someone you find on LinkedIn), ask them to sit down with you and discuss their career. My first internship spawned out of a conversation like this. I spoke with a friend’s father about his work in consulting. A while later he decided to hire an intern and thought of me because of our conversation. Final piece of advice? Enjoy your time in college because it will be over before you know it. You should take yourself seriously and work hard towards your grades and finding a job, but remember to have fun. Also, take advantage of the free football and basketball tickets while you can!