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Sneak Peek - A Day in a Consultant’s Life
Article by: Payal Hoon
I am a ‘Consultant’ – bred and brought up at some top notch B school in the country and I belong to the league of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and even some well known and lesser known but extremely robust companies of India like Johnny Rajan Chehel. Ernst and Young was an obvious dream come true.
When I got my first appointment letter; it was just another chip on my shoulder- and strangely I even took pride in the fact that half the world didn’t even know how to pronounce the name of the company and best of all even the abbreviated form- which the lesser mortals enunciate as E&Y instead of EY. Hereon I imagined being this executive – all corporate walking into different client sites and sectors and working in a profile with great length and breath of experience.
A year later now that I’ve am absolutely EY`anlised, I can share a typical day in my life before you step onto that threshold. This is what a typical day looks like in my life.
Most of my living life I am away from the swank premises of EY, as Chargeability in my profile is sacrosanct. If I get lucky, I get an equally exquisite and sophisticated set up with a board room, desk phone and tea coffee at my disposal. Or, as luck would have it, I would be in a set up that can vaguely be referred to as a workplace. There are times I almost feel and behave like a Demi – God, while there are other times when it’s almost as good as being at the beck and call of the client.
I interact with clients of all sorts; the sophisticated lot who expect me to be ethical and professional. They simply love meetings one after the other. I guess! it just adds more pensive approach to the project. While there are the other category of the government owned establishments and small set- ups where every move of mine is watched with an eagle’s eye. The sites I might be surfing (and as luck would have it- I am at the mercy of my turtle speed data card in the absence of a LAN connection), the number of phone calls that I made or received, number of tea/ coffees that I consumed. They can barely even communicate in my language and at times I’ve to dress down to be one of them – you see! that’s the price you pay for building client relations and your acceptability.
Some common occurrences that I go through often are; when my team has far too many ideas to come to a consensus. It takes great deal of trust and dependability to project a unified solution at the client site. Then there are times when I look at my mobile for assistance and guidance, hoping for my boss to call – just like people look at the clouds in a barren land for a few drops of rain. Then comes to rescue not my boss but my best friend who though works with ICP now had worked with the similar industry type. I dial his number and Thank God for his inputs I sail through the situation at the client site.
Finally when I am back at the home base after spending an average of three weeks at the client’s, I travel by the cab which today thankfully is on time. Then I walk with the laptop backpack towards the elevator to get onto the quest of looking for a place to sit as it is a ‘Hot Desking’ arrangement. I walk along aisles and across work stations, asking people repeatedly about the empty seat hoping against hope to find a place somewhere in the middle of people from different verticals. I luckily spot a familiar face from the cab and manage a place at one of her team member’s desk.
Finally when I manage to sit, I rummage through my inbox to find that there’s so much work that is pending and of course there’s work to be done on my project report. As if that wasn’t enough, my manager reminds me to adhere to the ever evolving QRM procedures. Just when I am beginning to feel the pressure, my manager calls in a happy tone to tell me that I am off to a client site somewhere near Bhuj. Like I had a choice! and the icing on the cake was that it was my first ever project on FIDS. He also suggests a meeting to discuss my thoughts on approach in handling this project. That would mean ground work.
Swamped with all the deadlines to meet, information to sought but of course not knowing the sources, project reports to be completed and compiled, meetings to tackle and then taking off to a no man’s land – I could only think of me with a few more hands and heads. That’s when a bell rang literally; I took the call of a friend from F&S who wants to meet up to discuss some pointers on a project. I help him and in the interim mention my woes. He recommends a name of his team member who had recently worked on FIDS.
I promptly walk to another floor looking out for a stranger and starting a conversation as that is the need of the hour. He surely is a saviour in distressed times.
After meeting and managing some inputs, we head for a meal in the cafeteria with some colleagues from my vertical and some from other BUs. It’s a rare chance to be together. But a sure shot exchange on clients, projects, experiences of working with different verticals. It’s surely a breather to be with people who walk talk and sleep your language.
After a highly energetic discussion, I get back to work on my recommendations for the project. I am running against time, so I fall back on my colleague to proof read and help me with the print outs of my project report.
Just when I finish my work knowing there are more challenges my way, I plan to have a light moment. I surf the net and chance upon a quote on me:
“All too many consultants, when asked, 'What is 2 and 2?' respond, 'What do you have in mind?” -Norman Ralph Augustine
It obviously bought an ear to ear smile on my face.
