Thursday counts as official the end of my first project week, and what a week it was. There were some tough moments as I jumped into the project, especially being a bit inexperienced in the whole process, but my co-worker was instrumental in helping me get up to speed. It was a great experience overall and I learned so much that it’s hard to sum everything down into one posting, so I’ll just touch upon a couple.
Tips
There were several great tips that I came across this week that I thought I would share. One was the idea that you should have an external interview every year for a position you are interested. This doesn’t mean you are actually interested in quitting. Because the purpose of the interview is to see how well your skills that you acquired during the year matches up with potential recruiters. It allows you to assess your own strengthens and weakness along with giving you a point of view of demand in the market.
1. Complain twice and then jump on the train. I heard this tip early on, but I only found it applicable this week. There are probably many things a new hire can begin complaining about (or maybe not). This isn’t to say I had a lot to complain about Accenture. I think the opportunity that I’ve been given is great, but as always, human nature is to want more. With that said, I realized early on that it is important to voice your complaints (or what I like to call, positive disagreements) but then stop after doing it twice. Tell your manager or boss what you thing is bad, but don’t over due it. Once the discussion is over, you need to jump on board the train. This is true especially for new hires with little experience as complaining only results in the label of being a complainer. ***This isn’t to say that if you see something illegal, you shouldn’t stand up and say STOP.
2. Ask questions, learn the process, but really try to understand the concept. This was one I think many people miss and an area I’m working towards. It is important t o ask some details, but at an early stage, learning the concept is more important. Why are we doing something this way versus that? What is the over all goal? The concepts leads to the process. Understanding fundamental concepts allows you to build a strong foundation for everything you will eventually do.
Travel
1. Having never really traveled for work, I realized there are some things that maybe a few people don’t know about business travel. These includes packing, business attire,, etc. I can touch upon everything, but I think if one thing I want to mention, it is that you should bring something to do during airport down times. For me, that’s a great time to check personal email, and write this blog. You never really know when or why a plane or plan might be delayed or changed. Flexibility is key.
Eating
1. It is great to be a consultant, always on the good eating out……Well that isn’t always the case. I do enjoy eating out and not worrying about doing dishes, but I actually like cooking which now I don’t have time. Besides, restaurant food tends to be greasy to the balance of finding healthy food and not eating burgers everyday is important. I try to get as much fruit in to substitute the lack of vegetables. Bring a Nalogene bottle if you so you don’t have to use water bottles. (There was a recent article about all the wasted plastic as a result of bottle water.
Besides these two areas, there were some things that I had a problem with. One was the realization that with work, you really don’t have much down time. Time management after work is difficult especially in the beginning when one is trying to learn everything all at once. For me, getting home after work every day only resulted in more work type questions as it was a time for me to as my co0worker all the question I had accumulated during the day. (I live in corporate housing with my co-worker in a two bedroom place). Having him there really helps with getting myself acquainted with consulting work and the Accenture organization. But it also means less time for exercise. So, if anyone has any great tips about exercising in confined spaces during short times, they should let me know.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Sunday, July 22, 2007
First Week
Well, first week is officially over and it was a very busy week. I just got notified that I would be on a project coming this Monday so I'm excited about that. But before I get into my thoughts on the first project, I wanted to touch on a bit about orientation.
Accenture's orientation is a pretty comprehensive set of Core Values. The purpose of the Core Values or the values of any large organization is to build a set of unifying goals and criteria which all employees try to live up to. While most people, maybe included, probably consider the indoctrination a bit unusual, I do understand the importance of instilling a same set of values in all employees. But besides the learning that went on through orientation in fundamentals like resume building and properly filling out a time sheet, the orientation allowed a group of starts to bond. I was personally able to meet some very smart and interesting people from a variety of backgrounds. One aspect that surprised me was that fact that those in our New Joiner Orientation included experienced hires, individuals who didn't just recently graduate. This allowed me to interact with managers and and consultants to get a different perspective.
After orientation was completed by mid week, we moved back to the San Francisco office to continue our training online or in formal classroom settings. These trainings included understanding Accenture policies and practices and training focusing on building skills directly applicable to the type of work each individual would be completing.
While some of the training are long and the going can be a bit slow, I found it interesting the few other organizations provide the same type of formal on-the-job training. I believe it is a key benefit that those in the consulting industry enjoy which isn't directly advertised during recruiting.
However, for me, I got to do both formal training and began the process of learning about my new project. Since the information in the project is confidential, most of the post will be about personal thoughts and not direct action.
As new analysts, one of things that I have tried to do is to talk to as many people as I can from a variety of levels to ask for advice. From these individuals I have spoken to, I have been able to consolidate some key points.
Accenture's orientation is a pretty comprehensive set of Core Values. The purpose of the Core Values or the values of any large organization is to build a set of unifying goals and criteria which all employees try to live up to. While most people, maybe included, probably consider the indoctrination a bit unusual, I do understand the importance of instilling a same set of values in all employees. But besides the learning that went on through orientation in fundamentals like resume building and properly filling out a time sheet, the orientation allowed a group of starts to bond. I was personally able to meet some very smart and interesting people from a variety of backgrounds. One aspect that surprised me was that fact that those in our New Joiner Orientation included experienced hires, individuals who didn't just recently graduate. This allowed me to interact with managers and and consultants to get a different perspective.
After orientation was completed by mid week, we moved back to the San Francisco office to continue our training online or in formal classroom settings. These trainings included understanding Accenture policies and practices and training focusing on building skills directly applicable to the type of work each individual would be completing.
While some of the training are long and the going can be a bit slow, I found it interesting the few other organizations provide the same type of formal on-the-job training. I believe it is a key benefit that those in the consulting industry enjoy which isn't directly advertised during recruiting.
However, for me, I got to do both formal training and began the process of learning about my new project. Since the information in the project is confidential, most of the post will be about personal thoughts and not direct action.
As new analysts, one of things that I have tried to do is to talk to as many people as I can from a variety of levels to ask for advice. From these individuals I have spoken to, I have been able to consolidate some key points.
- Listen before you speak. This is an area I'm working towards as I tend to cut someone off and jump to what I think they are asking. Listening allows you to actually hear what they want and in the mean time, formulate a proper response.
- As analysts, one of the things we lack is experience. While some people might have joined the firm with prior consulting or industry experience, the majority do not. This means that it is important to began first by observing and learning some of the fundamentals of how an organization like Accenture functions.
- Networking and selling and sometimes the same side of the coin. While this doesn't mean you should go about shoving everyone out of the way in your goal to climb the corporate ladder, it does mean you need to think actively about how you want to manager your career. To do that in the beginning is to try to get to know as many people as possible. Each individual in your network can bring information to you that you might not otherwise have.
- Finally, my dad gave me the advice that as young, ambitious people, it is more important at our level to contribute not simply by hard work but by delivering value to both our clients and our managers. [Not to be corny, but it does match our motto of "High Performance. Delivered"] Value here doesn't necessary mean more hours in front of a computer, but what those hours are contributing towards.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Tips for First Days
First days are what I think of as similar to the 100 days of the Presidency. They are a way to benchmark someone and how they did. You have 100 days to make sure whatever objective are either achieved or not. Why 100 days, because in politics, that's about the honeymoon period.
I believe there is a similar such feeling or days in a new job. You are starting new, especially for recent graduates and it is a time to say a lot of "I don't know", but to learn quickly to pick up the ball. So how does someone navigate the 100 days well. I can't say for certain since I'm about to find out, but here are some tips I've been give.
1. Learn the politics in the office. Learn who is important, who is the go to guy, etc.
2. Don't be afraid to say I don't know. You aren't expected to know most of the stuff and pretending to know something when you don't is far worse because it often results in screw-ups. As for clarification.
3. Don't bite more than you can chew. I know I've fallen for this before, but as young ambitious people with limited experience, we think we know all there is to know. Experience makes a big difference in the corporate world or in management. Just because you think doing something one way is dumb or time consuming doesn't mean you need to make waves about it right away. Look, Listen, and Learn are the three big things you should be doing. Make notes about what you like and don't like, but don't jump the gun in make recommendations about organization overhaul.
4. Join every networking event you can. The more people you meet early, the better it is for you later.
5. Don't expect your boss to always know what is going on or what he is doing. Sometimes, the title doesn't always translate into more knowledge. However, that doesn't mean he isn't the boss.
6. There are times you are going to wonder why you signed up for the job in the first place. Why am I staying up at 2am doing copy and paste commands or sorting files or making copies? Any damn high school kid with half a brain could be doing this. Keep calm in those times. Remember you are just beginning and no one climbs to the top in 100 days or gets a promotion...almost no one. Those boring moments are going to mixed with moments when you feel things are flying way over your head. Keep cool in both.
7. Manage your own career. As someone has told me, a job stays with the company wherever you decide to go, but your career stays with you. So even if the task at hand is boring, make sure you are learning, constantly. That way, you build up a toolbox of skills that you can take anywhere you go.
Best luck on those start out.
I believe there is a similar such feeling or days in a new job. You are starting new, especially for recent graduates and it is a time to say a lot of "I don't know", but to learn quickly to pick up the ball. So how does someone navigate the 100 days well. I can't say for certain since I'm about to find out, but here are some tips I've been give.
1. Learn the politics in the office. Learn who is important, who is the go to guy, etc.
2. Don't be afraid to say I don't know. You aren't expected to know most of the stuff and pretending to know something when you don't is far worse because it often results in screw-ups. As for clarification.
3. Don't bite more than you can chew. I know I've fallen for this before, but as young ambitious people with limited experience, we think we know all there is to know. Experience makes a big difference in the corporate world or in management. Just because you think doing something one way is dumb or time consuming doesn't mean you need to make waves about it right away. Look, Listen, and Learn are the three big things you should be doing. Make notes about what you like and don't like, but don't jump the gun in make recommendations about organization overhaul.
4. Join every networking event you can. The more people you meet early, the better it is for you later.
5. Don't expect your boss to always know what is going on or what he is doing. Sometimes, the title doesn't always translate into more knowledge. However, that doesn't mean he isn't the boss.
6. There are times you are going to wonder why you signed up for the job in the first place. Why am I staying up at 2am doing copy and paste commands or sorting files or making copies? Any damn high school kid with half a brain could be doing this. Keep calm in those times. Remember you are just beginning and no one climbs to the top in 100 days or gets a promotion...almost no one. Those boring moments are going to mixed with moments when you feel things are flying way over your head. Keep cool in both.
7. Manage your own career. As someone has told me, a job stays with the company wherever you decide to go, but your career stays with you. So even if the task at hand is boring, make sure you are learning, constantly. That way, you build up a toolbox of skills that you can take anywhere you go.
Best luck on those start out.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Confirmation
So, it is confirmed, officially that I will be starting on July 16th with Accenture in their Palo Alto office. Most of the process of getting a new date set for orientation including location and date was pretty painless. My HR person was extremely helpful in making accommodations. Which brings me to the topic of asking.
I think as new employees, there are many things that we do not know. It is similar to being the new kid in the school playground. There are spoken and unspoken rules. The spoken rules are easy for most kids to spoke. Don't pick fights, don't do things that are stupid. But like most schools playgrounds, there are unspoken rules like where the cool kids hang out and how gets to use the basketball hoops at 3pm. To learn these unspoken rules quickly can save a person a lot of trouble.
Apply the same type of thinking to a new job and you get the idea. The spoken rules are usually common sense item. It is the unspoken one that are hard to think of. One way that I learned to spot these is to speak to ask many people as possible, and do as a good job searching about the company you are about to start with. That way, you know what you can ask your HR person and what you can't ask. It also makes your first day at work a lot easier, or at least I hope. We'll see in a few days.
I think as new employees, there are many things that we do not know. It is similar to being the new kid in the school playground. There are spoken and unspoken rules. The spoken rules are easy for most kids to spoke. Don't pick fights, don't do things that are stupid. But like most schools playgrounds, there are unspoken rules like where the cool kids hang out and how gets to use the basketball hoops at 3pm. To learn these unspoken rules quickly can save a person a lot of trouble.
Apply the same type of thinking to a new job and you get the idea. The spoken rules are usually common sense item. It is the unspoken one that are hard to think of. One way that I learned to spot these is to speak to ask many people as possible, and do as a good job searching about the company you are about to start with. That way, you know what you can ask your HR person and what you can't ask. It also makes your first day at work a lot easier, or at least I hope. We'll see in a few days.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)