Dave Sweeney

Name Dave Sweeney
Job Business Analyst
Employer BearingPoint Ireland Ltd
Education Bachelor of Commerce (BCom), University College Dublin (2004)
Master of Business Studies, Management Consultancy, UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business (2008)

I work for BearingPoint, a management and technology consulting firm in its business consulting division. I applied for my job after coming across the company at a gradireland fair; I had three interviews and the competition was tough. Consultancy appealed to me because of the sheer diversity of projects it offers – working with various clients across different industries can be challenging but you get a huge amount of experience. I love the fact that my job regularly takes me to new environments; I'm never bored.

Most of our training is on the job, but after I joined I went on a week-long training course in Frankfurt where we were taught consulting skills and how to deal with clients. Although the business consulting side of the company is more focused on management consultancy than technology, much of the work I do relates specifically to IT projects. My department operates as a crossover between the business side and the IT side.

I am currently working on a large, complex software project at a mobile telecoms company in Dublin. We perform PMO (project management office) functions, such as tracking different workstreams and producing statistics and reports for management. In PMO there are a certain amount of processes but not necessarily fixed jobs, so I am always involved in a variety of tasks. I also quality check documents for various projects.

I don’t have a set routine as such – my responsibilities change daily. Generally I spend my time on research or analysis, number-crunching, writing up documents and attending client meetings. Constantly adapting to new situations can be hard work, but this is what makes the job so interesting, and you do get better at it over time. Often I’ll arrive at work in the morning to find that something crazy has come in overnight that needs to be done by yesterday; thriving on pressure is a must.

Tips for graduates

Have a clear idea of where you want to work, particularly in IT consulting. As a result of the downturn, competition is likely to be especially tough this year so it's even more important to know exactly what the job entails and why you want to do it. Talk to people in the industry and do as much research as you can.