Cathal Hughes, Consultant, Deloitte

Name

Cathal Hughes

Job

Analyst in Consulting Strategy & Operations

Education

Bachelor of Business from Trinity College

Getting Started

I always had an interest in Consulting due to the variety of industries, clients and work you are exposed to. During my penultimate year of college I applied and was accepted to attend a ‘Discover’ programme in London by one of the top consulting firms. Over a 3 day period I experienced what it was like to work as a management Consultant on an engagement, their
techniques and approach to problem solving. I enjoyed my experience and from there I knew that management Consulting was a career I would be interested in.

Milestones

When you join Deloitte as a management Consultant there is a clearly defined career path, yet you can shape and choose your own development. Deloitte have a superb academy and when you first join, a key milestone is attending Analyst induction training, where you learn
about the company’s approach to management consulting. This initial training is key to developing skills that you will use during your engagements as a management consultant. During my first year in Deloitte I attended a Europe, middle East and Asia (EMEA) wide Strategy and Operations training course in Amsterdam. The course was extremely helpful in developing my knowledge about certain strategic and operational areas, techniques, models and approaches and also how these are interpreted and used by my colleagues across EMEA. Some of the main key milestones in my career development have come through on the job learning and from working with experienced colleagues and engaging with top-level senior management.

Professional development

To date my professional achievements are varied from completing professional certificates to being part of teams that have successfully implemented large programmes to high profile clients. Since joining Deloitte nearly 2 years ago I have completed 6 professional certificates varying from Project management to Lean Six Sigma. I have also been involved in many projects across a variety of Clients which have all been successful and resulted in a positive impact for the Client.

Key skills

Prior to starting with Deloitte I had completed a few internships and therefore had experience working in large professional organisations. Since joining Deloitte I have developed an array of core and soft skills that I will be able to apply to my future career. Deloitte offer training throughout the year in areas from MS Office applications, to more advanced applications like Tableau. I have attended these trainings but also developed a high proficiency of these applications from using them during my engagements. Other skills I have developed which are invaluable in my future career are presentation skills, both design and execution, research skills and most importantly working and engaging with Global Senior management in a fast paced and challenging environment.

Advice and tips

I would recommend that graduates research different areas and companies that they are interested in but most importantly reach out to people within those organisations to hear first-hand about the company, area of work and their experiences. make sure you spend time on your application and put some thought into what you are going to say. Recruiters receive thousands of applications a year so you need to make yourself stand out from the crowd. Finally, prepare for your interview. Do not think you can just go in and wing it. make sure you have done your research on the entire firm and not just the area and role you are applying for.

Future career

I hope to use the skills and experience I have gained over the past 2 years to continue to develop my career. Within Deloitte Consulting there are great opportunities to work on global projects, so I hope to continue to work with international clients and teams and have the opportunity to travel and gain further experience.

Cathal was interviewed for the gradireland/postgradireland Directory 2015