An insight into the life of a Consulting Manager at RSM

Name: Graham Murphy

Job Title: Consulting Manager

Office: Dublin

Joining date: March 2015

Department: Consulting

SUMMARY OF ROLE

Working within the Consulting department is extremely varied. I would generally consider my role to have two halves - client facing and back office/commercial. When I first started, I joined from a Human Resources role – so initially most of my work was in the area of HR Advisory. Within 3 months of starting I was conducting extremely specialist HR work including workplace investigations. Within 6 months I was assisting in general management consulting initiatives including organisational strategy development and organisational development interventions (e.g. organisational structure reviews) across a variety of sectors. More recently I’ve been seconded to a client to deliver a system implementation and act as interim Head of Human Resources. The other half of my role includes commercial duties such as billing clients, development of proposals, designing methodologies to complete work and developing tenders for prospective work.

WHAT’S BEEN THE HIGHLIGHT SO FAR?

The progression from being an Associate, through to Consultant and now Manager has been a very personally and professionally rewarding journey.

WHAT’S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGE SO FAR?

Without being cliched, COVID! I think everyone found that an unprecedented challenge, but delighted to say we adapted very quickly – and RSM were extremely flexible and supportive throughout. We also extended that responsiveness to our clients – and now we are undertaking work which was generally only ever done face-to-face (such as recruitment).

WHAT’S SURPRISED YOU MOST ABOUT WORKING AT RSM?

The variety of work – you get to work on both client facing projects but also internal projects. So you get the dual-experience of working in two types of roles which is beneficial for personal development.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU AT RSM?

Continuing to develop my expertise in organisational development projects – it’s an area that constantly evolves, so keeping up to date with latest trends in practitioner and academic spheres.

WHAT’S YOUR TOP TIP FOR SOMEONE LOOKING TO APPLY TO RSM?

Highlight key achievements in other employment or during college. This could be projects you completed, improvements you introduced, awards you won, customer recognition… and make this stand out on your CV. It will be eye-catching to the reader and give an interviewer something to focus on.

It’s quite likely that interviews could still be remote – so I suggest testing your connection and finding a quiet space to attend the remote interview if you are called. Also, don’t forget to bring your own water – as good as MS Teams/Zoom are, they haven’t quite enabled us to provide you with a refreshment!

DESCRIBE RSM IN 3 WORDS

Rewarding, developmental and progressive.