Prior to landing my first role, I often wondered to myself, why a client would select to have an analyst on their team over a consultant or a manager. After all, most of us are fresh out of college, working our first jobs in corporate America. Was it just luck of the draw, or availability perhaps?

I have discovered, that while this may be the case, we as analysts, are not a “last resort” to the client. They are not only paying for our knowledge, our reasoning, logic, and leadership skills; they are paying for our unlimited access to resources and experts. Through this first project, I have learned that it’s OK to say, “I don’t know.” We aren’t expected to know everything. Consultants are not expected to know everything. What we ARE expected to do, is to pull our resources, FIND the answer, and see the bigger picture.

I was presented with a task this week, that I have never before had experience with, and was not quite sure how to begin. I spent a few hours researching this particular task myself, without producing any results. I decided to reach out to a few of my colleagues, including my new hire class, and a few other people from my group. Within 15 minutes, everyone had responded with helpful links, contacts, and examples. Everyone took some time from what they were currently doing to help me find an answer, or direct me to someone who WOULD know.

Inevitably, I found not only the answer to my question regarding my task, but I found the answer to my question of “Why would a client choose us?” as well. In an organization of this size and stature, with a culture and background full of such diversity, and such strong connections, there will always be an answer to each question.

Thanks for the nice welcome Shawn!