Anything for Money

Anything for money. That's what they told me on my first day of work this summer. It was a joke of course, but it gave me an interesting first glimpse into the field of consulting. I thought, that's kind of weird and what do they mean by ANYTHING. It turns out that firms turn to consulting companies for projects that they don't have the man power or expertise to handle internally. The variety of projects can range from revamping an entire business process over two years or just two weeks worth of sorting out an information disaster. Consulting firms have an array of skill sets available to them and will use their people with the best fit for the project to make the most amount of money.

Like most work environments, consulting is all about working in teams, so if you don't like people, you're probably in trouble. Of course you don't like some people; that person that's always asking 500 million questions and you want to tell to quiet down, or the girl that thinks she's a know-it-all, but, generally, not letting it interfere with your work day is a must. The same etiquette as working at any professional services firm applies. Likely, you already know what you're getting yourself into, if not click on the link above. With that said, let me tell you how my internship this summer fits into consulting.

The actual name of the practice I interned in is Financial Services Advisory. Officially and emphatically, not financial services consulting because we advise, not consult...what's the difference? I worked on a large government sponsored entity this summer in order to help them account for mortgage backed securities. Due to non-disclosure agreements, I can't disclose the extent of what I was doing, but the best part about the project was that it was always changing and you could see the progress every day. This is something particularly important to me, because sitting around spinning your wheels, well, that's just boring. I was given a great deal of responsibility, some of which I definitely didn't trust myself to have as an intern, but it helped me to learn more about the mortgage industry and business in general.

So while the saying anything for money may hold true, the projects are meaningful and the money is passed on to the professionals. While I'm not about to publicize my salary over the World Wide Web, you can make money in this field, especially if you are outgoing and a hard worker that can bring in business for a firm. So go out and earn that cash!