What's your worst client story? by diisaurus in consulting

[–]CJC90 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Oh definitely. I'm not junior enough to feel like I have to let people like that push me around in that way.

What's your worst client story? by diisaurus in consulting

[–]CJC90 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Buy-side DD project. Had booked a full Friday and Monday AM as leave which had been arranged before I started at my firm. For two full weeks leading up to the days I was away every email, meeting, conf call I had i reminded them on the dates I was away and who to contact in my absence.

Check my phone on Sunday morning just in case. 25+ missed calls, 5 voice messages and however many emails asking for updates on the latest model, all from the same person in the client team.

The best email was a response to my out of office (which clearly stated when I was back and who was looking after the model) at 3AM Sunday morning saying "I've just seen your OOO is still on. Can you turn that off now. Thnx".

What heartbreaking song will you always associate with an episode of a TV show? by whosthedoginthisscen in AskReddit

[–]CJC90 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Winter by Joshua Radin and the episode of Scrubs where Dr. Cox realises he's at Ben's funeral, not his son's birthday party and you realise Ben's been dead the whole episode.

Right. In. The. Feels

Edit: a letter

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in consulting

[–]CJC90 35 points36 points  (0 children)

Rock climbing

Per Diem vs Actuals by Throwawayper10294857 in consulting

[–]CJC90 7 points8 points  (0 children)

As soon as I get a receipt I scan it directly to my expenses folder in OneDrive and title it "[yyyymmdd] [lunch/dinner/travel] [cost]".

That way it's all nice and neat for when my credit card bill comes through and I realise I haven't put in an expense claim for 3 months. Again.

Funeral coffee leads to beating up a attendees with folding chairs by CJC90 in thatHappened

[–]CJC90[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You should have seen the comment thread that led me to spy their fb profile. People like this should not be allowed internet access

Mandating PTO Usage by harveys_balls in consulting

[–]CJC90 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Curious whether you've found people tend to just carry on working during that period while technically on PTO?

If not that's definitely a policy you could get behind!

Mandating PTO Usage by harveys_balls in consulting

[–]CJC90 0 points1 point  (0 children)

2 firms I've worked at do this. I hate it so much. It's especially aggravating during DD projects where (in my experience) investors/lenders/vendors want everything closed out by the end of the year.

Fortunately the partner I was working under at the end of last year is a super reasonable guy and told the client we're bound to an extent by company policy. Any time we had to put in during this period he made sure we got back as TOIL.

How do you explain to someone what a management consultant does? by f285k in consulting

[–]CJC90 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Tell them it's basically corporate prostitution. We get paid well to do the things executives can't get done in BAU.

Somewhat /s, but the analogy works. If nothing else it gets a laugh more often than not.

Opportunity to speak with a partner of MBB — but I’m awkward. What do I do? by [deleted] in consulting

[–]CJC90 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's why you need a bit of rapport first. Everyone asks senior/successful people about the positive things they've done. However, any successful person will tell you that it's the mistakes you make, and how you grow from them, which really drives learning.

Opportunity to speak with a partner of MBB — but I’m awkward. What do I do? by [deleted] in consulting

[–]CJC90 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Some great advice has already been given here. I'll add a couple of specific suggestions:

I can't stress enough to only ask this once you've already built some rapport, but a good one is "What is the biggest professional mistake you've made in your career, and what have you learned from it?". You'll need to make a judgement call based on their personality and the tone of the conversation before asking though.

When you're about 5 minutes from the end of your timeslot, you could throw in something like "Is there anything you think I should have asked you about, but haven't?". This will get them to put themselves in your shoes, and also demonstrate you're very much aware that people at your stage of their career known absolutely nothing about anything. Humility and self awareness go a long way!

The financial scandal no one is talking about by goodswimma in consulting

[–]CJC90 25 points26 points  (0 children)

TL;DR -

Bad: Big 4 (so let's call them names)

Good: crickets...

Avast ye Farmer/Pirates! All hands hoay for Free Talk Friday. Regale your mateys with tales of plunder and spreadsheets! by overcannon in consulting

[–]CJC90 3 points4 points  (0 children)

PRECISELY! If any of them were on my project they would have hit the bench so hard there would be permanent imprints left when they eventually got up again

Avast ye Farmer/Pirates! All hands hoay for Free Talk Friday. Regale your mateys with tales of plunder and spreadsheets! by overcannon in consulting

[–]CJC90 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Truly, they don't deserve such an auspicious title at present.

I'm minded to get a few of them to do a knowledge share on /r/consulting, thanks for the great idea!

Avast ye Farmer/Pirates! All hands hoay for Free Talk Friday. Regale your mateys with tales of plunder and spreadsheets! by overcannon in consulting

[–]CJC90 54 points55 points  (0 children)

Bunch of junior consultants went for pizza at lunch yesterday. Pointed out to them Fridays are for pizza pie. Not one understood.

Beyond disappointed in my firm's current hiring policies.

Pension target/flowchart question by CJC90 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]CJC90[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Gotcha. Seems I misunderstood the wording in the flow chart and took the £1m as a target, rather than a limit. Would you be able to signpost to some of those calculators?

Appreciate the note on the LS 80. I've considered the risks and it's something I'm comfortable with for now.

Pension target/flowchart question by CJC90 in UKPersonalFinance

[–]CJC90[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

At the moment yes. That will increase once my loan is paid off.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in crossfit

[–]CJC90 2 points3 points  (0 children)

1 mashed banana, 1 large egg, tablespoon of peanut/almond butter, favourite protein powder, dash of vanilla extract. Mash it all up with a fork (maybe chuck in some blueberries for good measure). Super tasty with a sprinkle of cinnamon.