Graphics and Stories – Page 7

What can you do with a low GPA?

March 17, 2021 cwong0102Leave a comment

How can you get a job or internship if you have a low GPA? Grades are not the end of the world; I did poorly on exams (I still do, I hate the “a or c” or “all of the above” questions), and your self worth is not determined by your grades. You are determined by the type of person you put out in this world. Not ever did my grades ever come into question in my job in #consulting. In fact most companies don’t even ask after your first job.

If you ARE trying to find an internship or job and you have a low gpa, what can you do then? Here are the tips I have for you that I personally did in school to maximize my chances for a great entry level job!

Which one would you try to do today? Which one have you tried before? Let me know in the comments!

I also did a full video on this topic, so if you’re interested in learning more, head over to my YouTube channel!

Follow me on Instagram at @christine.innovates for more! I go over technology consulting, technology, consulting, careers, and also my own personal stories and narratives as a young working professional!

Testimonials!

March 12, 2021June 11, 2021 cwong0102Leave a comment

Yet another success story! I wanted to share to you all of the success stories of landing a job or internship in technology consulting as a result of my content and community!

If you are interested in a career in technology consulting, make sure to join Technology Consulting Community’s Facebook group, Clubhouse, and Discord server to join the discussions on how to launch and grow your career in technology consulting! We also have free events, programs, activities, and workshops.

Check my YouTube channel and Instagram for content focusing on technology consulting, consulting, careers, professional & personal development, and money for the young working professional!

I also have affordable group coaching sessions on my Patreon and paid 1-on-1 coaching sessions. Just message me!

Maybe you’ll be the next one!

Technology Consulting Community: https://techconsultingcommunity.com/

YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/ChristineWong

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christine.innovates/

Project Structure in Consulting

March 10, 2021 cwong0102Leave a comment

I always get asked what should you expect on a project, and honestly this changes across firms, type of consulting, and even client and scope!

I know, I know, it’s the all too famous “it depends,” but I broke it up to a structure I noticed in most firms either big or boutique. Project size also differs as well. Management and strategy consulting may have smaller teams and tech tends to have bigger teams. Sometimes engagement manager/delivery lead is the same person as the project manager to be even leaner!

One other big misconception is analysts just “analyze” and don’t truly do consulting. It really is just a title, but you would typically be a support consultant. You might need to warm up to the responsibilities and tasks first, but you’re still going to be doing the work consultants will be doing, though you may have fewer client facing situations.

How is your current team structure, whether it be consulting or not?

Remember to value your mental health

March 5, 2021March 5, 2021 cwong0102Leave a comment

Hustle culture is toxic. Simple as that.

I think everyone knows mental health is important, but whenever it comes to making a deadline or catching up to peers, it falls to the wayside as our last priority. I personally schedule time for myself rather than using the free time leftover for myself.

Here is how I prioritize my mental health:
-Weekend nights are my me times, non-negotiable! If I run late with editing or filming or anything else, I stop and save it for the next day.
-Friday nights are date nights! No work, no side hustle, nothing. Just time with Addison Chen and the cats!
-I batch and cluster a lot of the work that uses the same energy or similar tasks together and do it all at once for one weekend and the rest of the weekends are free! Work smart, not just work hard.
-Learn to SAY NO. I found this one to be the hardest for me because I used to say yes to everything because I didn’t want to disappoint, but if I don’t enjoy it or find value in it, I say no.

You’ll thank yourself later. How do you value your mental health, and what self care do you do?

Consulting Work Life Balance

March 3, 2021 cwong0102Leave a comment

On Monday, we spoke about time management in a room on Clubhouse hosted by be.boldest with other women in consulting such as Way Into Consulting, Kristina Choi, and management.consultant.

PST, check them out, they are AMAZING resources if you’re interested in consulting!

What I found very important to keep in mind of with time management is not to just manage your time around work and career but also to pencil in time for your own mental health. Work life balance in consulting could be exceptionally hard to juggle a side hustle and time for yourself to destress and relax, but it’s not always as bad as everyone says it is. It’s more like a rollercoaster on which firm, client, and role. Even down to the project stage.

You should still prepare for those 80 hour (let’s pray it never gets that high) work weeks if you’re interested in consulting, but it should be temporary. Otherwise, you need to set your boundaries and value your mental health and relationships!

⬇️ Comment down below on what is important to you in work life balance!

Be yourself!

February 26, 2021 cwong0102Leave a comment

This sounds corny right? But today, I’m going to specifically talk about at being yourself at the workplace. I think many people shy away from their true selves at work because they think they need to be professional, but people connect with people. I realized I made so many friends because I was just being myself. I even have a personal brand at work!

It’s so important to have a personal brand to be known for something but also to bring your whole self to work. In consulting, it seems very “fake” if you have a persona and people can sniff it out in an instant. Your relationships with clients will be SO much better because they feel like they can trust you, and your teammates would enjoy working with you! Literally I show off my cats in video calls and talk about microblading my brows to my clients! (The secret is out, I really don’t have brows 😂)

That’s similar to my approach on YouTube where I wanted to just be myself and not be a very uptight person lecturing you. I wanted to be the big sis (I literally made a branding guide saying I wanted to be perceived as that 😂).

How do you bring your whole self to work? Do you have a personal brand? Comment down below!

Rewrite the Rules

February 19, 2021 cwong0102Leave a comment

You guys know I love Suits! One of the main reasons I love it (past the corruption 😂) is because it truly shows how people who believe in themselves and keep working on it despite the “rules and limitations” persevere and prevail. I actually had a glass ceiling implemented by my own family. They said I shouldn’t go into tech. They even said I shouldn’t go to college, just get married and have kids. Luckily I have some in my family who believed in me but if you heard this at a very young age, anyone would get discouraged and I was.

Luckily I surrounded myself around motivated strong women who were so determined to break the mold and break free. It definitely helped me take steps I normally would have shied away such as meeting new people, being in tech, being in male dominant industries, starting a YouTube channel, talking about “taboo topics” on my podcast, and just openly discussing many topics that need to be said to help other women who were in my shoes to win a no win situation by rewriting the rules.

You have to just do it. Do it for yourself.

What is agile?

February 17, 2021 cwong0102Leave a comment

Everyone talks about agile development, but WHAT EXACTLY IS IT? Scrum and Kanban are the most common types of agile development but there are still many more. The agile principles apply to all of them.

Companies use agile development to work dynamically with change. The counterpart is waterfall which is so rigid for taking in all requirements in the beginning then executing instead of continuous improvements which is what agile development is known for.

If you want a hot skill, being scrum or kanban certified is the way to go if you are looking to go into technology consulting. In fact, at Accenture strives for global digital fluency within the firm and one of topics is agile development. It’s something everyone interested in tech should know!

Put yourself out there

February 12, 2021 cwong0102Leave a comment

I had a little “quiz” in my stories and I find it funny when people think I’m an extrovert HAHAHHA. I’m far from it: I’m actually an introvert! Despite being a consultant, a career where extroverts thrive in, I connect better in small groups or one on ones.

Sometimes you just need to put yourself out there, and over time, it’ll actually get much easier for you. Fake it till you make it! It started for me with Phi Chi Theta, the business fraternity I was involved in back in college. I would have NEVER guessed I would join Greek life, but I did because I wanted to meet different people, make new friends, and ultimately, really get myself out of the shell. I always thought I was very awkward and just didn’t know what to talk about. I actually stuttered, misspoke a lot of words (due to being surrounded by broken English and Chinese at home), and had absolutely no confidence in myself. Now as you can tell in my YouTube video I have more confidence in speaking and it’s a lot more coherent. Even during presentations back in high school, I literally read off of a piece of paper without once giving eye contact to my audience.

I even had a high school internship where I had to answer calls as a receptionist. Only 4 months later did I FINALLY pick up the phone. Imagine hiding away for 4 months of my internship NOT answering the phones which was literally a big part of my internship and making my manager pick it up instead. I was so ashamed. Everyone has their learning curve and their own demons. But I did it and that’s what matters. Just take that leap of faith and try it out! Once you do it more often, you’ll grow numb to it and you WILL be confident. You CAN do this. Comment down below on times you put yourself out there and how it went!

What if you don’t know the answer?

February 10, 2021February 10, 2021 cwong0102Leave a comment

I love this because we are always asked to know the answers! But how exactly should you answer questions you don’t know? Deflecting is not the way, but there are so many other ways you can respond to clients (or team members!) when they ask a question!

Especially in my first year in consulting, I didn’t know anything about Workday, the industry my clients were in, and “best practices.” I had to start from the ground up but I did draw from my experiences in my past jobs and internships! You always want to be honest and transparent but also be a trustworthy and knowledgeable consultant even when you just graduated. Here are my takes!

What is your go to and how would you rank these yourself in order of preference! Do you have something else you do instead? Share them in a comment down below!