Making a difference and learning from diversity - everyday at McKinsey

June 20, 2018Read more about: Diversity

McKinsey & Company Australia is now accepting applications for their Women in Leadership Scholarship and Internship opportunities. We encourage all female future leaders to apply. Winners will be awarded a $15,000 scholarship to support them during their studies and an eight–week paid internship. Please click here for more information. Application deadline is on Sunday, 8 July 2018.

I saw my time at university as an opportunity to figure out what I wanted to do with my career. I explored a range of options, including criminal law, finance and public policy. I learnt I enjoyed solving problems and I needed a job where there was no typical day. When I heard about McKinsey’s Women in Leadership ScholarshipI felt I’d found the perfect opportunity to learn first–hand what it is like to be a management consultant.

Inline

There were two defining aspects of this experience that persuaded me to return to McKinsey full–time as a business analyst: the people and the level of ownership I had.

My scholarship included an internship in McKinsey’s Sydney office. There, I worked with extraordinary people whose backgrounds ranged from neuroscience to artificial intelligence and human–centred design. It is difficult to describe the energy and creativity that comes from bringing such different backgrounds together. I was amazed by the diversity and felt privileged to learn from these individuals – an opportunity that I may never have had if I had pursued a more conventional route.

McKinsey has built a reputation around its culture of trust and ownership, which I experienced from my very first day. This trust allowed me to design my workplan and present my findings to the board of a client at the end of my study. It is rare elsewhere for people beginning their careers – let alone still in university – to be so deeply involved in the actual problem solving. At McKinsey, my contributions helped change the course of business for our clients.