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Steaming ahead with Stream work

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This blog was written by Felicity Bainbridge. Felicity is a current member of the CDC graduate scheme.

One of the reasons why a career with Capgemini Consulting was initially so appealing was because of the emphasis that it places on people. This is an integral part of the company and is visible in client work, throughout the larger business and to a greater extent – within the CDC.

To develop business leadership, core consulting and people skills every CDCer is a member of a particular ‘stream’. Stream ‘work’ is in addition to client work and we set aside 4 hours a week to focus on our individual deliverable (task). Each stream has a stream ‘lead’ (another CDCer) who oversees the work of the stream and reports back to the stream client - a Consultant who helps to scope deliverables and monitors the progress of the stream. We rotate every 3 months so you will have the opportunity to experience most of the streams as well as applying to lead one! So, a brief introduction to the 8 different streams:

Events: What it says on the tin – the Events stream organise and coordinate all the events in the CDC calendar. This is from our monthly FNFS (Friday night of fun socials) to the quarterly CDC Meeting where we all get together for an afternoon of trade shows and discussions.

Recruitment: Deliverables include designing and testing the assessment centre group exercise, creating a graduate marketing questionnaire and organising buddies for the new intakes.

Internal Marketing: Write and send out the CDC Times (newsletter), manage the CDC Awards by collating and delivering a nominations pack, developing the CDCs relationship with the sectors, marketing the new CDC joiners to the rest of the business and finally, organising a rota for writing this blog!

Framework: Maintain the structure of the CDC by facilitating stream lead calls, creating milestone plans and writing the weekly CDC Bulletin. They also update the CDC calendar, manage the stream rotation process and deliver the CDC Census results – an anonymous questionnaire covering all aspects of the CDC which is presented at CDC Meetings.

Learning and Development: Monitor CDC ‘learning’ by organising ‘MySkills’ sessions (presentations delivered by CDCers on topics such as Excel and project roles to upskill others) and ensuring that the CDC follows their required training schedule by attending all mandatory courses.

External: The charity stream! This is wholly committed to running initiatives to support the Myotubular Trust and the Voluntary Police Cadets as well as raising as much money as possible for our charity of the year, Alzheimer’s Research UK. Deliverables this rotation have included coordinating and facilitating the fortnightly Charity of the Year call, running a CCUK eBay project and organising a weekend ASE (Accelerated Solutions Environment).

CCUK: Support the wider Consulting business by updating Silhouette profiles for members of the VPP (internal CVS for the Vice President and Principal Community), conduct external research on internal communication methods and analyse these results to provide recommendations.
Business: Concerned with supporting propositions and capability development across CCUK. This involves looking into the use of innovative tools to capture client assessments and researching how leaders in the digital space use them. The next phase is testing the tools and preparing them for client engagements.

It is important to remember that specific deliverables and required outputs vary for each stream from rotation to rotation. They very much depend on new ideas, different approaches and collaborative group work. Stream work is a great opportunity to cement the tools and training that we’ve been taught in a relatively ‘safe’ environment (not under the watchful eye of clients) and to enhance the community spirit that really does make the CDC a fantastic place to be and an excellent place to start your career!

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Beginning life as a Consultant

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This blog was written by Amy Ratcliffe. Amy is currently a member of the CDC graduate development community.

 

Beginning life as a Consultant at Capgemini is an exciting, fast-paced and challenging experience: your first few months will see you meeting new people in the CDC and wider business, learning the various processes, systems and methods, and then finally taking the ultimate step of arriving on client site to deliver change. One aspect that can be overlooked, however, is what happens when we are between client projects or (as it is more commonly known) ‘on the bench’.

 

Bench time is a natural part of any Consultant’s career. Even if this is a relatively short period (e.g. a couple of days back in the office whilst roles are being confirmed), it will happen to all of us at some point and can be really valuable if used wisely. At the most basic level, time on the bench can be used to catch up on all necessary admin after a client engagement such as submitting expenses, updating ‘Silhouette’ – our internal CV system – and catching up on any outstanding learning and development tasks e.g. Computer Based Training. After this there are a number of other things you can do which makes bench time fun and also very rewarding for your long term career: you can use the time to speak to your Resourcing Manager about upcoming projects, network with members of your Capability Unit and CDC over coffee and, perhaps most importantly, pick up internal work or ‘cookies’.

 

‘Cookies’ is the informal term given to short pieces of internal work – normally one to two days – and are usually done for specific Capability Units or Sectors. They are a great way to network with key members of the business and also learn more about our various industry specialisms and capabilities. A recent ‘cookie’ I completed involved researching our history and credentials into a key market, and thus allowed me to meet with various VPs across the business, undertake research on our internal knowledge sharing tool KM2.0, and even get in touch with our wider international network when looking to identify global capabilities.

 

A further way to maximise your bench time is through taking part in the CDC ‘coffee campaign’. Run through Internal Marketing, the campaign aims to connect CDCers with members of CUs and Sectors to broaden knowledge and awareness of what the various units do before we begin our careers. It can be a great way to get to know people and also network if looking for your next project!

 

Overall, being on the bench can be a great experience, particularly when you are first getting started in the business. You can meet your new colleagues, gain a greater insight into what life is like as a Consultant, and even start finding your way around the office. Make the best of your time, and days spent on the bench can be key in the development of consulting career.

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When consultants don’t do consultancy

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This Blog was written by Simon Hodge. Simon Hodge is a consultant on the CDC graduate scheme.

When you start a new job, obviously your first thoughts are going to be of...well...the job. The work is why we joined and why we were hired. What many people don’t realise before they join is the huge number of opportunities that come our way in the CDC that have absolutely nothing to do with the work we do.

Before you join, you won’t notice the optional extras very much – some reference on our CSR web page to Capgemini’s charity work, perhaps, or the odd question at a careers fair. Essentially, it’s not a priority. And then it’s your first day, and at induction you suddenly get told of about a million things (well, perhaps an exaggeration, but not far off) that CDCers have got up to because they joined Capgemini, but which have nothing to do with consultancy.

Over the Spring Bank Holiday, for example, I took part in the BUPA 10k run in London, along with 5 other current or former CDCers. I had never done a race like this before, and loved it so much I’m already looking for my next one to do. We ran in support of one of the charities Capgemini supports, Alzheimer’s Research UK. A team of 6 consultants, and yet not a process map in sight - just weeks of training, fitness tips and (obviously) immensely high quality banter.

Or there was the Myotubular Trust Walk, a 17 mile wander along the Thames that is always a hit with new joiners. It’s a great way of supporting a really important charity and getting to see some fantastic bits of London all at once. Or perhaps the Five Peaks Challenge, climbing the five largest mountains in the British Isles, that some other grads are due to undertake this summer; or dinner in the historic Banqueting House in London, where Charles I was executed at the end of the Civil War.

None of these things have much to do with consultancy, but they have all happened because we are consultants. The CDC provides a great career opportunity, and that is of course the main reason we are here, but it also opens doors to a wealth of other challenges and experiences that help make our time in the CDC about far more than just consultancy.

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A Telecommunications, Media and Entertainment Sector project

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This Blog entry was written by Ursula Mulholland a current member of the CDC.

Working on a project with a sector such as the TME (Telecommunications, Media and Entertainment) team means you get to work with industry experts. Unlike a capability unit who concentrate on a particular type of project; sectors need to be able to apply a full range of capabilities within their given sector. Sometimes however, sector teams require an additional skill and so call on those outside of their immediate team with the necessary skills.

Although I joined with the CDC, I entered straight into the Operational Research team. I was brought onto a TME project to build a financial model using my modelling and data skills. The project was to review the price plans and packages of a telecommunications company in Belgium. I used data from over 2.5million customers to track how the changes customers made to their subscriptions over time and if these changes were beneficial to the company; taking into account predicted lifetimes of customers based on combinations of products and services.

Working on a project abroad does has additional factors to consider. Within that country or at times even just a company, there may be cultures which are different to your own, but are required to be understood in order to deliver a successful project. I was lucky in this project as I was working alongside two locally based Capgemini consultants who provided advice on the culture issues that were different from what we were used to in the UK.

I would highly recommend working with a sector team as there is so much to learn from them about their specific industries and also their working lifestyle. I really enjoyed this project despite long hours and a lot of travelling;, I consider working abroad a great opportunity to collaborate with global colleagues and explore other working cultures.

 

 

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Consulting: A challenging and varied career choice

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David Kunzmann writes about the diversity that a career in consulting offers:

A changing landscape...

Since my consulting career began I have been involved in a wide variety of work, from conducting pieces of analysis work through to facilitating workshops. As a consultant, being able to adapt to a changing landscape and deal with ambiguity is a key skill. As part of the CDC programme, having the opportunity to be involved in different projects (both client and internal) has allowed me to acquire a broad range of experiences quickly, helping me to get used to moving into a new environment, quickly understanding what issues the client is facing and then thinking about what might be done to address these. It is often challenging, but the constant change is something which can be thoroughly enjoyable. As a consultant, you are likely to experience a changing landscape almost constantly:

• Changing clients – a variety of projects with different clients, each very often facing different challenges and issues.
• Changing physical environment – projects in different locations, whether that is in London, the rest of the UK or even abroad (just last week I was in Poland).
• Changing colleagues – working in different project teams, meeting new people and learning from the experience of others.

Consultancy presents an incredible diverse career, but is certainly not for those that want to be in one place – the landscape is always changing. However, like me you wake up in the morning looking to thrive off new challenges and work with new people then few careers are as fulfilling.

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New joiners 1st 100 days part 2

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This blog was compiled by Tim Antos

The new joiners to the Consulting Development Community (CDC, Capgemini’s Consulting’s two year graduate scheme) have now been with us for over 100 days. In the second of a series of 3 blogs we look back at what they had been up to since they joined.

Robert Ord anther of the CDC new joiners gave his perspective of his 1^st 100 days at Capgemini:
Upon joining I worked on a Consulting bid, which some called ‘baptism by fire’!  It was an intense week where I learned about how things work at Capgemini.  Once the bid was submitted, I joined the global border management team where to date I have spent three days at the World Congress on Information Technology 2010 in Amsterdam, developed an awareness of border themes, supported bids and facilitated monthly meetings.  I am thoroughly enjoying the role and I am getting involved with the Prince’s Trust, preparing for a 100 mile challenge, establishing a group of graduates with an interest in the Energy, Utilities & Chemicals sector and, of course, enjoying the CDC social environment

Tim Antos another of the CDC new joiners started within our Accelerated Solutions Environment (ASE) which is Capgemini’s dedicated environment to help clients address their toughest challenges quickly and collaboratively. He gave his perspective of his 1^st 100 days at Capgemini:
My first role has been in the ASE where I’ve had fantastic exposure to some of the biggest challenges facing Capgemini and our clients. I have worked with Capgemini bid teams, local councils implementing shared services, health services addressing critical cost challenges, telcos reshaping the way they work and on internal projects developing Capgemini strategies to name a few! Outside the ASE I’ve been leading the utilisation focus of the CDC Internal Marketing, beating our French counterparts at rugby in Paris, fundraising and training for the Wild challenge 100 mile race and getting involved in Million Makers a charity challenge turning £1,500 into £10,000!

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Privacy: The right to be left alone?

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“So what do Management Consultants do exactly?”

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Choosing to embark on a career in Management Consulting

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The blog below was written by Caroline Cook. Caroline is an Associate Consultant who joined Capgemini in September 2008.

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The variety of opportunities makes consulting a great option for graduates

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