Name: Guilherme
Year: Junior
Major: Mathematics, Economics
CFS Concentration: Field Studies in the Modern Workplace
I am currently interning at Blue Canyon Partners, a strategy consulting firm in Evanston, Illinois. Last year, I was looking for some internship experience to give me more insight into my career interests and CFS provided the perfect opportunity.
The whole pre-application process was pretty straightforward. I had meetings with the program coordinator, where she went over the main internship programs available, and advised me on how to improve my resume to better highlight my skills that fit those companies’ needs. After some resume editing, I went on to research the companies I was most interested in. This, again, was made much easier due to the amount of information from evaluations done by past interns. This helped me choose my target companies not only through what they did, but also how they did it. Once I had compiled my shortlist, I sent my resume out, and waited for possible interview offers.
When I first arrived at Blue Canyon’s office, everyone was very friendly and welcoming. I quickly figured out how lunch breaks and overall office etiquette worked, and got my first training “class” on company methodology. Over the past 5-6 weeks, I have been trained on many of the different stages of a consulting project, which was one of my main learning goals coming into CFS.
The mix between a full-time internship and a Monday seminar class is, in my opinion, what makes this experience so valuable. This is my first internship experience, much like many other students in my class, and I think that if we just worked all week, a lot of what we learned would be forgotten, or simply not processed in an effective, lasting way. Every Monday, we get a chance to take a step back and discuss our experiences from the past week. This helps us all process our own realities in the workplace, and also gives us valuable insight into other people’s experiences with their respective industries. I am currently in a management consulting firm, but every Monday I have learned more about non-profits, venture capital firms and trading companies. The class also gives us things to look out for, such as office space, employee-boss relations, office language, and the nature of our work- things we usually wouldn’t notice. Lastly, it is also a great way to “ease back” into the week, getting ready and motivated to go to work.
CFS so far has been an awesome experience, which I highly recommend other students to try out. I have been learning a lot from my internship, as well as from my class and classmates.