Junior Associate at FTI Consulting
I am currently working in the Corporate Finance and Restructuring segment where the ultimate goal of what we do is to help those distressed companies either be turned around or implement strategies to achieve the best outcome for creditors. My role within the company is to work in conjunction with other members of our team to progress matters towards their completion. An average day would include preparing statutory documents, reviewing and examining books and records as to the reasons for failure of the company and preparing reports to creditors regarding the same. An interesting file I am working on at the moment is for a company that operates a gold mine in Indonesia where I help to maintain the day to day accounts and work alongside their management team.
I grew up and still live in Perth and this is my first experience in the professional industries. I have been working for FTI Consulting for nine months where I was originally taken on part way through my second year of university. Looking back the easiest job I might ever have was working as a Houseman for a lodge in the Canadian Rockies on my gap year. I was surrounded by people that came to enjoy themselves and not have a worry in the world. Although I thoroughly enjoyed myself I learnt a great deal in terms of independence and maturity. It was while I was working here that I realised I wanted to be working in an industry and role that is constantly evolving and changing with the environment around it. To be intellectually stimulated at work was now a higher priority than just to have fun (although that is still pretty high on the list).
I think people from any background could work in my role providing they were willing to learn and could problem solve. Our work involves fixing the problems that have lead to the distressed conditions, so if someone brings a different way of thinking or a different perspective, that will be a very useful addition to the team. In collaborating with different backgrounds we all complement one another to achieve the same goal.
The best aspect of my job is the responsibility we are given even as someone so new to the industry. We are individually responsible for our own matters which means the work that is completed is reflective of our own time and effort. From being trusted to meet government imposed deadlines to collecting money that is rightfully owed to the company, we each see the impact and direct result of our hard work.
I think that there are not as such limitations but unreasonable expectations that you can have as a university student going into a job like mine. It has to be understood that your boss or any person you aspire to be like in the company did not get there overnight. They are in the successful position they are in due to continual update of skills while working harder than the next best person. If you grasp the concept that hard work is part of the process towards achievement then you should not be limited in a job like mine.
I'm still a student at the moment and will be for a while to come, so this advice is technically what I should be doing now in a perfect world. Take whatever opportunity comes your way; be open to what hard work or doing something different might open up for you in the future. Be obsessed or be average; only give 100% of yourself because that is the only way to succeed or improve on where you are at the moment. Do something your passionate about; if you are doing something other than for your own enjoyment or personal fulfilment re-evaluate and implement change in what you are doing.