Appetizers

Starting with some basics.

Fun Starters

Getting to know the human side.

 Main Course

A quick deep dive into the day-to-day job.

Tell us about yourself and your job.

Hello! My name is Nadeen Issa and I work in consulting, where I focus mostly on education. I have worked on a variety of cases serving higher education institutions, education foundations, education technology, and private equity clients in education markets.

My work ranges from growth & innovation strategy to M&A to buy- and sell-side due diligence.

How did you end up in your field? What do you like about it?

I have always been passionate about education but was never fully sure which part of the education field I wanted to be a part of.

The summer of my Junior year of college, I interned with Teach for America, where I served as an "education consultant" and I absolutely loved the mixture of consulting and education as it allowed me to learn a ton about the education field and how to make an impact within it. This experience is what pushed me to work at EY-Parthenon, a consulting firm that has a significant presence in the ed world, and I have loved learning more.

What does a typical morning look like on the job?

It totally ranges depending on the case that I am working on. But I usually start off my day checking my email and running from meeting to meeting aligning on the work that needs to get done for our deliverables that day.

Cool, then what does a typical afternoon look like?

Also ranges! But typically I spend most of the afternoon working on the actual deliverable (models, presentations, calls, and everything in between).

What types of projects and meetings are you involved in?

For a typical due diligence case, our teams work on evaluating a company (or a market) that a private equity firm is interested in investing in (or selling). There are three typical workstreams that I am involved in:

1) Total addressable market (TAM) workstream, 2) Survey workstream, 3) Call workstream.

1) The TAM workstream consists of sizing the market of the target client/industry. This involves a lot of modeling, understanding the market, and understanding the potential buyers within the market. (This is my favorite workstream!!)

2) The survey workstream consists of writing and distributing a survey to various decision-makers within the industry in order to understand buying dynamics and competitive dynamics.

3) The call workstream consists of reaching out to and interviewing experts in the industry (both competitors and decision-makers) to further understand buying dynamics and competitive dynamics.

Who do you collaborate with in meetings and projects? Cross-functional teams? What's it like?

Our workstreams usually have 2 - 3 people working together on their respective deliverables. So we tend to collaborate a lot with managers and workstream leaders. And as the team changes every month or so, this gives us the opportunity to collaborate with lots of people, which is great!

 Dessert

Now for some juicy insights in the tea room.

What's the most challenging thing about your job?

Tight timelines! Working on due diligence in the PE world are like sprints because the timeline to invest in these companies (or sell) can be pretty tight, which in turn translates to some late nights. The bright side of this though is it allows for a higher number of cases under your belt and more opportunity for learning / exploring various industries!

What are some characteristics that can help someone succeed in your role?

I think organization is key in this job. There are so many tasks that are thrown at us on a given day/week, and being able to organize yourself and prioritize the tasks to get them done in a timely manner is huge.

Any advice on how to stand out and get hired for those just starting off?

Network and practice cases! When it comes to finding a consulting job, it's all about how you fit in with the culture and how you solve the case. Networking allows for people already at the company to know your name when you are applying, but also gives you a chance to feel them out and see if it is the right place for you! And when you do get the interview, practice casing as much as possible so that it comes naturally to you by the time you get to your interview.

What's something that surprised you about your job?

The people and the support. I have absolutely loved the community I found at this job. Nothing makes late nights better than having the right people around you to support you!

What do you see your next step being?

Not sure yet!! I would love to be in the investment space, investing specifically in education... but I am still figuring this one out.

Any last thoughts, advice, or recommendations for someone who wants to do what you do?

I said network already, but it is super important in my opinion to feel the culture out from whichever companies you are interested in.

At the end of the day, the work is mostly the same across various consulting firms, and the people are what make each firm unique. Finding the people that you fit in with the most makes a huge difference!

 Drinks

Chat more over coffee or tea?