Last week, I got a brief taste of consulting at a healthcare boutique firm called ClearView Healthcare Partners. Located in a small town 10 minutes away from downtown Boston, ClearView hosts two cohorts of advanced degree students (PhD, MD, PharmD, etc.) at their office to both assess them as potential candidates and provide them with a truncated consulting project. This program, which takes place over a couple of days, is known as Connect 2 ClearView (C2C).
15 of us were split into teams of 5 and assigned a project manager as well as a specific life sciences project. Just as many consultants have to do on a real case, we had the opportunity to engage with our client and key opinion leaders (physicians, in our case), who were played by other ClearView consultants. Gathering additional data and touch points with them, we worked together to craft a slide deck with concluding recommendations.
Having never really engaged on a consulting project before, I learned so much from this single experience. I really loved the fast pace of the initial research and the following strategy work. Although we received guidance along the way, the five of us were still able to discuss some aspects of the project on our own. In the end, this experience absolutely confirmed my interest in pursuing this career.
While I’m just beginning to enter into the recruitment process of many consulting firms, I’m already excited at the possibility of joining one of them next year and working with clients starting day one. I’ll be sure to keep posting about my journey so that other PhDs can be aware of this interesting career path available to them after they defend!
Published on July 23rd, 2019
Last updated on April 1st, 2021