Consulting 101 - Company Outing
It can be difficult to network, and get to know your work colleagues when you work in consulting. Since most of the job is done on a different client site on a project basis, you tend to build strong lasting relationships with your project members, but have a limited view on everyone else who works at the firm. Thinking in terms of simple math, you generally work in a team of 3~5 people for a duration of 2~3 months per project. In a given year, you may interact then with only 20~30 people. Given that my firm currently has around 200~250 people (consulting team) it becomes difficult to keep track of all the people, but also build loyalty within the firm.
This being one of the reasons, consulting firms generally have a big workshop once a year on a company wide scale to get the whole firm together for team-building, but also to share company-level updates, and also just allow the members to indulge and have a good time. We generally refer to this is the company ‘outing’ and is generally a mandatory internal event, and is also applied into our project schedules as well, meaning we tell our clients that we would need to take a break in the project to attend the internal company event.
Just a couple photos from my two of my company outings at Guam (USA) and Fukuoka (Japan)
The event generally is a 2~4 day overseas workshop, and generally entails a high-end luxurious trip, all expenses covered. This is the one event that consultants really look forward to throughout the year, as you get to meet new colleagues at the nicest of environments, and just relax while not technically being on vacation. There are some company events throughout the workshop, such as team-building events or sharing company initiatives, but generally outings are mostly just free-time and lots of partying and having fun with your colleagues.
I have had the opportunity to attend 3 of these workshops so far (covid had hindered many of these taking place), and I had visited Guam, and Fukuoka (I’m not counting the local domestic outing during covid). I do believe that outings give you the opportunity to meet people outside of your project experiences, and someone to say to when you visit the home office every once in a while. It’s a breath of fresh air when you get to talk to people outside of your own practice area, or also network with colleagues across different positions in a more casual environment. (When do you get mingle with partners, principals, and associates without trying to take care of your own image within the firm, right?)
“Of course, the ‘level of luxury’ of the outing changes every year, mostly dependent on the company’s performance, but the ‘outing’ definitely is one of the staples of a consulting career.”