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I am a First Class Chemistry graduate with experience in procurement and management consultancy. My two key strengths are my hard work ethic and interpersonal skills. Two years ago I decided to delay becoming a consultant to embark on the challenge of travelling solo abroad, which I financed by working in Australia. I faced different challenges than I had previously, widening my capabilities and particularly developing my self-sufficiency and confidence.
Education & Qualifications
2003-2008
East Bergholt High School. 7 A* and 5 A GCSE. ‘Highest Academic Achiever’ Award for 2008 cohort.
2008-2010
International Baccalaureate, The Sixth Form College Colchester. 37 Points (545 UCAS points).
2010- 2013
Chemistry, University of Bristol. 1st Class BSc Honors.
Extended Research Project on ‘Superconductivity’ – potential to revolutionise electricity transmission.
Experience
May 2015 to Present
Admin Assistant – Stroud Associates, Suffolk
October 2014 to May 2015
Solo travel in Bali, North India, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
December 2013 to October 2014
Hamilton Island, Australia
The purpose of living on Hamilton Island was to save money to travel whilst experiencing living and working abroad. I chose to have an evening job as well as my day job to maximize money saved. Due to my visa restricting a maximum of six months work with each employer I had four different jobs in total, which are listed below. I appreciated the challenges and rewards of living in an environment very different from the academic spheres of university and school.
December 2013 to May 2014:
Main job: Cleaner and Valet – VillaCare Holiday Homes
Employed as a cleaner as part of a seven person team cleaning 20+ holiday homes and apartments on the island. Promoted within three weeks to the position of company Valet who collected the guests from the airport and transported them to the holiday homes. Responsibilities included liaising with the manager and cleaning teams, planning my timetable for the day, welcoming guests, washing and ironing laundry and linen for all properties and dealing with any issues with the houses, guests, flights and cleaning teams.
Evening Work: Cruise Waitress – Denison Star
Part-time evening waitress on-board cruise boat around the Whitsunday Islands. Responsibilities included customer service, managing the bar, serving food and cleaning vessel.
May 2014 – October 2014:
Main job: Hostess, Front of House – Hamilton Island Enterprises
Worked at Beach Cub Resort (4 star) and Qualia Resort (5 star). Responsibilities included welcoming guests, front desk operations, night manager, tour booking and dealing with customer complaints. The role taught me how to provide world-class customer service, professional team skills and crises management. Crises management included dealing with a room flooding and a burglary when I was the night manager on duty.
Evening Work: Seller – Island Ice Cream Parlor
Responsibilities included selling ice creams, dealing with customer complaints and cleaning the parlor each evening.
October – November 2013 Volunteer – Deepalaya, Gusbethi Village, India
I organised a solo trip to India where I volunteered at a rural school and girls home set up by Deepalaya (NGO based in Delhi) for socio-economically disadvantaged girls between the ages of five and 21 from Delhi. My responsibilities included teaching a range of subjects each day at the primary and secondary school on site, privately tutoring A-level equivalent Chemistry, teaching the social workers Excel and Microsoft Word skills, and pastoral care for the girls. As the sole volunteer on site it was a unique opportunity to become integrated in Indian culture and inspire the girls to use education to unlock a better future. I became aware of the challenges and success stories of such projects and it taught me a great deal. I wanted to show the girls I was no different or better than them and I was the first foreigner to sit and eat with the girls and help them with cleaning duties at the weekends. I returned on my travels a year later to visit them.
July 2013 Summer Intern – Deloitte, London
I interned as a Strategic Management Consultant at Deloitte. I was part of a team working on a strategy project for the National Health Service predicting future trends in prevalence of major diseases in less privileged London boroughs. The project aim was to help instruct the NHS where and how to invest money to maximize reduction in future prevalence of these diseases. Responsibilities included researching past and future disease data, developing methods to measure ‘prevalence’, inputting and formatting large Excel spreadsheets, designing the report to present to the client. Please see my manager review attached. The experience showed me consulting is the career I would like to pursue, however I was keen to travel and work abroad for a time before I settled into a career. I was offered an interview but Deloitte delayed interviews so it coincided with my time in India.
July – September 2013 Summer Intern – BP North Sea Headquarters, Aberdeen
I interned in the Procurement and Supply Chain Management Department for the Rigs team which taught me a great deal about working in a large organisation. I was responsible for creating a program that tracked team member’s completion of new safety compliances in light of the 2010 disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. I also had the opportunity to meet with suppliers and be exposed to the concept of contract management. I was awarded a bonus during my three months for excellent work; my manager quipped he would have offered me a job just on the basis of how I wrote an email handling an issue involving a senior member of the team in Norway who was refusing to complete the compliance tasks set out by BP that I was handling.
I was offered a full time position effective September 2013 but declined. However I found working in the Oil and Gas sector and energy in general very interesting and would be interested in coming back to it as a consultant instead tackling issues such as climate change.
May 2008 – September 2013 Part-time Dinghy Instructor – Alton Water Sports Centre, Suffolk
As an RYA Qualified Dinghy Instructor I had my first experiences of working in a team and more importantly leading a team. As I became more experienced as an instructor I was responsible for teams of up to five instructors teaching groups of children how to sail. The role included planning and preparing classes, overseeing the safety of individuals and running educational yet enjoyable classroom and on the water activities. I enjoyed seeing my pupils go from beginners to competent sailors. I cared a great deal for their safety and their enjoyment, and worked as hard to teach them as much as possible, aware that the courses cost a substantial amount of money. I was always pleased when children came back the following year eager to learn more.
Other holiday jobs: Receptionist (Stroud Associates, CW Roofing), Barmaid (Red Lion Manningtree, Essex), Waitress (Milsoms Hotels, Essex).
Achievements
University of Bristol Ladies Sailing Team Captain and Club Events Organiser 2010-2012.
I organised the ‘Bristol Brew’ nationwide university sailing event for 100 students – October 2012. Role included inviting teams, organising race committee and boats, ensuring sufficient safety cover and designing a schedule for the two-day event.
Further responsibilities included organising Ladies Team Events throughout the year.
Duke of Edinburgh, Bronze, Silver and Gold (Explorer Scouts) 2004-2009 – Awards require sports, volunteering and skills to be pursued as well as completing increasingly long expeditions. Gold Expedition was completed in boats on the Norfolk Broads, Silver in Peak District, Bronze in Scottish Highlands. Skills – playing Cello. Sports – Sailing, Tennis. Volunteering – Working at Cat Rescue Centre, Leader for Rainbow Girl Guides, Amnesty International
College Amnesty International Award 2010 – for commitment to raising awareness and money for the charity.
Head Teachers Award 2003 – for helping fellow pupils.
Clifton Strengths Finder
I recently took the Clifton Strengths Finder, which accurately identified my main strengths and specifically suggested Consulting as an ideal career for me. I have inserted a description of my main 5 strengths here and I am willing to provide the original copy. Consulting suits these strengths and also utilities my inter-personal skills.
Strengths
RESTORATIVE: People exceptionally talented in the Restorative theme are adept at dealing with problems. They are good at figuring out what is wrong and resolving it. Seek roles in which you are paid to solve problems. You might particularly enjoy roles in medicine, consulting, computer programming, or customer service, in which your success depends on your ability to restore and resolve.
ACHIEVER: People exceptionally talented in the Achiever theme work hard and possess a great deal of stamina. They take immense satisfaction in being busy and productive.
ACTIVATOR: People exceptionally talented in the Activator theme can make things happen by turning thoughts into action. They are often impatient.
IDEATION: People exceptionally talented in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.
COMPETITION: People exceptionally talented in the Competition theme measure their progress against the performance of others. They strive to win first place. Although they are gracious to their fellow competitors, over time they will come to avoid contests where winning seems unlikely.
I understand my weaknesses include impatience and dislike of taking part if I fear I will perform badly. However I have identified these weaknesses and through my years of work experience I am improving these and will continue to do so.
Deloitte Summer Vacation Scheme Feedback Form
SVS Name: Jessica Portway
Manager’s Name: Ian Taylor / Saira Waheed
Placement dates: 15th July – 16th August 2013
Champion’s Name: Hannah Lewsley
Description of work completed (to be filled out by SVS) Overview of work completed:
Over the course of the internship I carried out in-depth research into outcomes for a range of pathways being investigated in a project for a healthcare charity in London. I collected the data and manipulated it using excel into a form suitable to be further analysed by economic consulting. I incorporated data on pathways and demographics into slides to be delivered to the client, with focus on using ThinkCell.
Review of how well I did against my objectives:
1) To gain an understanding of the different consulting competencies, in particular in my project competency (strategy).
I attended all the competency insight lunches/evenings to gain an awareness of all competencies. I spoke to people from Strategy, Operations and P&P at various levels in the organisation about their specific role. Using the knowledge I gained I was able to make an informed choice about what competency to apply for.
2) To learn how to approach a strategic project and what the various stages are, in particular focusing on the healthcare sector.
I am now familiar with the stages of a strategy project in particular research, data collection, analysis and client deliverables. I have a unique insight into the healthcare sector and the challenges faced by organisations operating within it.
3) Develop my excel skills to quickly and efficiently process large amounts of data.
I have developed my Excel skills and my ability to manipulate data and draw out the most important aspects and learnt how to present these to the team members/client.
4) Develop my PowerPoint skills to create slides of high enough quality to be sent to clients.
I have become familiar with ThinkCell, the format of the slide deck for the client and the do’s and don’ts when creating slides.
5) Develop my time management, communication and team work skills.
I have done my best to be a useful and active team member working alongside Ian, Nabeel and Saira. I have developed how I communicate my results back to the team, especially using Excel. Where appropriate I tried to give any insight I had and I made every effort to learn as much as I could.
How did they perform? 1. To gain an understanding of the different consulting competencies
• Jess took a mature approach to considering her strengths in relation to the various competencies. She was proactive in arranging to meet people from the various parts of consulting and has developed a good understanding of where she would add the most value
2. To learn how to approach a strategic project and what the various stages are, in particular focusing on the healthcare sector
• The project required us to predict future demand and funding for healthcare in 2025. Jess was with us for five weeks out of eight and built an understanding of the project very quickly
• Jess is inquisitive and displays a strong desire to learn. Her already well developed research skills meant that she was able to add value to the team from day one. As she built confidence, she started to challenge my hypothesises and suggest further areas of research – it was great to work with a junior colleague who was able to suggest potential solutions to problems faced
3. Develop my excel skills to quickly and efficiently process large amounts of data
• Jess significantly improved her Excel skills during the project through a focused effort. By the end of the internship she was able to apply pivot tables as well as a basket of functions to efficiently analyse data and produce outputs that were integral to the final deliverable
4. Develop my PowerPoint skills to create slides of high enough quality to be sent to clients.
• Jess created slides and carried out primary research on several areas of the health sector. I was particularly impressed by her investigation of HIV, for which she applied several data sources to derived conclusions on future prevalence. Her slides made it into the final deliverable as a key portion of the overall story
• Jess has the ability to think beyond the raw data and utilise her empathy for the people to place her findings in context. When bombarded with data and information she did well not to lose sight of the objectives of the work
5. Develop my time management, communication and team work skills
• She is definitely a people person and fitted into the team straight away. Jess brought a lot of positivity to the project and helped foster a successful team dynamic through her enthusiastic demeanour and willingness to support others
• The team worked closely with frequent communication and I found that Jess was well prepared when I enquired on her status and ideas
In what ways could they develop? • Jess’ main development points are similar to those of most new analysts that I have worked with
• I noticed that Jess became more organised as the project progressed. I encourage her to keep improving this trait as it will help her to work efficiently and take on greater responsibility
• She could add more value through taking more time to considering the materiality of her analysis within the big picture. Given her inquisitive nature, I think that this will come naturally with experience
Overall summary of performance? • Jess was keen to take on responsibility and consistently delivered quality output when handed the opportunity
• She is an inquisitive, smart and personable individual. I have no doubt that she will succeed within the world of consulting
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