recruiting

Ph.D. Programs

Abhra

 

Educational Backgroud:

Ph.D (Electrical Engineering), Princeton University (awarded 2008)
B.Tech, Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai (2000)

Why Consulting:

Consulting was an attractive career option to me as I thought it would provide me with exposure to a wide range of industries. As someone making a transition from academia to business, I felt a range of experiences as a generalist would be more valuable than a specialized role in any particular industry. As a consultant I could use skills I already had (quantitative analysis and reasoning) to make a contribution while picking up what I did not know (how specific industries – banking, insurance, software, etc.) worked.

Experience:

Since joining Dean & Company in 2006, I have

• Worked on evaluating a number of companies for our private equity client (Lindsay Goldberg) – business areas included retail, insurance, packaged foods, power plants and utilities
• Helped evaluate the market size for a business banking initiative for a large, non-US bank looking to expand into the US  - segmented overall market into most attractive industries and geographies to focus on
• Helped assess the viability of a fiber optic telecom service rollout for a utility company
• Develop a number of growth and defensive strategies for a software company, including new marketing strategies, pricing and discounting studies, and potential product extensions/supplemental service products
• Develop business proposals on operational improvement initiatives for a regional bank, operational impacts of major banking regulation changes, retail merchandising and many others

Transition

The transition from a PhD program, where everything was studied for months before any output, to the consulting world, where turnaround times can be under a week (sometimes even a day) was both challenging and exciting. The key learning step was learning the “80-20” rule and getting used to coming to a good answer quickly, and not to the best answer slowly.