Hey readers! My name is Evelyn, and I am a rising sophomore at Western University in the Management and Organizational Studies program with AEO status to the Ivey Business School. 

This summer, I have been working as a consulting intern at The Planning Group, a management consulting firm. In July, I will be joining KCI Philanthropy, Canada’s leading consultancy in the non-profit sector in Toronto. Outside of my internships, I am working on various pro-bono consulting engagements. This past academic year was one of the most challenging yet rewarding years of my life, so in this article, I will be diving into my journey as a first year student, talking about internships, networking, extracurriculars, and how to balance it all.

Internships

For a lot of first year students, your first internship will come from a connection or cold emails. To land my first internship, the summer before my first year, I leveraged my high co-op experience and school business clubs and competitions such as DECA. This allowed me to land an operations internship at a start-up run by an alumni at my school. Working at a start-up allowed me to work at the heart of a fast-growing company, playing a direct role in achieving every milestone, while gaining a wide-variety of skills. During the school years, there are a lot of start-ups, search funds, and small consulting firms that will also allow students to gain experience working part-time and remotely while at school. 

This summer, I landed my internships simply through cold-emails. I knew I was interested in consulting, so I searched up all the small consulting firms in the Greater Toronto Area. In my email, I mentioned my interest in the company and how I could contribute through an internship, a brief summary of my relevant experience, and included my resume. I sent around 100 emails from January to March, and I was lucky enough to land a few calls. They were relatively informal interviews asking about my background, which led to a few internship offers. 

Networking

Like how cold emails helped me land my internships, cold emails and Linkedin DMs are critical for networking. To start off, networking is not just about getting referrals, but also learning more about the opportunities out there and what suits your interest. Going into university, I wanted to go into finance. However, after doing a finance internship and talking to many people in the finance field, I realized this wasn’t the career for me. During your first year, reach out to upper year students in a field that may interest you. Ask them about what they enjoyed, their internship experience, and also for any advice. These conversations can also lead to warm introductions to people in the firm, which will help with referrals down the road. 

Extracurriculars

In university, extracurriculars are often your first opportunity to gain experience. Leading a club allows you to gain leadership, project management, teamwork, and communication skills that are relevant in any job. Clubs are also a great way to meet friends and mentors with the same interests and goals. I personally found most of my closest friends through a school club. There are also many career oriented clubs that allow you to gain experience. For example, at my university’s investment club, I got to help create and present a stock pitch presentation. I also joined my school’s pro-bono consulting club, which sparked my interest in consulting after working on 2 pro-bono engagements. Case competitions are also a great way to develop your skills and it looks great on your resume!

Balancing It All

School is busy. You want to keep your grades up, while balancing a social life, recruiting, networking, and also the adjustment of transitioning from high school to university. Some things that helped me stay on top of everything was using my notion to organize all my deadlines. I used my google calendar to note down all my meetings and classes, and used the task function to plan ahead and ensure that I am getting everything done in a manageable fashion. Whenever I needed to study, I tried to avoid my room knowing that I am not productive, which really helped with my efficiency. This allowed me to still go out on weekends, which is really important to achieve balance.

About the Author

My name is Evelyn Sar, and I am a rising sophomore studying business at Western University. I hope to pursue a career in consulting, specifically in the public sector. I enjoy fast-paced work environments and working with clients to help them solve their problems. Outside of school, I enjoy leading student organizations and spending time outdoors.