CRA Summer Internship Experience

Michael Tom

s recording, in the summer of: 2023

I sit down with Claire, Selena, and Karla to learn about their perspectives on maximizing their time in the internship role, coming up on the CRA Market Insights Podcast.

The opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Charles River Associates, its clients, or any of their respective affiliates. This podcast is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.

Michael Tom

Claire, maybe we could start with you. Do you have any words of wisdom or perspectives on new interns who will be starting next year? And what they should be thinking about as they move into the internship program?

Claire Wang

So, I feel the first piece of advice I will give to the new interns would be to reach out to people and try to connect with as many people as you can during your time at CRA. And also, don't just limit yourself to the office where you are located, but also try to reach out to people in other offices and get to know what kind of projects they’re on and also just get to know them personally. From my experience here, I really enjoyed talking to people in the San Francisco office as well as I got to know people in Boston and New York. It’s a nice experience to see what kind of projects they do, and also, what they do for their free time after work. So, I think this is the first advice I will give to all the new incoming interns.

Michael Tom

Yeah. And Claire, I think that's really valuable information, especially for new starters. Could you speak a little bit more about some of the challenges you faced in reaching out to people in other offices.

Claire Wang

Yeah, yeah, definitely. I feel like the best way to talk to your professional development manager (PDM) or your onboarding buddy is to see if they can recommend some names for you to talk to. So personally, I talked to my PDM, and she recommended a few names. For one of my projects, there is actually an analyst from Boston who is working with me. So, what I did was, I just randomly told her I wanted to know more people in the Boston office, and she's been really nice and supportive, and she just introduced a lot of her friends in Boston to me. I feel like finding these mutual connections is a really great way to start building connections with people in other offices.

Michael Tom

Great. Thank you very much. I think that that makes a lot of sense. And we may come back to you in a bit, Claire. But, Selena, I wanted to also get your thoughts on the same question.

Selena Kiu

Yeah, for sure. And I definitely agree with everything Claire has said. I think one of the biggest takeaways for me was trying to be proactive and taking as much initiative as possible outside of my major projects, or anything that I'm staffed on. So, what Claire was talking about a bit a little earlier, about reaching out to different people in different offices and practices, but also being able to be exposed to a variety of different project types. So maybe asking your onboarding buddy if you can shadow one of their projects or calls. Say, if you’re staffed on a commercial strategy project, to understand the other side of things like pricing and market access (PMA), or any sort of non-license project as well. I think I would also recommend that interns take initiative in terms of taking advantage of all the resources CRA has offered and offers its intern. So, looking at LinkedIn Learning courses or all the trainings that CRA has on its website and central repository, the Cube; I think that was definitely one of the most valuable experiences for me, just learning how to get more familiar with, Excel, for example, or learning even good types of questions to ask, which is one of the LinkedIn Learning trainings that was recommended to us interns. So, I think just being able to take advantage of everything that you have been offered and taking initiative and being proactive in that way.

Michael Tom

Yeah, Selena, I'm really intrigued by this idea you bring up about taking advantage of the multitude of resources we have here at CRA. And you know, in thinking about that, there's a lot to unpack, I imagine, when you first start; certainly, a lot of different teams that work here within CRA and different categories of training. We have our lunch and learns for internal program and the likes, and you’re mentioning LinkedIn Learning as well, and I could think of a few others. But could you give me a sense how you navigated those different resources and opportunities here? And, you know, certainly in the internship program, there's a finite amount of time we have to, dedicate to in training and such. And so, could you give me a sense of how you navigated that? And from a time-management perspective, and where you focus your efforts?

Selena Kiu

In terms of managing time and where to focus efforts, I think it's important to just do an exploration of all the resources out there at the start of your internship and look into the ones you'd be most willing to invest your time into. And I think, even if you have, 10 minutes in between project calls or after lunch, it's still a great time to hop on to watch the rest of the recording that you might have missed, or to look at some of the other resources CRA offers. I think it's definitely a little bit of a challenge learning to juggle your time between of course, dedicating a lot of your time and effort towards your project work or other internal initiatives that you may be staffed on, but also knowing when to take a break from that. So maybe watch 20 minutes of a training video to sharpen up your skills as well, which could also help you be more productive in the day-to-day tasks that you're assigned to. So, I think there's plenty of opportunity for interns to be able to do that and learn for their own professional growth, as well as contribute to CRA's client-based and internal efforts.

Michael Tom

Yeah, thanks for that. So Claire and Selena, I wanted to go back and ask another question to you both. And this is a little bit more pointed around asking the right questions. And you know, having the confidence to speak up and voice when you're not sure about something. You know, I could certainly appreciate how, when you first start, you want to demonstrate your value and your worth and your expertise and your knowledge, while also acknowledging the fact that you don't have a lot of expertise and knowledge in these areas, right? So, I’m curious, how did you guys approach that from your perspective? I'm curious how you guys think about that and what your approach was this summer to asking the right questions and just having the confidence to do so? So maybe, Claire, we can start with you.

Claire Wang

So, this is also something I was kind of exploring, like, how to ask questions and how to speak up during internal meetings. And so, as many people have told me, there are no dumb questions in consulting. And I feel like, especially for someone new in consulting, people are not expecting you to understand everything in the project. I'll speak into my own experience. I was staffed on a Pricing and Market Access project, which was a little bit overwhelming for me at the beginning. So what I did was, I tried to ask my project manager, different types of questions in our one-on-one meetings, and also, of course, I spent a lot of a lot of time studying the background materials, just to make sure all the questions I asked were to the point, and later I just tried to speak up more in our internal meeting, and show that I have tried to understand the materials. And there is another analyst on our team, and sometimes we have similar questions. So, if one of us is brave to ask that, we’re also doing this for each other. So, I think as for asking questions, it's really a process you need to take some time to understand the materials first, and then try to maybe speak to people individually about some questions, and then you can move on to asking questions during an internal meeting and speak up more. So, I think definitely just take it slowly and use this step-by-step process, and don't push yourself too hard to ask a question during the first client meeting, and just take it gradually.

Selena Kiu

Yeah, I think that Claire has raised some really good points about learning to speak up and being brave to ask questions. This is actually one of the personal goals that I set for myself at the start of my internship, just being able to speak up when I have questions and knowing to ask earlier rather than later. I think, keeping in mind that when you're confused, the best thing you can do is clarify that and ask is really important, because if you're confused and you don't ask, it could leave you being confused for days or weeks, and that can eventually get back to you in a negative way. And so, I think the faster that you can get your questions clarified, the better you can perform in your tasks and your responsibilities as well. I think for me something that I did, if I was really feeling nervous, like my palms are really sweaty, but I knew I had to ask the question, was just to force myself to do it. I would look at the clock and say, there's 10 more minutes left at this meeting, if I don't ask now when will I ask, right? And so, just forcing myself to do that when sometimes it was really hard to take that step was really helpful for me, personally. I think of myself as someone who is a little nervous to ask questions and speak up in big public settings. And so that was something I wanted to work on this summer, and I'm really glad that I pushed myself to do so. And I think, as Claire said, it really does get easier as time goes on. If you're able to speak up in an internal discussion, maybe next time you could speak up in an office meeting, and then build your way slowly up to a client meeting and give your ideas and feedback as well.

Michael Tom

Karla, I wanted to shift over to you, and for those of you listening in, Karla was actually one of San Francisco's interns last summer, and she graciously joined, us full-time as an associate for this this year as well. Karla, you’re coming at this from a little bit of a different perspective. You've had the experience of an intern, and now you have more of a future-looking view. As Selena and Claire are looking towards, the next steps of their career, and whether they start with us full time, or at another role full time, I was hoping to get your perspective on the next steps in terms of what you think about for best practices on next steps, and especially when you transition from being an intern to working here full-time. How did that mindset shift for you?

Klara Guerrero

Yeah, thank you, Michael. I think these are really important questions, and I appreciate you asking them. I think, to start off on thinking about next steps, I was very intentional, and my PDM was very intentional in terms of setting up different conversations and just really working through what my professional development goals were, and making sure if I did take the role at CRA, it would align with those professional goals and I would have the opportunities that I was actually seeking. So, I appreciate that, and I think that was an important factor that led up to my decision, and just making sure that this was the right fit for me at different levels. I think in terms of transition to a full-time employee, the biggest shift was just the level at which you approach a project and your different responsibilities. So, I think as an intern, the expectation is that you come in every day and your project managers tell you what they want help with or need support on and you stand out as an intern if you are just one step ahead of that, and you're able to anticipate what the next task might be. That's already standing out as an intern, but I think as a full-time employee and as an associate, you need to take it a level beyond that, and challenge yourself to think about the project as a whole, how the different things that you're working on contribute to the final deliverable, and how these different tasks tie into the key objectives of the project, and really making sure that the project is delivering on addressing those client needs and answering those key business questions. I think the challenge is just really stepping out of the day-to-day operations and thinking about the work that you're doing more holistically and at a more strategic or higher level, and challenging yourself with more project experiences that you gain to think about in that way.

Michael Tom

Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense. It's definitely valuable to be thinking about, if I think back to early in my career, those are definitely attributes that serve me well; thinking about next steps and anticipating. One key objective of ours as consultants is trying to anticipate our clients' needs. But also when you're a junior, the internal project team is your client in a way, and so you need to anticipate their needs.

This was a question that actually just occurred to me while you were speaking, Karla. I was wondering, in this decision now to eventually join us full time, if there was ever a moment during the internship, or Maybe you can give some advice to those entering the internship program for next year. What should they be looking for in terms of whether they feel consulting is a good fit for them? And whether CRA is a good fit for them? I think everybody's situation is unique, and they all have their own priorities and objectives out of a career path. But I'm kind of curious, what was important for you and what were you looking for? And what did you see during your internship that was the spark to say that, you know I think this could be a good fit for me? What should the future interns be thinking about?

Klara Guerrero

Yeah, thanks, Michael. That's a really good question. I think it's kind of unique in the life sciences consulting space, because going into it as an intern, you're probably from a stem background, and chances are, consulting is not the only option or the only career path you can take. And there are very different things you could do. You could go into research, you could be thinking about grad school, you could be thinking about an industry job, or you could be pivoting into something completely unrelated, and just go straight business, for example. So I think, the first step is just figuring out if this is work that interests you, and if it's the right industry, or if it aligns with your long-term goals. And if you're still figuring it out, I think that's when a lot of people like to stay in consulting because they do want to get some sort of industry exposure, but not get too deep into the weeds and still have good exit opportunities if they do want to go to grad school or a different position later. So, I think the first step was just figuring out what I wanted to do next if there was a long-term goal. I think after that, in terms of once I narrowed it down to staying in consulting and deciding whether I wanted to stay at this firm or another firm, there were a lot of different factors that I was thinking into. One of them was just the size of the firm, and that kind of plays into what your role might be in your office, and how much work you might be seeing, or how much your presence might be valued at your office. And so, I knew I wanted to go somewhere that was more mid-sized for that reason, and it also plays into what kind of projects are being sold, and what kind of work you have opportunities to do. So, I knew I wanted to stay at a mid-sized firm for that reason, and I think, CRA, compared to its direct competitors, just stood out to me because I had been here for a few months, I knew everyone, and I felt like this office specifically, was offering me really good professional development opportunities, and I knew everyone was very supportive of my career development. So, I felt like I would be supported here more, perhaps more so than a different company, where I had no idea what the culture might be like, or what the kind of projects they would be working on might be. So, I think, on the risk of working at a different competitor firm that has the exact same offerings in some regards, I just felt a lot better with my decision on CRA.

Michael Tom

Thanks for sharing that. Well, those are all the questions I had for our panel today. Any parting thoughts, anyone?

Selena Kiu

I think one thing that I would say to people who are considering applying either to an internship or full time, is just definitely look on the CRA website, speak to people to get the vibe of whether CRA might be the place for you, and if you're still wondering, I would say, just do it, because everyone I've met at CRA has been super nice and supportive, and I've also been curious to learn about what the environment at other offices and what the projects are like, and everyone's been more than willing to chat with me, even if that meant talking to me at 6 PM UK time or 8 AM in the morning for them. That was just one thing that I noticed that everyone was super supportive and willing to chat with me about their day to day, even if it meant taking time out of their busy day. And so, I was really appreciative of that. And really do think that CRA is a really friendly and welcoming place.

Klara Guerrero

Yeah, I think thinking about the last question that we were just talking about, something that has set out to me as really good advice from the mentors in my life, it's just that if you're thinking about going into consulting because, you have some interest, the internship, is the perfect opportunity because you can have a chance to do the day-to-day work life and get to know what that might look like, but not really commit yourself to the role. And when you do find yourself liking it, if you do and you're thinking about going into this full time, I think another piece of good advice is it can feel like a very stressful decision when you're deciding whether or not to uproot or stay there or a decision between offers. And at the end of the day, it’s not marriage; you're not locking into yourself into a full-life commitment, and you can change your mind down the road, or you can learn other things and decide to stay longer than you had. So, I think you can relieve that stress from yourself, and just take it as it goes. And your career is going to develop and change in a lot of different ways that you don't expect anyways. So that stress off of yourself and letting yourself make decisions that you're not 100% sure about is going to be really good advice. There's no need to lose sleep over something you probably won't be 100% certain about anyways, until at some other point, when new data comes up or new information comes up that changes your perspective.

Claire Wang

I feel like definitely for people who are considering apply for CRA, as Selena has talked about before, it's definitely important to reach out to people at CRA and talk to them to get a sense of what it's like to work at CRA. But at the same time, if you really want to know what it's like, you should come here and experience it yourself because before I started my internship, I didn't know what was waiting for me, but after I started, I feel like my two months here was beyond my expectation. It was so incredible, and the people I met here are so supportive, and they are not just good coworkers, but also good friends for life. And another thing I really appreciate about CRA is the kind of mentorship it's providing for all the new hires. Personally, my professional development manager has helped me a lot along my internship. And if you reach out to other people in the office, they are also super open to giving you feedback and giving you really helpful tips along your career development. So, if anyone I ever thinking about applying to CRA. I'll just encourage you to do that and say it to yourself.

Michael Tom

Well, thank you all so much for joining us today, Claire, Selena, and Karla. I’m sure that this advice will be really helpful for the interns starting next summer. We really appreciate your work here over the past summer, Selena and Karla, and we certainly wish you the best of luck, wherever your future careers take you.

Claire and Selena will be returning to CRA after their graduation to join us full-time.

That's all for this episode. Thank you to Claire, Selena, and Karla for their time and perspectives. We’ll see you next time.

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