We asked Queen Mary student Sushang about his experience on our QConsult programme, what skills he feels he gained from the experience, and how he and his team adapted to working from home.
Deciding to take part in QConsult
QConsult was a rare opportunity to develop career skills valuable in team-based work environments, and after some research into the programme, I had become very interested in enrolling.
The most appealing aspect of QConsult was the idea of working alongside real business companies, where the contribution of our team has weighted effects on business development. QConsult was a chance to engage in a professional environment and network with individuals which is invaluable to career development.
Our project
My team and I worked together with a company called Uplearn, which is a platform based around online A-level learning services. The QConsult project consisted of three main objectives: competitor landscape analysis, feature analysis, and market direction. Collectively as a team, we had to research the vast market of online education that branches from domestic to international learning. After comparing dozens of companies, we had to prioritise the primary markets we wanted to target, finally producing a professional consultancy report and presentation for our client.
The most enjoyable aspects were working in a dynamic team and learning to professionally communicate with our client. Throughout the project, we experienced numerous challenges and problems, like precisely understanding the market our client wanted to target. However, through active and open communication, our team were able to develop unique solutions and apply them successfully.
Adapting to working remotely
Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the progression of our QConsult project was displaced. The social distancing rule created obvious problems for face-to-face meetings with our team, as well as with our client. However, our team was successfully able to transition to online video call meetings to ensure our project remained on track, and even though there were time differences between our team members, we were able to definitively allocate regular meeting times to work on the project.
How the programme helped
QConsult has developed key technical skills that will largely benefit my career in the future. The development of professional writing and presentation of reports will be essential for all fields of work and having the experience to showcase these presentation skills in real work environments will be advantageous. My organisational skills were also further improved. Throughout the project, the team and I were required to actively track our progression to ensure we were meeting deadlines, using online programmes such as Trello and Freedcamp.
I highly recommend all students to apply for QConsult as soon as possible. It is a unique opportunity that is highly in demand for the rare work experience that you will receive, putting you in a very advantageous position for career development. Not only will you vastly improve all aspects of teamwork and other soft skills, but you will have the rare opportunity to work with a professional company and have a real impact towards their business, to which you can refer to in the future for any job application.
Find out more about our QConsult programme and how you can apply here.
If have any questions or concerns about the current job market, please do take a look at our new #AdaptToSucceed page, where we outline all the latest information and advice.
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