TABLE OF CONTENTS Every journey begins with a single step. For the internal consultant you need to make sure the first and all subsequent steps are in the right direction.
I never knew that when I started my career I was ultimately to become an internal consultant. In fact, I didn't even know at that time anything about internal consulting. In high school I had always thought that I wanted to be an engineer. I liked science and mathematics, working with and analyzing the detail these disciplines involved. At least that was what I thought. Based on that belief, I went to engineering school and became an electrical engineer. At the time I graduated, the economy was in a downturn with many layoffs and high unemployment. I went on many job interviews and actually got some offers to work in my profession with salaries that were in line with what other members of my graduation class were receiving.
Then one day I met a fellow student who I had not seen since I was a freshman. We had been on opposite work co-op assignments while in school so that when he was in school I was working and vise versa. During our discussion about what we had been doing for the last few years, he gave me the contact number for an employment agency which had gotten him a very good job, even better than what he could have achieved by interviewing though the school's in-placement service.
