Written by Jesús
22 Nov 2014
Most Swedish universities have a large variety of projects that students can get involved in. Whatever you are into, it’s pretty likely that you will find some interesting and exciting activities!
As for me, I’m part of a project aimed to improve SASSE’s (my Student Association) revenue model, and today, we had our 3 meeting with one of the McKinsey consultants advising us. Basically, I am a consultant for 180 Degrees Consulting, which is a non-profit student consultancy organization, which works with non-profit organizations to help them tackle some issue that they are be facing. By doing so, students get a great educational experience, in addition to creating a real social impact.
The past weeks I’ve been going around school interviewing people, in addition to doing loads of research in terms of what students expect from the Student Association and our Business Committee in particular. We’ve also been brainstorming in groups and combining all the information that we’ve been gathering into useful actionable points. The project has so far been a lot of fun, and I’ve learned quite a few things along the way!
If you are remotely interested in consulting, chances are large that you will have heard of McKinsey before, since it is perceived as being the best brand within their field. But the cool part is that they are helping us out by providing us with a mentor and valuable feedback throughout our project. One thing that I really like about Sweden is this helping attitude mindset. Whether you are lost on the street, or whether you ask for help in a shop, most of the people will help you, even if that means referring you to their competitors. It might seem like a non-lucrative approach, but one could argue that the opposite becomes true in the long term, since an attitude of trust and helpfulness is created over repeated interactions, which at the end of the day, makes our life so much more easy and enjoyable.
PS: What can I help you with? 😀
