Leap of faith: Today is my last day at Deloitte

As I hand over my laptop to a staff member at Deloitte’ San Jose office, I cannot help but go down the memory lane and revisit my journey from a na?ve undergrad to a full-fledged professional who is ready to step into the shoes of a full-time entrepreneur. 

Back in 2012, fresh out of college, I was an ardent follower of tech startups based out of Silicon Valley. I was smitten by the idea of having my own startup someday.. but the “HOW” piece wasn’t clear then. I had all sort of questions and apprehensions running in my mind.. coping with cultural differences, managing expenses, visa restrictions etc. But as they say- No dream is big enough. Today, the day has arrived when I am ready to leave my full-time job as a Senior Consultant at one of the best companies, Deloitte. Yes, August 26th is my last day at Deloitte, and I am ready to leap of faith to explore the world of entrepreneurship and simplify the frustrating and time-consuming process of job search. Let me take you through my journey.

The first step

My first move to the United States was to get admission into prestigious Duke University. In 2014 when I joined Duke, I knew nothing about entrepreneurship. All I had was an unplanned idea to democratize education, but I was well supported by Duke faculty and ended up one of the finalists in Duke Startup Challenge 2015. It was the first time I felt confident that I could try to make a change in education and job search domain. Now, the next challenge was to move from east coast to west coast so that I can live and breathe in Silicon Valley.

(Duke Startup Challenge Finale)

Beginning at Deloitte

My dream of moving to Silicon Valley soon say daylight when I got a full-time job offer from Deloitte, San Francisco. I was so excited for this opportunity to work with Deloitte and simultaneously land in Silicon Valley that I rejected eight other job offers. Yes, I had a total of 9 job offers at that time.

I still remember my first day at Deloitte; I was assigned to a reputed client and high impact project. I was trying to look confident, but honestly, I was scared as hell. I entered the meeting room filled with 14 Deloitte professionals; they used to call this room “Deloitte Cave” because there was no window ??. I was welcomed by all the teammates, including my excellent Senior Manager. It hardly took me a day or two, and I was on track to get the work done. 

Learning at Deloitte

Every minute that I spent at Deloitte was a real learning experience. In just over two years, Deloitte helped me to rise from an introvert to a professional who runs the entire show and handle end to end some of the most complex technology projects. In a nutshell, my learning curve at Deloitte was exponential, and I am sure all Deloitte and consulting professionals would agree with me. 

Those who don't know much about consulting life, we consultants use to fly a lot. In the last few years of my consulting career, I have been to 19 cities in the United States. Sometimes it was tiring, but overall, it was a fun and learning experience. I met hundreds of diverse people, understood their perspective, realized how a problem could be solved in multiple ways, and most importantly, people skills which I think no book or school can teach you.

How I found my passion? 

One of the byproducts of being a Deloitte employee is that my LinkedIn Inbox was always filled with lots of messages. About 10% of the messages were job offers, rest 90% were requests from job seekers who wanted to get into Deloitte or technology consulting industry. These candidates had no idea about the application process and interview preparation. I got my first job through networking. So I decided to help two people every week. I blocked an hour on my calendar every Saturday afternoon where I used to mentor people on a phone or skype call. I enjoyed that a lot and the best part was when I helped three people to get a job at Deloitte. It was a very satisfactory feeling and an excellent referral bonus too ?? 

The real problem

However, at the same time, I was not able to get on a call with many other job seekers because of time constraints. It was tough to see multiple messages and not being able to respond. Also, every time I jumped on a call with a job seeker, I realized that there is a lot of pain and frustration involved in the job search process. There are a lot of talented and smart professionals out in the market, struggling to land their dream job.

People informed me that they spend on an average 2-3 months reaching out to professionals in their targeted company for information interview before they get a few positive responses. Also, I noticed that potential candidates are not aware of very basics job search skills like networking, interview skills, behavioral questions, and interview strategy. That time I realized that we need a lot and a lot of accomplished people to help job seekers land their dream job. We need to create a network where a job seeker can find a mentor relevant to his/her career aspirations.

Leap of faith

That is when I decided to ditch a well paid and highly rewarding job at Deloitte. Here, I am on a mission to help technology and management job aspirants land their dream job by equipping them with all the necessary tools. I am sure I will miss Deloitte teammates, mentors, clients, airline miles, hotel points, and most importantly, my bi-weekly paycheck.

(Final day at Deloitte)

I am starting small, but I am sure learnings and values that I have gathered in the last four years of consulting career at Big4 consulting firms will help me grow in the right direction. I am sure the ride ahead won't be an easy one. That's why it is crucial that you keep sharing your honest feedback and advice. I will keep you posted with my journey ahead. Have a great week ahead!