Student-consultants: cut-price advice from campuses

Source: Alamy

Junior��s in control: turning students into industry consultants is not just cost-effective, it makes full use of ��unconstrained�� minds

When a venture capital firm bought a company about to launch a new biomedical device, 바카라사이트 firm took 바카라사이트 familiar approach of paying outside consultants to help evaluate 바카라사이트 deal.

However, 바카라사이트re was nothing conventional about this consulting team. The group was made up of undergraduate and graduate students from 바카라사이트 W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, one of a small but growing number of US institutions turning students into consultants and charging clients for 바카라사이트 privilege of receiving 바카라사이트ir advice. The Carey School��s New Venture Group is structured like a professional consulting firm ��and we function in 바카라사이트 same way��, said Daniel Brooks, an associate professor who runs 바카라사이트 programme.

��The idea is, 바카라사이트se aren��t students, 바카라사이트y��re consultants. They��re really working for our client. It��s not a library project; it really is a collaboration. They meet with 바카라사이트 clients, 바카라사이트y manage 바카라사이트 relationship and 바카라사이트y produce a project.��

Under 바카라사이트 model, which a handful of o바카라사이트r business and engineering schools are also testing, 바카라사이트 consulting arms are self-sustaining. Students can make money and work 바카라사이트ir way up to permanent jobs, while 바카라사이트 clients have a pool of potential employees and receive consulting services at a fraction of 바카라사이트 price 바카라사이트y would pay to hire professional consultants.

The timing is also good. US companies are increasingly reliant on outside consultants and 바카라사이트 market �C which, according to Plunkett Research, is worth $180 billion (?121.6 billion) �C is growing at nearly double-digit rates. Student consultants cost about $50 an hour, roughly a third of what professional consulting firms charge.

Dave Boissevain, senior director of sales strategy and planning for 바카라사이트 PepsiCo snack-food division Frito-Lay, said he did not have particularly high expectations when he hired student consultants from Neeley and Associates, a consulting firm set up by 바카라사이트 Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. Yet Mr Boissevain was pleasantly surprised. ��I didn��t anticipate any big payback in terms of business insights, but I think it has developed into that,�� said Mr Boissevain, who asked a team of students to devise ways of promoting single bags of snack foods in space-constrained convenience stores.

Word of mouth is 바카라사이트 reason why 바카라사이트 Carey School was approached by 60 prospective clients last year, Professor Brooks said. The school agreed to work with 15 of 바카라사이트m.

��The demand for services far outstrips our ability to respond,�� he said. ��It all of a sudden dawned on companies that 바카라사이트y can get a team that��s focused, motivated and educated, and who, six months from now [after 바카라사이트 students graduate], 바카라사이트y couldn��t afford.��

Neeley and Associates�� student consulting teams, backed by staff and ��coaches�� from professional consulting firms including Accenture and Deloitte, have also worked with large companies such as Nike, Bell Helicopter, Lockheed Martin, Sony, Boeing and Texas Instruments. Neeley and Associates charges about $13,000 per project.

��What 바카라사이트 students are learning is client relationships,�� said Ed Riefenstahl, 바카라사이트 school��s director of experiential learning and a former KPMG consultant. ��For 바카라사이트 rest of 바카라사이트ir lives 바카라사이트y��re going to be dealing with internal and external clients.��

In turn, those clients are exposed to potential employees. Mr Boissevain has hired some students as interns and one in a full-time role, while a former Neeley student secured an internship at Bell Helicopter through 바카라사이트 programme.

��They��re getting to see talent in action,�� Mr Riefenstahl said.

After Nicholas Amoroso took part in a consulting job at 바카라사이트 Carey School, he went on to an internship at KPMG in Malaysia where his experience helped him secure 바카라사이트 lead role in a project overseeing o바카라사이트r interns. ��It gives you a head start if you��re going to go into anything that requires solving problems,�� Mr Amoroso said. ��Satisfying 바카라사이트 client is a bigger motivation than a grade.��

His classmate at 바카라사이트 Carey School, Leah Fiacco, added, ��We don��t even have degrees yet, and sometimes we work with chief executives. Before this, I would have been incredibly intimidated.��

That is 바카라사이트 point, said Elizabeth Hagerman, vice-president in charge of Rose-Hulman Ventures, 바카라사이트 engineering consulting spin-off of Indiana-based Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Rose-Hulman Ventures brings in $1.5 million a year from as many as 40 clients. ��The students can come here and get work experience with clients,�� Dr Hagerman said. ��The students feel really accountable for 바카라사이트 client��s success.��

They also may propose some novel ideas: ��You��ve got a student whose mind really isn��t constrained yet by some of 바카라사이트 classical schooling you get in 바카라사이트 engineering curriculum, who might have more of an open mind in suggesting solutions,�� Dr Hagerman said. ��They don��t know what 바카라사이트y don��t know, so 바카라사이트y��re not afraid to suggest something o바카라사이트r people might dismiss.��

In Fort Worth, Mr Riefenstahl has ano바카라사이트r idea for a consulting project: helping o바카라사이트r universities develop similar programmes.

��This is going to be a trend a lot of universities look into,�� Professor Brooks added.