Electrical Engineering to Consulting (Podcast)

If you are an engineer or working professional in the oil & gas industry wanting to transition to consulting, Prachi’s story is can’t-miss listening material.

Coming from a background in electrical engineering at Shell, Prachi – a Management Consulted coach and former BCG Consultant/Manager – discovered consulting during her London Business School MBA and decided to pivot.

In the conversation, she shares the highs and lows of her journey, the importance of feedback, mentorship, and taking care of your mental health in consulting, and tips to break in.

Relevant Links

• Book a 1:1 coaching session with Prachi
• Apply to Link to L.E.K.
• Sign up for Strategy Sprint (1-week virtual consulting project)
• Share your feedback for the podcast

Transcription:

Stephanie Knight 

Welcome back to Strategy Simplified. Today on the podcast, I’m excited to bring you another installment of our coach interview series. In these conversations we learn more about our coach’s background, journey to MBB, and their case coaching philosophy. Today we get to learn from Prachi Agrawal, who pivoted to BCG and consulting through an MBA at LBS. After a first successful career with Shell in electrical engineering. Prachi has a lot of great insights to share about the value of consulting, interview best practices, and some elements to watch out for as you consider consulting as well. I hope you enjoy the discussion.  Prachi, welcome to Strategy Simplified, I’m excited to get to learn more about you today. Thanks for being on.

Prachi Agrawal 

Hi, Stephanie. Very happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

Stephanie Knight 

Absolutely. So to dive in, could you kick us off with a brief introduction of who you are and your background pre-consulting.

Prachi Agrawal 

I’m originally from India, that’s where I did all my studying up until my undergrad, which was in electrical engineering. And post that I joined Shell in that capacity, and I stayed with them for close to six years, working as electrical engineer through different phases of a project life cycles—through from feasibility study, to design to detail design, to execution to maintenance. And it took me around different locations in the world, which was great. So I worked from Bangalore for around three years, cumulative; was in Singapore for a couple and then Oman three and then decided time was ripe to go for an MBA.

Stephanie Knight 

Okay, well, let me first ask you about this stint as an engineer, just to help the listener base. Can you give us some examples of some of the job titles you had during that portion?

Prachi Agrawal 

Yeah, so Shell has a very structured graduate program. So I was a graduate. And then I was an electrical engineer, then for a while I was leading a team. And then I became a electrical maintenance team lead. And then I, again came back as electrical engineer, but with more responsibility or a higher job grade, which was an internal system that Shell used. It’s a very much an engineering focused journey.

Stephanie Knight 

Okay, got it. So engineering undergrad degree, not too much of a pivot, but diving into that specialty out of undergrad. And then you decided to get an MBA, why an MBA? Why then and what was that experience like?

Prachi Agrawal 

So it was six years at Shell and I thought, yep, MBA would be a good thing to explore. To be honest, I was looking at both MS and MBA. And with Shell, I was very lucky in that I got a whole lot of diverse experience, even within the engineering space, in the sense of working with people from across the globe working in different locations. So it was pretty much like a different job every year, a couple of years. And I had had an experience of leading a team of five people in Singapore and I found it very rewarding. And that was the kind of path I wanted to go into, where I could lead a team.

After that stint finished, I came back to Bangalore and I was trying to chart out a path within Shell that would take me slightly away from engineering but more into the business side of things or more almost into a central role within the organization. And at that point there is an oil prices dip that had happened, plus the environment and whatever I could find out within Shell didn’t quite give me an opportunity to develop at a pace that I wanted to. And decided that MS would take me deep into engineering, which was something I decided I would like to move away from and rather broaden my skill set.

So MBA seemed like a great option. And it was also something that I had chatted to a lot of people within Shell, who had done and they spoke very highly of the experience and what it had given them. So decided to apply for it, was lucky enough to get into LBS, and it was a good experience. I’m glad that I knew, or I had an idea what I wanted out of the experience. And that kind of helped because it’s very easily easy to get overwhelmed in an MBA with the amount of activities and courses and networking that’s going on. It got me what I wanted. And I actually did my MBA with my partner. So that was also a very nice experience that we got to spend some time together. But yeah, it was great.

Stephanie Knight 

I love that, I want to dive in there a little bit more—if you take yourself back to that period in your life, and that thought process, what I hear you saying, and I’m sure it’s more complex than this, but you know, you’ve now progressed through the ranks at Shell and electrical engineering, you have identified that you enjoy people leadership, you like maybe project based work, you want to pivot, at least somewhat from tech towards the business angle of things. That combination, did that already give you at that point in time, an indicator that strategy consulting could be interesting, or was it just “let me go for an MBA and let me figure out what else was out there”?

Prachi Agrawal 

I actually went in with an initial goal of moving into operations management. So what I like is things working solely—one of the things I really like is figuring out the inefficiencies, figuring out how things can work better. And I was an engineer—that made sense. I could connect with it, there is a fixed set of variables you get out, you have one answer to any equation, and that’s great.

That was my goal, when I first went into consulting, sorry, into MBA. And more than that, it was just about being in a position where I could make the decisions that I was working on executing in my role. And I wanted to be in that position where I could learn enough and know enough to influence your decisions. And that is what led me to MBA and then things happened as they happened, consulting came up. And I thought, Yeah, that’s cool. I’m gonna give that a shot. And then it went from there.

Stephanie Knight 

I love it, you’re after my own heart in that as well, because I also came from an engineering background. And I like efficiency. And that operations management side, that also was a key area that I looked to when I started my MBA, I relate to all of that a lot. You’ve already mentioned and said, getting into that world of an MBA, there’s a lot of what feels like competing priorities. There are a lot of polls on your time and commitment and having to make hard choices about what to go after and where to put your energy and—probably a blessing and a curse to have your partner go through that with you.

Prachi Agrawal 

I think it’s a blessing.

Stephanie Knight 

Good, good. I’m glad to hear that. It’s just so much going on; in the midst of things you learned more about strategy consulting, you decided to try that out. And of course, is a probably starting off that first piece was getting to know the firms and going through the interview process. What do you remember about that for yourself?

Prachi Agrawal 

I remember very clearly the first event that I went to, which was held by BCG, barely two weeks into our session, had no idea what it was about. And it was like, yeah, there are drinks by BCG in the other office in London. And I went, as you go, because you have severe FOMO and there was nothing much going on over there. And I clearly remember just being 1) impressed by the drinks and 2) they had gotten a very senior partner to speak to us. And he happened to be from oil and gas background, had done his MBA and then joined consulting and was then a senior partner already. And that kind of clicked in me as “Oh, that’s a career path I actually hadn’t thought of.” And he’s a management consultant so he spoke very well about the work they were doing, and they were very lovely. And I remember that as kind of switch going on like “Oh, yeah, okay, I hadn’t thought of that at all and this looks like something I would be keen to explore.”

And then came all the stresses associated with it. So the networking aspect of it, going for coffee chats, preparing for this coffee chats, casing, which is why I say it was a blessing to have a partner in the same process with me, because we could give each other cases you might be terrible at it, but at least we got some practice before doing it with the pros. And yeah, I just remember feeling, you know, you submit your resume and waiting for that ding, or waiting for that acceptance, that was really hard. And sometimes that would come while you’re in a class. Sometimes that would come while you’re doing something else. And it was just a really stressful time.

But it was also something, as I got to know the firm’s better, it also solidified as something I really wanted to do. For a couple of reasons, one being just the people, especially with Bain and BCG, I was very impressed by the people I was meeting, not just in terms of their capabilities of the work they were doing, but also just by how nice they were, very open about their experience, very vulnerable, very authentic. And that I connected with very deeply, they were very open about mental health and diversity within their firms. And that was something I was looking for in my next place of work as well. So it was a weird time if I can say that. But it stands out pretty strongly as I think back to it, and I’m glad it’s over.

Stephanie Knight 

Well, now you get to help other people go through that stressful—

Prachi Agrawal 

I only wish I can. I hope I can.

Stephanie Knight 

Absolutely no, I know that you do. And it’s obvious that BCG made a positive impression on you early and they weren’t the only firm to do so, as you’ve mentioned, but maybe they stuck their foot in their first since that’s where you ended up and that’s the the direction you decided to go. So help us understand from LBS, doing as I as I believe, an internship in Sydney, Australia, right? And kind of, what was that thought process like? And then what was your journey like from there?

Prachi Agrawal 

You mean, post internship?

Stephanie Knight 

Well, let’s start, let’s first—walk me through, you know, because I hadn’t heard Australia so far on your list as you walk through Shell. So you end up in London at LBS. And then you’re moving through your first year going through this internship search. Tell me how you ended up at BCG in Sydney.

Prachi Agrawal 

I mean, it is not as exciting. My partner was working in part in Australia. He’s also Indian, but a naturalized Australian. And I had visited him there when I was working in Singapore, and I really loved the country. Coming from India, there are a lot of people around and that’s great. But in part I felt like I breathe there was a lot of need around and I loved it. We will had very strong sense of work-life balance. This was pre consulting me, bear in mind, and decided that yep, this was a country that we wanted to build a life in and and when we went to the MBA together, we initially thought of applying to London.

One year in London, the weather got to me, it’s very gray. And I was struggling with my mental health as well at that time. So I really wanted to be in a place which has sun. And that is how Australia came about. Now with an Indian passport, that is always visa issues, as some of your listeners will very well resonate with—and I was just again fortunate that I had a path to visa for Australia, because at that point, the firms weren’t sponsoring visas; because of my partner, and it’s just, it’s thankfully all worked out. But that’s how I landed in Australia. It was part planning, part luck.

Stephanie Knight 

No, absolutely. And I think it it often is. And it may not be as you know, you termed it “exciting”, but I do think it’s an important part of the story as we think about many, many people tried to start their road to consulting and think as a prospective consultant, okay, I want to apply to one of these multinational firms and I’m just gonna be able to choose wherever I want to go. And it’s not quite that easy, right, there’s got to be a story and a connection that makes sense and there’s got to be obviously work authorizations sorted and figured out and from year to year based on local economic climates, global economic climates, immigration law, etc. It’s a very malleable, ever moving space.

So now it makes perfect sense to me and why it would have made perfect sense to leadership at BCG in Australia. Okay, yeah, it makes sense that Prachi come here and that she already has this connection. And, you know, we believe that she’s going to be able to fit in well here from a cultural standpoint, that’s always a part of the equation. And we believe that she’s not just trying it out for one term, one year and then going to disappear. We can see why this is a move that makes sense. And from on the other end of the table, consulting leadership is always thinking about those types of questions, right. So now, you’ve helped me help bring me up to speed about about that. And it makes so much more sense. So you did the internship in Sydney, and you liked it, you immediately decided to stay or you had your reservations, but still decided to continue on or what, was that like for you?

Prachi Agrawal 

Okay, I’m gonna be brutally honest, it was awful when I started. And I don’t mean it as a way to scare any prospective candidates off. But I got thrown into the deep end, from day one, it was a financial sector, a sector that I really don’t like and just don’t connect with. And on my second day, I was crying, and I was talking to my partner. And I said, you know, what, I’m going to call the partner or MDP, who recruited me and say, I quit, I’m leaving, I don’t want this. So my partner had to kind of walk me off the ledge a little bit. And it was—and that happens. Every time I do a new case, you just get more used to it and have more confidence in yourself as you go through it. But that internship in itself was, it’s pretty confidence shattering if you are not a very secure person, which I think a lot of management consultants aren’t.

I was given a slide to make, and that’s a skill gap that I have, I didn’t even know how to connect boxes on a slide. So I made a slide. It was so ugly, Stephanie, I still have it, I might frame it. And I showed it to the project leader who was in the case, and kudos to him, he did not just kick me out of the room, right, then he actually showed me how to make it cleaner. In my defense, it was my second day. And I just got better at it. I accepted that I’m gonna suck at it. But that’s okay, I’m gonna learn. And the PL was absolutely lovely. He gave me as much time as he could in terms of bringing me up to speed about the sector. The MDP actually sat down with me for 15 minutes and just gave me a breakdown of how a bank works and how they make money, which was absolutely amazing. And then I asked help for the from the associates and consultants around. So “Hey, I’ve made this Excel. How do they make it look pretty?” Then they kind of helped me through the shortcuts to time saving hacks working in PowerPoint and Excel and that saved hours of time. I’m not even exaggerating.

Just simple tricks with the PowerPoint and Excel was, oh my god, life changing. And then, given that BCG is very strong, very committed to regular feedback. It did two things one, it kind of reassured me that I wasn’t burning the house down. One of the best things one of the associates told me was that you just have to not be value destructive. You can be null, that’s fine. No one expects you to be value positive just don’t be value destructive. I was like, yep, I can do that.

Stephanie Knight 

Too funny, yeah.

Prachi Agrawal 

And, but that put me at ease. And I would like to think at the end I was value accretive. But I realized that it’s going to be nerve wracking every time, but it was worth sticking around for the growth that you had in such a short amount of time, with the people who were absolutely amazing. Again, confidence shattering nerve wracking experience, but also very positive towards the end of it or enough so that I wanted to come back with BCG and in the same role. It was also a rational decision in the sense that BCG is a brand that I wanted on my resume, it would give me the skills that I wanted to have to move into the business side of decision making rooms of the business world.

And it gave me an entry into the student market. It was not a market I had worked in before, it was a very good chance to just diversify my skill set from electrical engineering and oil and gas to something completely different and very diverse, which could be applied to really any context, any industry going forward. So it was a very good stepping stone even if I felt that okay, I can’t do this, which it turned out I did eventually decide to leave. But even with that, it felt like a very, very good couple of years to spend, at the very least.

Stephanie Knight 

Well, thank you for walking us through that process of getting the internship and moving through that summer and that it wasn’t—you know, a lot of people covet these roles, and yet you walk in and it’s not all roses and unicorns and rainbows like from day one, and there’s some mental preparation, there’s some upskilling, there’s needing to understand the, you know, the landscape around you and all these different things come together to make you value add, value additive over time, and not value destructive. I love that terminology.

But ultimately, you decided to go back—is there you know, walk us through the rest of your professional journey from then until now. And if there’s any things that kind of stick out to you about the rest of your time at BCG, or what you’ve decided to do since, we’d love to hear how you’ve gotten to where you’re at today.

Prachi Agrawal 

I’ll just add one more thing to the internship thing, there is training, there was a couple of days of training. Obviously didn’t stick, given my first slide, but that might just have been me. When you join full time, there’s a lot more training it was like two weeks, if I remember correctly. So I came back to BCG, joined the Sydney office, had a great cohort to start with. And as much as I had worked in international environments that in itself was a bit of—I wish, I hope I pronounce it correctly—acclimation process, in terms of a lot of Australians around, so I had to gel. And with different people around me, I didn’t connect with the kind of stories that they were telling and talking to each other about. So just as making friends with an environment. And then got staffed on a case in oil and gas, stayed with them for a few weeks. But then also did mining, also did healthcare, also the not-for-profit, and then oil and gas again, and then also led a report on gender diversity international level for oil and gas industry. So it I think, is the human brain, or even just my personality, I remember the lows of more clearly than I remember the highs.

But with the benefit of hindsight, and the fact that I’m in industry now for almost one and a half years, I’m a completely different person post-consulting and pre-consulting. It’s if MBA, if you think MBA gives you the confidence to stand out a room with executives, and hold your own, consulting will multiply that tenfold. It also stretched me to a point I didn’t think was possible. It kind of makes you face all your childhood fears, all your insecurities, every issue you might have had with your parents—brings it all together to the fore. But hey, I got therapy as a result of it, so you know what? Silver lining. But I remember these conversations that I had on and off with people around me that stick out the most. One of them was during my internship when one of the principals on the case said “Thank you for your contribution.” And I said, “Oh, I did nothing.” And she was like, “No, take the compliment. Women don’t do that, you have to learn to take a compliment.” And that was such a lovely moment for me. And that has stayed with me, as I always—maybe it’s an Asian thing, maybe it’s a woman thing—but it’s hard to take compliments and just be like, “Yep, I did a good job.” And she was very assertive, in that no, you have to learn to be comfortable with being told that you are doing well.

I also, during my first case, I worked on the Shell deck, two or three weeks into the into the job and I killed it. I just didn’t know I killed it. But I was told later that I killed it and that stands out. What happened as a result of that was that there was something else that I really didn’t do well, because I went too deep into it. And I was not doing hypothesis driven work. And the principal on that case kind of had to pull me out and be like, oh my god, I forgot, you still need help, you’re new. And then we were sitting in an airport lounge when she was drawing out slides, for me going like, “No, no, this is how you do it.” That sticks out. When I worked in a mining case, my first feedback session I was giving seven areas for development. Don’t think that’s typical, by the way. But I was just so nervous about working in a different industry with a completely different set of people while traveling that I just didn’t do well.

But six months later, I came out of this case as a very, very strong candidate with solid client relationships and fantastic feedback. So it was, again, at the unit trials require every single time that you do a new case. And then I did a not-for-profit case, which was such a delight. One, the complete different set of people driven by completely different motives versus, say a private sector organization, really passionate, lots of scientists and lots of people who know their stuff. But seeing that the value that I could add, as a generalist, was also very eye opening. My job there was around, they had raised a lot of money after the bush fires, almost as much as the usual annual revenue. And the task was to divide it into different projects so that we kept the donors happy, we kept internal stakeholders are happy, and we kept the wildlife and the flora and fauna happy. And it was just an exercise in so much.

Do you think that passion to in the right direction while bringing some objectivity to the assessment, because you can’t fund everything, unfortunately, and everyone wanted the money to go to the koalas, which is great, they were very cute. But there are other things that needed to be funded. So bringing all of that together working with the chief conservation officer and her team to figure out where the money goes, where is it that it will have the longest impact or more self self sustaining impact, rather, extremely rewarding experience; a very, very different environment.

And we were treated very well, we were not like the external consultants who were trying to come in and change things around. They were very happy for our help and very clearly, we added value. And for me, it was a moment of realization in terms of that even within a room full of experts, my skillset can add solid value, which is appreciated. And that was a validation, almost. Half the time that I’d spent in consulting, the decision I have taken, because you rethink that decision after every project. But kind of the feedback at the end of it and how you feel keeps you going.

You asked me about what happened after that, it was a combination of things. I wanted to move back into the energy industry. So electrical engineering is something I really enjoyed. And I like geeking out over it, I kept close to the energy industry, more so with the electricity part of things and the oil and gas because my degree and my knowledge is more relevant to that side of things versus the oil and gas side of things. So I was looking to get back into that industry in Australia being the kind of market that it is you don’t always get to pick and choose which projects do you want to specialize into. And with my mental health, it seemed like I needed to take some time. Or just have more time in my life to work on my mental health. And it and BCG was, by the way, insanely supportive.

Even when I was struggling, everyone was super authentic, and got very vulnerable to sharing their own experiences, making sure that I could work at my best, helping me learn to prioritize, actually follow the 80/20 properly, setting boundaries and all of that, but I wanted to become an expert, almost, in the energy industry, while using a strategy toolkit and have more time in life. And that took me to Transgrid, where I am now, which is in the New South Wales state of Australia and they are the transmission company. It’s a regulated monopoly for the state and I work as a strategy manager. What that means is that I was working with an ex-BCG head of strategy around thinking about how Transgrid could take a step forward in the transition, energy transition. Australia is, as is the rest of the world, in an energy transition to net zero, or one would hope.

But there’s a lot more intent and policy commitment behind reaching the net zero targets. And that means it impacts all the utility companies, all energy companies. And that’s what I’ve been working on. And again, it’s using my strategy toolkit to work on those problems, which I also understand technically is a position of strength that I really enjoy. Plus, it got me into a team management environment which initially had gotten into my MBA. I have spent one and a half years now and as we talk I’m actually going to start a new job in two weeks. So I’ll be joining a job in a hydrogen startup in Australia. And that’s again a topic I got interested in while at Transgrid and this job again seems like something that will stretch me beyond strategy into business development and marketing and PR, something that I did go through in my MBA but not really in an actual job. So I’m really excited for it and a bit nervous.

But yeah, just using the same skill set and the confidence that consulting gives you in terms of, you know you can throw me anywhere, I’ll figure it out. It’s going to suck for a while, but it’ll be fine. And you leave with the network, which is very supportive. Even when I was evaluating this job opportunity I could, I managed to talk to four or five people within a space of a single day, getting their opinions and advice on what they thought of the job opportunity. They gave me negotiation tips, and got the feedback on the new manager as well within the network, which he was doing as well, I’m sure. It’s just, it’s very powerful. As much of an insecure person as I was leaving BCG and I still am, I am a lot more confident, post-consulting than I was before. So yeah. Now with you here, and I find coaching very rewarding, which is why I do Management Consulted.

Stephanie Knight 

Well, I really appreciate you walking me through your time at BCG and after that. You’ve shared a lot about what some of those key elements were that you were able to bring from that consulting career and the benefits that that’s played out, you know, not only in that first role, but even now, as you’re looking to transition again, in the startup environment. I know that some of our listeners are still on the fence about whether or not consulting makes sense for them as maybe  a stepping stone on their broader journey. Or maybe it feels like a very distinct pivot as it was for you from engineering, moving through your MBA. Do you have any points of note for those who are still on the fence about whether or not consulting, whether it’s the right fit for them?

Prachi Agrawal 

It has got to be a personal or individual decision. I think what I can say is about the criteria that you use to make that decision. So think about how willing are you to put in the hard work. Even if in the short term Look, no consulting firm expects you to join and become a partner. If you would say that at the interview, they’ll probably laugh at you. So couple of years to three years making PL or whatever it’s called and other firms, that could be a good target. But it is going to be hard. And just think about whether or not you’re willing to do that. It’s sometimes hard to make that judgment before you have been in that shoe in those shoes.

So trying to get an internship before is a fantastic opportunity to do that. Beyond that, it’s worth just examining your internal, I guess being more self aware, around feeling that you will feel out of place and out of your depth and uncomfortable for a lot of time. And that’s how the business model is—it’s designed to make you uncomfortable. If you are comfortable, you’re not doing a good job and you are not being stretching, you’re not learning. So knowing how comfortable you are with that, how humble are you? How willing are you to be able to continually work on feedback that will be continuously given to you? But knowing that you’ll have an absolutely incredible set of people around working on problems that you otherwise won’t. So weigh those pros and cons and make a decision. The thing I can say is no one regrets it. On the other side of it. Everyone gained something out of it. Everyone goes on to do great things.

You come out with a lot more than you think you word. There’s a lot of latent learning that you don’t realize while you are in and that becomes more obvious as you as you leave, so you won’t regret it. But if it’s not fundamentally what you want to do, because you will be in an advisor role, you will not get that kind of credit that you want. So if it’s your slide of the newspapers, it’s not your name below it. So your recognition comes from internal from BCG, that you’re doing a good job. So you need to be comfortable with that adviser, or at least for some time. So these are the criteria that you could use to make a decision. But if you do it, there is nothing to lose. It’s a fantastic job. An amazing opportunity, if for how long? That depends from person to person to choose.

Stephanie Knight 

Prachi I really see and just commend you on your transparency in your approach, the the systematic way that you have approached even just you’re thinking there right now and you’re structured communication in doing so. And I have no doubt that that is exactly what you bring to your coaching career as well, being here with us at Management Consulted, as you try and help prospective candidates work through “Is consulting right for me or not,” you know, “How do I navigate through the case interview?” “How do I push forward through the conversation?” “How do I crack that math problem?” “How do I drive to recommendations?” and everything in between. With love here to pivot and have you talk a little bit about that part of your work in life right now. What’s your coaching philosophy? How do you approach that work with your clients?

Prachi Agrawal 

Cliched answer, but it depends. So depends on where the candidate is in their preparation. So that’s usually my first question. So where are you in your case prep? How many cases you have done? How do you feel about your own preparation you’ve done for your interviews and getting a sense of how much time they have before they have to go in front of an interviewer, the firms they are targeting, and so forth. And after that, it’s really about, okay, is there something specific that you’re trying to address in this conversation, then you focus more on that, or find a case that suits more to that problem that you might be trying to address. But after that, if it’s a case interview, then I go through a case and it’s—I do usually BCG style or interviewee-led cases and one tip that I always give people as a treat is a conversation like, talk to me, tell me your thinking.

Interviewers do god knows how many cases in a single day, if you’re too quiet, they’ll get bored. So keep them engaged. And relax, be personable, because we’re also trying to judge whether you can be put in front of a client. Can you hold your own? Can you be a good communicator? So all of that, and when I run the case posted, I give feedback in terms of discrete elements of case, so through from recap of the case, from to clarifying questions, structuring, chart reading, math recommendations, and all of it is really around. And plus, there’s a general feedback around how present they were in the case, their communication style, like some people get really worried about it and hold themselves back and the natural communication comes out only after it when they are talking to me. And I’m like, no, that’s what I want to see in the case.

And it’s easier said than done. The MBB I was interviewing with had to really tell me he was talking to me in the fit questions, and I was nice and relaxed. And then he said, okay, now let’s do a case. And I think it physically tensed up. And he was like, no, relax. It’s okay. I was like, yep, yep. So it’s easier said than done. But it can come with practice. But that’s the approach I take, if it’s fit, then I ask people to think about some public questions that are asked or think about top five to ten experiences of their professional life. Note that data if they can, and then we go through it together. And then I try to help them structure it into the star format. Or really, sometimes help them to scale up the impact that they’re communicating. Lots of humble people in this business, especially those from Asian backgrounds.

And sometimes I have to be like, no, you have to sell yourself, you did a great job. Just multiply tenfold in how you are saying it because you did do it. So a lot of it is around that as well. But that’s the approach I take. It’s very flexible, based on the candidate needs and what they’re looking to get out of the session. But I just try to be there for them in whatever way or form they need.

Stephanie Knight 

Absolutely, a bespoke approach. Are there are there certain types of problems or issues that you really love helping candidates work through?

Prachi Agrawal 

I love working with people on their fit. It’s something people overlook. It’s something women and people of Asian backgrounds struggle with. And I feel like we, because the math is not a problem quite often for these candidates, it’s the communication, it’s how they’re coming across in the interview is where we end up being a bit on the backfoot. English might be the second, third, fourth, language in these cases. And just being really focused on fit sometimes is very valuable. And I really enjoy that, because I have had a lot of help in that area as well.

When I joined the MBA, I realized that I had done a lot of cool stuff in my life that I have been just completely underselling. And I realized that only after listening to other people in my cohort and be like, “Hey, I’ve done something like that, but I never talk about it.” But I don’t mention it. And just bringing out those aspects in a person’s journey is something I really enjoy. And if that helps them become more confident, or we will share themselves in the process and compete with others. It’s great. Yeah, that’s the fun, that’s the part I find best.

Stephanie Knight 

Those behavioral questions cannot be overlooked, absolutely. I love that that is a focus area for you. But of course willing to and able to work with candidates on any number of challenges that they’re facing.

Prachi Agrawal 

100%

Stephanie Knight 

I really appreciate you walking us through your journey, your learnings, your insights, you threw in a lot of best practices and tips there as well, kind of from start to finish through the case interview journey as you were talking through it. I’m sure, Prachi, we have piqued the interest of some people listening to this podcast to want to work with you. Given your you know, you are you are a global citizen, you have had a diversity of experiences. And so if there’s folks that want to learn more and want to work with you, what would you tell them

Prachi Agrawal 

Log into Management Consulted website, go to my calendar and find a slot. I am in Sydney or Australian East Coast so timing can be a bit of a challenge. Usually when people reach out to me if they can’t find a slot, I can work something out. I just can’t put those slots on the calendar because I have to move things around. So if you can’t find a time that suits you, please reach out. Let me know your timezone and I’ll try to work something out. It’s just not a very amenable timezone with respect to the rest of the world. But that’s the process.

Stephanie Knight 

Love it. Love it. Well, we have something of a Strategy Simplified tradition to be able to end off our conversations with some fun questions to get to know you even a little bit better on a personal level. So if you’ll indulge me here as we wrap up, I have a couple of things teed up. Prachi, If you could share, what is one thing that you’re consuming right now that inspires, you something you’re listening to, something you’re reading, or something you’re watching.

Prachi Agrawal 

So I am reading and listening to this book called Cradle. C-R-A-D-L-E. It’s by Will Wight. It’s progression fantasy, novel series. And it’s something that I got introduced to and I really like it. It’s, look, it’s not serious literature. I am a fiction reader. I cannot for the life of me read Thinking Fast and Slow and that kind of stuff. I feel like I get enough exposure to that in my work life. So outside of it, I try to stick to things that don’t stress me out. And Cradle is the audible, audio is by this guy called Travis Paul Ray and he’s done a phenomenal job of reading the voices he does, the accents he does while reading it, they are absolutely amazing. Essentially, it’s a story about a guy who starts from nothing and then progresses into becoming like a really, really strong person. It’s Harry Potter times 10, pretty much, so that’s what I’m reading and listening in my spare time. I even sleep to it. It helps me focus nothing about anything else and then I fall asleep. So yeah, for what it’s worth. That’s what I’m reading.

Stephanie Knight 

I love it. I love it. Well that in your interest is already one fun fact about you. But I wonder if you could share another. What’s another fun fact about you something that we haven’t heard about or learned yet today?

Prachi Agrawal 

Oh, I got into wine when I was 25. When I first visited Australia, and I guess it’s a thread from my experiences that I really like to learn and just know more. So I recently passed my level three in Wine Spirits and Education Trust qualification. It’s run out of London. So yeah, I can now teach one as well.

Stephanie Knight 

Oh, congratulations. Oh, that’s lovely. What a fun skill set to have another, another base of knowledge. I am sure that there are still professional settings that you can wow people with that knowledge. But yeah, what a fun personal hobby.

Prachi Agrawal 

Oh, it’s a great conversation starter, especially in team outings and especially with people who have grown up. I mean, maybe not grown up, but have had wine for a long time. And that was something that triggered me on this path. I was like, I don’t know what they’re talking about. And I really don’t like that. It’s like, I’m gonna learn everything about it. And then I’ll hold my own this conversation.

Stephanie Knight 

So yeah, it’s a quest for hunger, knowledge and the path of learning. I love it. I love it. Last one here for you, Prachi. What is one who is one person from history that you would love to get dinner with and why?

Prachi Agrawal 

It would be Jane Austen. She, her writings given that the kind of time she lived in are actually quite feminist, but in that context. And Pride and Prejudice is a book I have read more than 30 times in my life. If you can’t tell, I read to escape. And Pride and Prejudice is something that I read when I’m stressed, I want a break, I’m having a coffee. I know the words by heart. And I keep going back to it. I keep reading it again and again. And I just really want to talk to her. She’s amazing. She was amazing. I’ve read all of her books, but if it is my absolute favorite, and I would love to grab dinner with her, especially in this time when she might actually get food, which is a lot more tasty than what she was eating at that time.

Stephanie Knight 

All right now it’s official, Prachi. You are 100% a woman after my own heart. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. So it’s just been a joy to chat with you and get to know you on this podcast. I am excited to have more and more people work with you, as a prospective candidate, learn from you, learn about you through this process. Thanks so much for being on.

Prachi Agrawal 

Thank you so much. Definitely it was really fun.

Stephanie Knight 

Want to work directly with Prachi? There’s a link to her Coaching Calendar in the show notes. She wants to meet you where you’re at and she coaches across case interview and behavioral interview elements. All of our coaches are ex-McKinsey, Bain, or BCG consultants and interviewers who have been extensively vetted and only coach with us here at MC. They love working with prospective candidates to mock through full interviews or drill in the areas that you need help, like the fit and behavioral questions. So check out the link in the show notes or read more about our offerings at managementconsulted.com We’ll see you next time.