After lunch, there was always at least one case team meeting, where her whole team would update each other on what they were doing and what progress they had made. After that, they would go over what had to be done for the rest for the day, talk about any changes that clients had brought up, and then continue working on their assignments for the remainder of the afternoon.
Before leaving, she would send her supervisor anything she had been working on and meet with him for half an hour so he could offer feedback. “There was a big focus on professional development, setting personal goals, and making sure I was working to achieve them. After that, I’d usually finish around seven in the evening and I’d head out.”
Multiple Kinds of Mentorship
Reighart’s supervisor was far from her only mentor, and her initial assumption that Bain heavily emphasizes mentorship was right. “The mentorship is definitely one of my favorite parts of Bain. There are a couple of different components to it that they’ve intertwined into the internship experience – we have a first year associate consultant mentor, our supervisor, and the two women who run the internship program.”
The first year associate consultant mentors reach out to the interns before they start for the summer, and they’re around to answer questions about things like housing or how to dress business casual. Essentially, Reighart says they’re meant to be mentors who are not case related and who are not going to be evaluating their work performance.
The supervisors, naturally, mentor the interns in a more formal way – giving them assignments throughout the week and answering questions about their actual work. “They really encourage a lot of question asking, because they know that coming into an internship like this, a lot of people haven’t had similar experiences before.”
The women who run the internship program are also available as mentors, and they’re the ones who ensure interns have a pleasant experience overall throughout the 10-week summer.
In Reflection:
Now at the end of the summer, Reighart says about half of the things she did were related to her studies at Wharton and about half of them were new. “It was great because I was able to see what I’m learning as it’s applied in the real world – so I definitely see how my business education has given me a solid foundation.”
She also says that the classroom cases are a little more perfect than the cases she encountered at work but that it was cool to see how certain business concepts played out in challenging settings.
“In the short term, I’ve loved this internship and I’m pretty sad that it’s over. But I’m hoping to come back and continue working for Bain, because the coolest part about working at a consulting firm is that you’re always continuing to learn. When you switch cases every couple of months or so, you work with new people and learn new skillsets all the time. So I think that if I stick with it, I’m going to continue learning and exploring even more industries and career options.”
Aside from the career development, Reighart says that her favorite part of this summer has been the people at Bain – her mentors, people she met at firm events, and especially the other interns, some of whom have become her closest friends. “I’ve loved being able to work such a challenging job but within such a supportive environment,” she says.
DON’T MISS: An Undergrad’s Take on Her BCG Internship or How A Deloitte Intern Spends Her Week
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