Jeff Simon is a senior consultant in Protiviti's Phoenix office, focusing on CIO Solutions. We asked him the following questions to get an idea of what his day to day responsibilities are as a risk management professional. Below you will find his responses and advice if you are thinking about entering into this profession.
1. What was your college and your major?
I went to W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, and received a bachelors of science in Computer Information Systems.
2. What courses did you find the most helpful to prepare you for your current position? What advice do you have for students about choosing a major and choosing courses?
I found most of my courses helpful for my current position since my career focuses on understanding and communicating with people at all levels and roles in an organization. The following classes were the most beneficial for me:
- Business & Technical Writing – Business writing is extremely important as you learn how to compose your thoughts into concise language that’s geared towards people at all levels of an organization.
- Systems Development Life Cycle (CIS440) – This class examines the documentation utilized in the SDLC process. Most organizations don’t follow this process entirely, but all organizations use at least some components of these tools.
- Accounting – Entry level accounting courses are incredibly important to be able to understand how technology fits into the business. Additionally, most regulations are specific to this area of the business.
My advice, I would say don’t be afraid to try out a new course that isn’t necessarily directly related to your major. I took a real estate course as one of my electives and coincidentally ended up working on a project for a real estate investment trust!
3. What are your primary work activities on a day to day basis?
On a day to day basis, a Senior Consultant in CIO Solutions works to identify and implement opportunities to improve an organization’s technology environment. Primarily this involves meeting with various client contacts to discuss how current processes work and get feedback surrounding what changes are going to be made in the future. Additionally, obtaining documentation related to these processes and then reviewing to gain a more in depth understanding of their environment. Once all of this information is studied I take the time to identify areas for improvement.
In addition to process improvements, regulatory audits are an important part of our business. Being able to learn new regulations and apply the rules to make an objective opinion is essential.
4. What industries have you worked in?
I’ve worked in various industries including Financial Services and Real Estate, Media, Leisure and Services, Industrial Products and Technology, Consumer Products & Retail, and some work in the Public Services Group.
5. What do you enjoy most about your profession?
I love working for a company that cares so much about its employees and truly goes above and beyond to make sure they are as satisfied and productive as possible. Consulting is an art as much as a science and everyday has it own new challenges. Being able to wake up in the morning and not know what I might learn that day is truly significant. The one setback with working at different clients in various locations is trying to keep track of what you did two weeks ago. This makes time-tracking a challenging process.
6. What advice would you give to students interested in the internal audit/risk consulting business? Anything you would do different or change? Any success strategies to share?
It isn’t enough to be the best at what you do or the highest in your class. To do well in consulting, you have to be a people person and be able to easily form relationships and enjoy doing so at the same time. Become active with on-campus clubs or organizations to show that you have an interest in being social and building relationships. Go to job fairs and build relationships so you have a better shot at internships. Nothing helps more with building relationships with people than practice.