What do consultants do on their Fridays? (Pre-Covid)

ha fun question!

Pre-COVID Friday office day typically covered one or more of the following:

1. Brainstorming & catching-up f2f with colleagues/bosses to review project, performance, other project/business related things
2. Thinking time and own personal reading time- journals, blogs, industry sites etc
3. Write blogs/record podcasts if you are someone senior in the firm
4. Any classroom training or general online training
5. Support recruitment events, conduct interviews/asessment centres , have breakfast/lunch with Analysts/Junior Consultants
6. Admin stuff - expense claim, event bookings, or bookings (flights, trains, cabs etc) for upcoming weeks 
7. Office/Team/Business area social events
8. Catching-up f2f with any other subject matter advisors who offered to help you 
9. Client lunches/breakfast/after work drinks- although this started happening more on Thur with changes in work pattern and styles

Its all about catching-up with humans and showing face and making your bosses known that you exist. Consulting life is pacy and intense and if people dont see or hear from you in a while you could be forgotten. Staying visible is super critical.

Cheers!
Adi

Hi Anonymous,

In simple terms: everything on your plate which you could not do on-site at clients during the remaining week.

Depending on your role that includes face time with other people at office, finishing up client stuff, contributing to the firm (mostly recruiting events, knowledge generation, working on project proposals, ..), having trainings and organizing your private and work life. No regular schedule though.

Hope this helps - if so, please give it a thumbs-up with the upvote button below!

Robert

Hello!

For context, not all consultants travel from Monday to Thursday. Some are in the client in the same city and, in those cases, you would normally go to the client office on Friday too.

However, since many people do travel, Friday is always a fun and busy day at the office: 

• Catch up with partners -that is not always easy, isnce they travel between different engagements locations-. 
• Catch up with colleagues regading other topics: mentoring, office-related topics, etc. 
• Catch up with friends and your "class"
• Events: many Fridays there are happy hours or other socializing events in the afternoon-evening. 

All in all, it was always the best day -tought you are dead from the week-. 

Hope it helps, 

Clara

There are three phases which I perceived at that time:

1 phase - Associate/Consultant/..: Your friday is like a typical day at the client packed with analysis, alignments and preparation of outcomes (Fridays is a office friday)

2 phase - Senior Con/Manager/PL/..: Recruitings will become your new friend on a office friday while stile driving the case inbetween (Fridays are partly in the office but also homeoffice based when there are no interviews)

3 phase - Senior Manager/Principal/AD/Partner/Senior Partner: Business development can be done everywhere (Sometimes office but it's not a must)

Hi there,

There is a very clear order of priority on Friday...note that this is in reverse order of preference :P

1. Any remaining project work (decks, workshops, etc.)
2. Feedback
3. "Magic time" i.e. any side projects you do with the company...different affinity groups, industry practices, etc.
4. Expenses/finances
5. Lunch with colleagues
6. Walking around, catching up with people, coffee chats, etc.
7. Ducking out a few hours early to make up for lost sleep Mon-Thurs

Hello,

A lot of great answers here and while it's a mixture of it all, the fact is there isn't a one size fits all answer for this. Your Fridays are heavily dependant on the engagement(s) you are on. The higher you go up in the/any firm, Fridays will get extremely busy due to the following: 

• Proposals are generally due on Fridays from clients. Very common practice. 
• You're understanding the resourcing requirements for the short-term. Many firms do this earlier in the week, but that just depends on the partnership.  
• There's always something due, let it be internal deliverables for partner or director/ principal review. 

The mood in the office is no doubt a lot lighter with a more casual dress code. If a team has finished a large engagement, Friday afternoons are generally allocated for a team lunch that may carry on to evening drinks. 

Lastly, your timesheets are due, so you are rushing to figure out how many hours to charge if you aren't 100% utilised. :-)