Aussie bloggers head O/S

As I prepare for my big trip overseas later this year, two Aussie bloggers headed off on their own adventures today:

• Anthony's on his way to Europe, and
  
• Lori's heading back to the USA temporarily

Interesting in attending Melbourne Business School?

For those of you interested in learning more about MBS, there's an information session being held at the school next Saturday, June 29th @ 10:00am. A GMAT preparation session will follow at 11:30am.

Full details available at the MBS website.

Minority Report

Who could resist the combination of science fiction, Tom Cruise, and Steven Spielberg? Minority Report is a futuristic masterpiece. Not quite in the same league as Blade Runner, but awesome nonetheless. The only thing that bothered me about this film was the excessive use of product placement, but seems to be common in the modern day blockbuster.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

Hey, I've got no objection to being on the top of the list on diarist.net's What's Cool page.

How well you know IKEA's product range?

Is a TIKTAK a suite of children's furniture, a clock, a coat-hanger, a changing table, or a wash-stand?

For more challenging questions like this one, have a go at the IKEA game.

This week's Friday Five...

...seeks to answer those questions about where we choose to live, what motivates us to move, and to provide some indication of our relative financial strength. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it all.


1. Do you live in a house, an apartment or a condo? I live in a one-bedroom + study apartment.


2. Do you rent or own? I've always been a renter. I moved out of the family home 9 years ago and I've been renting ever since.


3. Does anyone else live with you? Alas, no. I currently live all on my ownsome.


4. How many times have you moved in your life? Hmm... 5 times in 17 years while I was growing up with my family, and 5 times since I decided to venture out on my own. I've also moved interstate four times, and will be 'moving' overseas for the first time later this year.


5. What are your plans for this weekend? Weekend? I'm a full-time MBA student. I don't have weekends. On Saturday I'm going to the Law Library at Uni to work on an assignment for a few hours, followed by a 3-hr class on Product Management. Then I'll do some more work on my assignment before heading out to a late night screening of Minority Report. On Sunday, I'll probably spend at least six hours doing all my readings for next week's classes, and I'll be starting my study plan for my mid-term exams (July 2nd and 5th).

Well, that was predictable

The Amazing Race: Series 2 (see earlier post) has been moved to a late night weekday timeslot. It's replacement: World's Greatest Wedding Outtakes. FFS!!

Consulting Internship Application Season Final Update

Presentations attended: LEK, BCG, Bain, Deloitte, Booz, McKinsey

Applications submitted: LEK, BCG, Bain, Booz, McKinsey

1st Round interviews: McKinsey (07/06), Booz (12/06), LEK (13/06)

2nd Round interviews: No

Final Round interviews: No

Offers: No

Alas - it seems I'm not suited to the world of management consultancy - at least, not yet. I found the first round interviews with McKinsey, Booz, and LEK quite challenging. The whole good cop / bad cop thing was really starting to piss me off by the end of it all, and I'll admit I did stumble a bit on the more open-ended strategy case questions. Perhaps after completing a couple of Strategy courses in my MBA and a dozen or so more practice interviews, I might be good enough to make it through to the second round next time. It's been quite a humbling experience.

T minus 63 days and counting...

My round the world trip and exchange at Columbia Business School, New York, is only 9 weeks away. I've now finalised most of my itinery. As I mentioned earlier, I'll be leaving on my birthday (August 23rd), and spending 6 days on the slopes in New Zealand before the long journey to Manhattan. My application for University Apartment Housing at Columbia has been approved, but I haven't yet been allocated a specific room and I still don't know what the cost will be. I'll be living in New York from August 29th through to January 3rd, and it looks like my mother and one of my closest friends may be coming to visit around Christmas / New Years. Then it's off to London for a few days, Zurich for a few more, Singapore for a final few, and final back to Melbourne around January 21st. All up - five months overseas - this will be my longest overseas trip ever.

Some much to organise for it all though - visas, MMR immunisation, insurance, logistics, accommodation, subject selection, the list goes on. Fortunately, I've been able to find an incoming exchange student to sublet my Melbourne apartment to while I'm away. It's nice to know there'll be a place to come home to after all that time away.

Consulting Internship Application Season Update #5

Presentations attended: LEK, BCG, Bain, Deloitte, Booz, McKinsey

Applications submitted: LEK, BCG, Bain, Booz, McKinsey

1st Round interviews: McKinsey (07/06), Booz (12/06), LEK (13/06)

2nd Round interviews: N/A

Final Round interviews: N/A

Offers: N/A

Finished all my 1st-round interviews. Dinged from McKinsey & Co. and Booz Allen Hamilton after the first interview. Still waiting to hear back from L.E.K. Consulting.

Monday

PwC Consulting are re-branding as Monday as part of their separation from PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Several of my friends and colleagues have argued that the name 'Monday' is tacky. Jokes of Monday-itis and the like are floating around. I personally think it's beautiful. It's simple, modern, and easy to remember. In b-school Strategy terms, they have what is refered to as 'first-mover advantage'. If the other Consulting arms of the Big 5 (4) follow suit, they'll be stuck with the less business-orientated days of the week....

"Good morning. I'm from Wednesday. I'll be evaluating your firm's entry into the beverage market."

"Good afternoon. Thanks for calling Friday. All of our consultants are busy right now. Perhaps you could call back on Tuesday. We'd prefer if you called back on Monday, but please don't confuse Friday with Monday if you do call back on Monday."

Sydney prepares for Matrix chase

[smh 11.06.2002]

"NSW Premier Bob Carr has welcomed bold plans for a low-flying helicopter chase in Sydney's CBD for the making of The Matrix Reloaded.

The helicopter scene is expected to be filmed over two days during July and will force the evacuation of some office buildings, Bridge and George Streets and Martin Place."

Waaay back in 1998, I was working fairly intense hours for a client in the CBD while the original Matrix was being filmed. On one particular Saturday they were filming the street scenes where Neo first escapes from the Agents. Hunter Street had been converted into a movie set. Left-hand-drive cars everywhere, hundreds of people in suits, but unfortunately no sign of Keanu. It's so exciting that big budget Hollywood movies are now being made in Australia, but for the moment, I'll just sit on the sidelines as a mere observer.

A cousin of mine, however, was involved as a body double in The Matrix Reloaded, but apparently all his scenes have been cut ;-(

Slow, painful death...

Crazy Dave enjoyed a relaxed life. Originally owned by a 'grandfather who used to take his granddaughter to kindergarten', he came into Adrian's possession in late 1996 when Adrian needed a way to avoid the 2 1/2 hour public transport commute from his basic student apartment in Maroubra Beach to the IBM campus at West Pennant Hills in Sydney. Crazy Dave and Adrian joined forces when Crazy Dave had a mere 74,000 kms on the clock. Crazy Dave's journey to the magical six-figures was a rapid one (clocking up 600 kms a week commuting to and from work definitely helps), but then Adrian changed employers, and Crazy Dave's role in Adrian's life was reduced to that of a mere grocery-run and occassional road-trip car.

As the years progressed, Crazy Dave behaved well in the repairs department. The annual maintenance bill never exceeded $1000. However, in 2002, Crazy Dave has started to show signs of old age - the brakes pads have been replaced (again), and now the clutch has given in after only 128,000 kms. Crazy Dave, your days are numbered.

Any one want to buy a 1990 Ford Laser? Owner moving overseas. Quick sale. May need clutch replacement ;-)

Consulting Internship Application Season Update #4

Presentations attended: LEK, BCG, Bain, Deloitte, Booz, McKinsey

Applications submitted: LEK, BCG, Bain, Booz, McKinsey

1st Round interviews: McKinsey (07/06), Booz (12/06), LEK (13/06)

2nd Round interviews: N/A

Final Round interviews: N/A

Offers: N/A

Applications all submitted. All interview offers have been sent out, which means I missed out on BCG and Bain. McKinsey interview(s) went reasonably well, but not well enough - ding. Booz and LEK interviews next week. Interesting game this consulting recruitment business.

Consulting Internship Application Season Update #3

Presentations attended: LEK, BCG, Bain, Deloitte, Booz, McKinsey

Applications submitted: LEK, BCG, Bain, Booz, McKinsey

1st Round interviews: McKinsey 07.06.2002

2nd Round interviews: N/A

Final Round interviews: N/A

Offers: N/A

Applications all submitted. 1st Round interview with McKinsey on Friday. Haven't heard back from the other firms yet.

MBA-related weblogs...

MBA-related weblogs seem to be a rare breed, so whenever I find one I tend to latch on with interest. Here's two new additions to the pile:

• Adam X has recently been accepted to MIT Sloan and has been documenting the arduous application process over the past few months.
  
• Jim McGee is the Clinical Professor of Technology & E-Commerce at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He teaches a course in Knowledge Management, and also maintains his own weblog, McGee's Musings, which, for the most part, is a blog ... about blogging.
  

Update (10/06/2002): Adam X has also been accepted to Harvard Business School, and has decided to take that offer rather than MIT Sloan.

Lifestyles of the rich and anonymous

[the age 04.06.2002] (book review)

Using the BRW Rich 200 list as a source, Dr Michael Gilding, associate professor of sociology at Swinburne, has written a book about the lifestyles of Australia's wealthiest people. The stereotypical image of plush offices, and lavish parties seem, for the most part, to be atypical.

"He describes for example, walking up a set of stark concrete stairs to a squat brick building in the suburbs - the headquarters of a businessman worth more than $100 million. He was invited in by a collarless man wearing jeans who was soon revealing a few recipes for his success; that he doesn't use a computer, doesn't read and that his best asset "by far" is not being educated. "But the more they talked, the more I realised that their stories, circumstances and their dilemmas were extraordinary," he says."

Looks like it might be an interesting read.

Consulting Internship Application Season Update #2

Presentations attended: LEK, BCG, Bain, Deloitte, Booz, McKinsey

Applications submitted: LEK, BCG, Bain, Booz, McKinsey

1st Round interviews: N/A

2nd Round interviews: N/A

Final Round interviews: N/A

Offers: N/A

Applications all submitted. Now playing the waiting game.

Since I'm currently in recruitment mode...

Here's my online resume. Single page, US consulting style.

In case you were wondering...

The new colour scheme for Doing the Melbourne thing is based on the new Melbourne Business School 'corporate' image.

Don't like being included on Dubya's Axis of Evil List? Try offering $5bn as compensation.

[smh 30.05.2002]

In a bold attempt to get off America's terrorism list, Libya is offering $US10 million in compensation for each victim of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people, United States officials and lawyers say.

Libya would place a total of $US2.7 billion ($4.8 billion) in escrow and compensation would be conditional. Each of three payments would be linked to decisions by the United Nations and the US Government to lift longstanding economic sanctions and to remove Libya from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. | source

The Amazing Race 2

Series 2 of The Amazing Race started on Channel 7 last night at 7:30pm. I must admit, I enjoyed this show immensely last year, despite the varied airtimes at which it was shown (Channel 7 moved it twice from memory, and I think it ended up in the 11:00pm slot on a weekday night). For those who haven't seen it, the basic premise is that teams of 2 compete against each other in a race around the world, completing obstacle courses along the way. The game requires a combination of raw energy and strength, as well as strategic usage of airline routes and a large element of luck. Series 2 has already been shown to completion in the U.S., so please be aware that the CBS link does contain a few spoilers...

Consulting interview preparation

The conversion process from IT Consultant to Management Consultant is a costly one, both in terms of time and $$$. Case Interview practice sessions, resume writing, covers letters, countless informal discussions with people 'in the industry', new shirts, new ties, new shoes, cuff links, executive folders, and general stress and anxiety. I definitely have an interesting couple of weeks ahead of me.

All my applications will be in by Monday. Then first, second, and third round interviews all take place over a two week timeframe. I'm not sure whether I'm capable of getting an offer at this stage. I'm up against some pretty tough competition, and the industry's still fairly shakey, so it's possible they won't be taking on that many people here in Melbourne. I've decided to apply to five of the six firms that presented on campus last week: L.E.K. Consulting, Boston Consulting Group, Booz Allen Hamilton, McKinsey & Company, and Bain International. All of them are in the general field of management consulting, but they do tend to vary in terms of size, types of works, and methods of billing.

D'oh!

First parking fine in six years ($50). Caught out by an opportunistic council scouring the neighbourhood just before 'free parking' commences at 12:30pm on Saturdays. Naturally, I'll appeal on grounds of 'temporary insanity' or something similar.