Matt Friend ’07, Manager at Bain & Company
Major: Classical Studies
How did your Middlebury education help you develop essential skills that you use in your day-to-day job? The most important things I learned from Middlebury are probably communication skills and the ability to adapt my thinking in a flexible fashion. As a consultant, the types of my projects are extremely variable. Some of my works are heavily quantitative, whereas the others can be qualitative project management work. Being able to do well across a spectrum of industries is important to success in my field.
What essential qualities would you look for if you were to hire a recent college graduate for your team? Compared to MBA-level candidates, we tend to focus more on the analytical capabilities of candidates at the undergraduate level. We do hire a lot of students from liberal arts background without a STEM degree, but we want them to demonstrate some interest and capacity in engaging in quantitative work. General business intuitions also matter. Personally, I would look for candidates who can both think structurally and clearly communicate their thinking to the team.
It’s interesting that you mentioned the importance of analytic skills. At Middlebury, more and more students with STEM backgrounds are exploring a career in consulting. How do you see these two fields overlaps? Having a technical background has become increasingly advantageous for pursuing a career in consulting, as these two fields are gradually blending together. Many strategy projects are now informed by technical analyses. At Bain, we have an advanced analytics group that helps clients to solve the most sophisticated technical problems. Moreover, people are interested in infusing analytical components into strategy projects rather than seeing the analytics team as a stand-alone functional group. On a management level, we also see more and more companies leveraging their CIOs and CTOs as important stakeholders in strategic decision makings. Therefore, I would encourage students with technical backgrounds to consider consulting and business-oriented roles. That being said, students without STEM degrees should not be discouraged at all. Our associates and consultants come from a diverse background, each with their distinctive skillsets. You certainly don’t need to be a STEM major to demonstrate your analytical skills.
As most people are working from home now, students often have to reach out to alumni and recruiters remotely. Could you offer some tips of conducting remote conversations so as to maximize the level of human touch that we usually find in in-person meetings? One simple thing that many people tend to forget is to make sure that the communication technology works. For example, if you anticipate not having stable internet connections, you should either use your cellphone or switch to another place in advance to make the call. I would also suggest students using the video over the phone whenever possible. When you are on a video call, make sure you have an appropriate background to present.
Good suggestions! Thanks for taking the time to offer us career suggestions. To conclude the interview, we would love to know your most memorable experience at Middlebury. I was a skiing instructor at Middlebury, so my most memorable experience was probably skiing and hiking related. At Middlebury I was able to take advantage of the outdoors and have everything right in my backyard.
This series is coordinated by Xiaoli Jin ’19. Look for more alumni profiles each week. You can connect with Xiaoli on LinkedIn.
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