{"id":28038,"date":"2020-03-30T09:26:57","date_gmt":"2020-03-30T07:26:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/?p=28038"},"modified":"2022-02-04T11:06:29","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T09:06:29","slug":"eu-alumnus-boston-consulting-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/eu-alumnus-boston-consulting-group\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Alumnus Zia Siddiqui &#8211; Consultant at Boston Consulting Group"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>EU&nbsp;alumnus Zia Siddiqui has been working as a&nbsp;Consultant at&nbsp;Boston Consulting Group for five years now. His EU Business School&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/en\/Programs\/MBA\/MBA-in-International-Business-Barcelona\/Overview\/Overview.html\" target=\"_blank\">MBA in International Business<\/a>&nbsp;gave him the skills and experience he needed to progress in his career.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Zia grew up in Uttar Pradesh, India.&nbsp;After&nbsp;graduating&nbsp;with a Bachelor\u2019s in Information Technology,&nbsp;Zia worked&nbsp;in&nbsp;a&nbsp;software consultancy and IT services&nbsp;company.&nbsp;After&nbsp;nearly&nbsp;two and a half years he chose EU\u2019s Munich campus to take his MBA, settling in the country after graduation. Zia speaks Hindi, English and German, loves to ski and aside from India, Germany and the US, has also lived in Sweden.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Zia kindly took the time to answer some questions about his career&nbsp;and&nbsp;his studies,&nbsp;and&nbsp;to share some&nbsp;advice&nbsp;with&nbsp;current and future&nbsp;EU students.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hivyvtBVBSU\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What first attracted you to the job and what keeps you there?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bcg.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">BCG<\/a>&nbsp;is one of the best companies in the&nbsp;world&nbsp;for me&nbsp;to work with.&nbsp;From my perspective they&nbsp;offer a very good work life balance&nbsp;and&nbsp;are&nbsp;one&nbsp;of the three most prestigious employers in management consulting.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What keeps me motivated to work for BCG is that I learn something new every day. Working directly with clients offers me a very challenging environment to progress in my career.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Can you explain what BCG does?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm and the world\u2019s leading advisor on business strategy. We partner with clients from the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors in all regions. Founded in 1963, BCG is a private company with offices in more than 90 cities in 50 countries.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Can you describe a typical day in your role at BCG?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>My day starts with a delicious coffee&nbsp;in the&nbsp;office,&nbsp;before&nbsp;having&nbsp;calls&nbsp;and&nbsp;in-person meetings with other team members. These&nbsp;give us the&nbsp;opportunity to distribute our workload and&nbsp;seek help from&nbsp;colleagues&nbsp;if we need any.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After that,&nbsp;the day usually consists of regular catch-up calls with clients&nbsp;and&nbsp;processing of&nbsp;ad-hoc client requests.&nbsp;During these conversations,&nbsp;clients&nbsp;let me know if there are any changes to their&nbsp;case or if they need additional help.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>How did your time at EU&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>help<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;you&nbsp;<\/strong><strong>progress in<\/strong><strong>&nbsp;your career?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Before EU I had very little knowledge about the&nbsp;business side of things. My bachelor\u2019s degree is in&nbsp;technology,&nbsp;so&nbsp;before taking my MBA&nbsp;I was limited to&nbsp;just&nbsp;technical&nbsp;understanding.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Studying an&nbsp;MBA at EU imparted me the skills which are necessary to excel in the business world. The theoretical knowledge, enormous&nbsp;number&nbsp;of case studies and practical&nbsp;insights&nbsp;from the&nbsp;real-life&nbsp;experiences of lecturers prepared me for my job at BCG.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What led you to take an MBA at EU?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>At EU, you study&nbsp;in&nbsp;the&nbsp;English language while living in a European country.&nbsp;Aside from this,&nbsp;I decided to do&nbsp;my&nbsp;MBA&nbsp;at&nbsp;EU because&nbsp;it&nbsp;is&nbsp;accredited,&nbsp;and the lecturers are actually working professionals who give you insights from the real business world,&nbsp;as opposed to lecturers&nbsp;at&nbsp;other universities who impart&nbsp;only&nbsp;theoretical knowledge.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>You have lived all over the world. Are there any strategies or habits that have helped you to thrive in these very different cultures?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Having come&nbsp;from India&nbsp;to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/spain-ranks-number-one-study-abroad-destination-europe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"live&nbsp;in Europe (opens in a new tab)\">live&nbsp;in Europe<\/a>,&nbsp;it was inevitable that I would experience&nbsp;some&nbsp;culture shock.&nbsp;If you\u2019re studying in a different country, it is likely that there&nbsp;will be significant cultural differences to your home country.&nbsp;I would suggest that you embrace them, don&#8217;t reject&nbsp;unfamiliar habits and customs of your host country but try to understand and&nbsp;adopt&nbsp;them.&nbsp;This doesn\u2019t mean you have to forget or discard your own culture; be cosmopolitan and incorporate positive characteristics from the new culture alongside your own.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In my opinion,&nbsp;being&nbsp;prepared to adapt is the most important factor&nbsp;to&nbsp;adjusting&nbsp;to&nbsp;(and enjoying!)&nbsp;life in a different country.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What advice would you give to EU students?<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Do not limit yourself to&nbsp;only&nbsp;learning theory&nbsp;at EU.&nbsp;The lecturers are really&nbsp;qualified,&nbsp;and they are working professionals. Try to learn as&nbsp;many&nbsp;practical things&nbsp;as you can&nbsp;from them.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also,&nbsp;do not forget to learn the local language of the country you are studying in, it will help you to get a job after you complete your studies!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If, like Zia, you would like to accelerate your career, take a look at the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/en\/Programs\/MBA\/mba-programs.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">extensive&nbsp;MBA options<\/a>&nbsp;available at EU&nbsp;Business School&nbsp;and&nbsp;get in touch&nbsp;if you have any questions;&nbsp;we would love to hear from you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/en\/Programs\/MBA\/mba-programs.html?utm_campaign=blog-menu&amp;utm_source=blog&amp;utm_medium=banner&amp;utm_mode=30\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/mba_750x125.gif\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-27652\" width=\"957\" height=\"159\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EU&nbsp;alumnus Zia Siddiqui has been working as a&nbsp;Consultant at&nbsp;Boston Consulting Group for five years now. His EU Business School&nbsp;MBA in International Business&nbsp;gave him the skills and experience he needed to progress in his career.&nbsp;&nbsp; Zia grew up in Uttar Pradesh, India.&nbsp;After&nbsp;graduating&nbsp;with a Bachelor\u2019s in Information Technology,&nbsp;Zia worked&nbsp;in&nbsp;a&nbsp;software consultancy and IT services&nbsp;company.&nbsp;After&nbsp;nearly&nbsp;two and a half years he chose EU\u2019s Munich campus to take his MBA, settling in the country after graduation. Zia speaks Hindi, English and German, loves to ski and aside from India, Germany and the US, has also lived in Sweden.&nbsp;&nbsp; Zia kindly took the time to answer some [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34824,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1770,636],"tags":[1172,1368,1263],"class_list":["post-28038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career-development","category-alumni","tag-alumnus","tag-consulting","tag-eu-alumni","post--single"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>EU Alumnus Zia Siddiqui - Consultant at BCG | EU Business School<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"EU alumnus Zia Siddiqui has been working at Boston Consulting Group for five years now. He kindly shared some advice with current and future EU students.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/eu-alumnus-boston-consulting-group\/\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"EU Business School\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/eu-alumnus-boston-consulting-group\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"EU Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"EU Community\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/category\/eu-business-school-community\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"EU Business School\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.euruni.edu\/blog\/category\/eu-business-school-community\/alumni\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"EU Alumnus Zia Siddiqui &#8211; Consultant at Boston Consulting Group\"}]}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"EU Alumnus Zia Siddiqui - Consultant at BCG | EU Business School","description":"EU alumnus Zia Siddiqui has been working at Boston Consulting Group for five years now. 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