a day in the life

senior consultant

My name is Lauren and I joined dandolo as a Senior Consultant in 2021. Prior to joining dandolo, I worked in international development and foreign policy, most recently spending two and a half years as an Australian diplomat in Pakistan. It was an incredible experience, and I still miss my friends in Islamabad, the mountains, and – of course – the biryani. But coming to the end of that experience, I was keen to try something different, while continuing to work in public policy. The fact that dandolo is based in Melbourne was icing on the cake!  

Joining dandolo as a lateral recruit, I was nervous about how my skills and experience from working in government and NGOs would translate into consulting – but it has been an enjoyable transition, and everyone in the organisation has been incredibly supportive. I’ve learned new skills, been exposed to challenging policy problems I’ve never worked on before, and relished working in an entirely different team culture. And I still get to do a lot of the things from my old job that I enjoyed: meeting with fascinating people, working in a great team and thinking critically about reforms that have the power to improve peoples’ lives.  

Here’s what a typical Tuesday might look like: 

9:00am 

dandolo has a flexible working policy, which I really appreciate (especially as I co-habit with a badly trained but lovable dog that I inherited in Pakistan). Today, I have left the dog at home to spend the day at the office. But I dutifully upload a photo of him to the “Pets of dandolo” Teams channel, and provide detailed updates to my colleagues who ask how he is. (As well as those who don’t). I then sit down to send some emails and plan out my day.  

10:00am  

One of the projects I’m working on is developing a strategy for a major performing arts organisation. It has been a fascinating project – we even got to attend a live performance as part of our research! Today we have our regular catch up with the client, and I’m presenting on some of the work we’ve done so far.  

11:00am 

I participate in whichever Wordle-derivative is currently flavour of the month in the office.  

11:05am 

I sit down to do some drafting on a report we’re writing for an NGO client that works on improving kids’ health and education outcomes in one of Australia’s most marginalised communities. The reports are intended to strengthen their advocacy efforts, so they can push for system-level change. The organisation is doing incredible work, and I feel extremely lucky to be able to work with such a diverse range of clients.  

12:30pm  

I grab lunch and eat it at the communal table with some colleagues. Today, talk turns to how excited we are about our shiny new office, which we will be moving to in a few weeks! It’s located near the State Library, with amazing city views, and Laura has done an incredible job developing a fitout that reflects the way our team works.   

2:00pm 

At dandolo, Senior Consultants sometimes manage projects. I am Project Manager for a new project: delivering a stakeholder review for a government client. Today we have our internal “kick-off meeting” – which is a chance to come together as a project team, anticipate any challenges the project may present, talk about how we will work together, and identify what our personal development goals are for the project. Managing projects is a new challenge for me, but I’m already getting great support from the Project Director.  

3:00pm  

Every fortnight, we have an hour of coaching. I’ll be honest – coming from government, this seemed like a lot to me! But this commitment to staff development has become one of the things I have appreciated most about working at dandolo. I have coaching with Rachel – who is not only an amazing, thoughtful coach, she has also had a wealth of policy experience across New Zealand and Victorian Governments. Today, we have a detailed discussion about adapting interview skills to different client contexts. 

4:00pm 

I take a break to weigh in on a dispute over whether Arrowroot biscuits are better than Teddy Bear biscuits.  

4:05pm  

Ayushi and I are doing a project on strengthening student mental health supports in the vocational education sector, and we meet to design the surveys we are sending out to students and providers. Before joining dandolo, my quantitative skills were limited and I had never designed a survey before. But I’ve been able to attend tailored in-house training on Excel and survey design and I feel like I’m starting to get the hang of it. There is also a strong culture of knowledge sharing among staff and I’m very grateful to colleagues who have answered my many data-related questions since I joined! 

5:00pm 

I respond to some more emails, and set up my to-do list for the next day. I chat to whoever is left in the office about what they’re up to for the rest of the evening – which is good office etiquette, but also doubles as a great way to get tips on what’s on in Melbourne (take that, Broadsheet!) I say goodbye to anyone left in the office, and am out the door by 6pm.