On Wednesday, September 10th, Elise Breda ’13 and John Trousdale of the Business Transformation Services (BTS) of Volvo group hosted an information session targeted at seniors interested in management consulting. BTS is the division that provides targeted decision support and analysis to executive-level stakeholders across Volvo’s divisions and business areas.
Starting with the infamous Van Damme split video, Breda and Trousdale gave a general overview of Volvo, making sure to differentiate between Volvo Cars and the Volvo Group, explaining that the Volvo Group, with its American headquarters in Greensboro, North Carolina, is responsible for buses, trucks, construction equipment and boat engines. Volvo is a global company with more than 110,000 employees all over the world, from India to Sweden. The presenters spoke about the company’s vision of becoming the world leader in sustainable transport, starting with the company’s achievement of being the first carbon dioxide-neutral automotive plant in the world.
Breda has been working at Volvo for just over a year and has been involved in a variety of business aspects in a number of locations. Like other consultants she has done some travel. Unlike most other recent grads, she got to spend five months in Sweden while training with a cohort of other new consultants for Volvo. While her life has been similar to many other new associates, there is a big difference for her in that her group only works to solve business problems within the Volvo Group.
Breda and Trousdale spoke extensively about the benefits of working as an internal consultant over an external one. Breda differentiated between the two roles by the number of hours worked, explaining that her role typically consumed about 45-50 hours of her week, while in many external consulting roles, this number would typically range between 65-70 hours per week. She also mentioned the many opportunities for international travel, given that Volvo is a global firm, as well as opportunities for promotions within the company. Above all, both presenters emphasized “The Volvo Way” – a culture of energy, passion and respect for individuals.
Given that the BTS group is a fairly small one (about 8-10 people in North America), the group is recruiting from a couple of selected top-tier colleges and universities in the North Carolina area, of which Davidson happens to be included. The title for the position for which the group is recruiting is “Associate Management Consultant”. A strong applicant will be a team player and have excellent problem solving abilities and exceptional academic performance (minimum 3.3 GPA).
Interested students must apply on WildcatLink by Monday, Sept. 15 at 11:59 p.m. The first round of interviews will be at Davidson on October 1st. Davidson candidates may contact class of 2013 alum Elise Breda (elise.breda@volvo.com) to hear more about her experience in this role.
Please contact the Center for Career Development if you have any questions.