Ian Stone, BA'22
Ian Stone holds a Bachelor’s in Political Science and International Relations from the University of British Columbia.
Originally from Newfoundland, Ian has spent much of his professional and academic career focused on the field of education both within Canada and internationally.
He is currently completing a fellowship with the Aga Khan Foundation in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic, supporting the organization’s development initiatives through partnerships with international donors. Prior to this, Ian supported post-secondary institutions, Indigenous governments, and non-profit organizations as a strategy consultant within Deloitte’s Higher Education Transformation practice. He is also interested in Canadian-Indo Pacific relations, and has conducted organizing, research, and writing within organizations such as the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and the Canada China Forum.
Ian completed co-op terms with Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, as well as the Go Global office at UBC.
How did your POLI degree prepare you for your current profession?
My POLI classes taught me to ask lots of questions and think critically to really consider the root causes of things happening in the world.
When starting a new project with a client, it’s essential to understand the problem as thoroughly and as quickly as possible, so asking the right questions will help you structure information into a logical framework, from which you can start making recommendations. As an example, knowing that there are many different factors that contribute to complex phenomenon (such as political, environmental, and social factors preventing the economic growth of nations), I could understand that the problems faced by organizations are just as complex, and asking questions and conducting analysis in the same way helped me to solve clients’ problems.
Aside from the core POLI curriculum, one class that was very useful for my career was Political Science in Practice (POLI 395) with Richard Price, which focused on exploring different political science career paths. The assignments in the course also helped practice with core consulting skills, such as giving presentations and writing in a sharp and concise way.
I believe it was also important to take classes outside of my major, as they provided different ways of thinking, diverse perspectives on issues, and opportunities to work in groups with people from different programs. Group projects provide a low stakes testing ground for work that you will be doing every day in consulting. The APSC/POLI 377 course (Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control) was a great opportunity to work in diverse groups, as an example.
Were there any courses or extracurricular experiences (POLI-focused or otherwise) that you completed while at UBC that helped you realize that consulting was the right post-graduation pathway for you?
I never took any business courses while at UBC, so I didn’t get exposure to consulting in the “typical” way. However, my experiences outside of class exposed me to consulting, both from meeting people who were interested in consulting (mainly business students), as well as doing business-related activities (including running services like the Food Bank and Safewalk at the AMS).
I don’t think I knew what consultants really did on a day-to-day basis before I started at Deloitte. The bits and pieces that I heard from others made the industry seem like a fast-paced and great learning opportunity for professional development, as well as a field where you can develop a large network (many people go into consulting for a few years and then change to other sectors/companies, so you meet many people in a shorter amount of time).
As I did more research into what the job was like, I spoke to folks working in the field to see if I might be a good fit. They helped me recognize that I had relevant experience within the field of education, and so I focused on that for my recruitment efforts by telling stories that exemplified my work, which ultimately got me a job supporting educational consulting work.
What is something that excites you about the work that you do? What is something that challenges you?
Consulting is new every day, fast-paced, and you get access to some really smart people and senior decision makers (and thus the ability to make an impact that you may not in other sectors). You also get exposed to subject areas that you may not have much knowledge on—for me, that included projects with First Nations, hospital systems, technology system implementation, and more. Overall learning is accelerated due to the number of projects you work on simultaneously and the expected speed of delivery, and you learn how to be very confident in a business environment. Overall, the skill set you gain from working on consulting is a huge draw for many people (including myself) and is very useful for any career you want to go into.
At the same time, the work life balance is the biggest challenge for most in consulting, especially when you’re new at a junior level. Clients expect high quality results very quickly, which translates into high expectations from senior leadership and often requires working late hours (much beyond 9-5). If you can handle the pressure for the majority of the time, consulting can be a very worthwhile career.
If you could offer a piece of advice to your undergraduate self—knowing what you know now about your chosen post-graduation pathway—what would it be?
This sounds a bit cliche, but the biggest piece of advice I would give myself would be to be confident. Consulting often hires a certain type of person, who can work in teams, thinks critically, etc. But I believe that the biggest thing that consulting firms look for is confidence, as they want to make sure that when they put you in front of clients, you come across as prepared, calm, and able to justify the recommendations you make.
To actually do this, there’s the “fake it till you make it” route of “pretending” to be confident in what you say, which works for some people. For others (including myself), confidence comes from actual experience, which I was able to gain through the way I did my degree. I ended up spending 8 years doing my undergraduate degree, as I took less classes to work part-time, go on exchange, run AMS Services, do Arts Co-op, and more. While I recognize that this isn’t a reasonable path for everyone, it was the right one for me, as it gave me the experience that I needed to feel like I “knew my stuff.” I really resonate with the saying, “don’t let school get in the way of your education,” and I would try to take that to heart by taking advantage of all the opportunities that UBC can offer with clubs, connections, work placements, and more.
Can you recommend any resources that might help undergrads answer the question, “Is working in consulting the right post-graduation pathway for me?”
This article gives a comprehensive overview of what consultants do, and I would recommend reading this to get a starting idea of what the job is about. Beyond that, I would also recommend getting on LinkedIn and reaching out to folks who are working in consulting and asking what their day to day looks like, being mindful that experiences will vary significantly depending on which firm they work at, which industry they’re in, and their job title.
If you do think that consulting might be the right pathway for you, start preparing early. There are so many free resources (there are many paid resources as well, but I didn’t use them) out there for those that want to get into consulting, including case prep, math practice, mock interviews, and more. The r/consulting subreddit is a good place to start. For on campus resources, I would also recommend seeing what the Sauder consulting-specific clubs are doing (such as the NSCC and Strategy Consulting Initiative), as they will have direct connections to recruiters, information about hiring timelines, lists of opportunities in Canada, and other students who you can practice interviews and cases with. If you’re serious about consulting, you should start preparing at least a year before you graduate, as hiring from universities for many firms starts then.
If current POLI undergraduate students have additional questions about pursuing a career in consulting, can you provide your LinkedIn URL?
Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn, and please send a message along with your request to connect!
