Three leaps of faith to grow my career

Authored by - Shruti Jain, Manager, Consulting

There is a world of tech consulting possibilities – it’s a space for problem solvers and variety seekers and it requires taking daring leaps of faith.

In brief

• Throughout my career in tech consulting, I took three leaps of faith that defined the growth of my career and helped me define bold goals.
• Learning in a new environment, growing my experience, and embracing emerging technologies were essential aspects in this process.
• Building a rewarding career in a place where I see women in leadership roles motivates me to think big about my own development goals and the next leaps I will take. 

Every career has defining moments. Mine come in the shape of daring leaps of faith. Looking back at my journey so far, I wouldn’t change a thing.

In many ways, I consider myself a “citizen of EY.” I’ve had amazing opportunities to work across EY teams, businesses and geographies. That began in India, where I started as part of a global group supporting EY tech consulting teams all over the world. That was my foundation. That was home. With every new project or relationship, I was inspired to dig a little deeper and think a little farther. I fell in love with the culture and the work and the people. In that ecosystem, bold goals began to form.

Learning in a new environment became important to me. The more I learned about tech consulting, the more interested I became. An MBA felt like a meaningful step towards growth. The caveat? I wanted to learn somewhere new.

Exploring international business programs in North America and beyond, I hit on Canada as a strong possible fit. Great business schools — and cities that simply felt right to me. Enter that first leap of faith into the unknown. I resigned from EY, packed my bags and drew on tremendous support from my family to become a full-time international student at York University’s Schulich School of Business. Everything — and everyone — was new. But every moment felt filled with potential. I dove right in.

Growing my experience was my next big priority. What I learned at Schulich was invaluable. I wanted to channel that knowledge into positive impacts for the world around me come graduation time. My network was global, but my future was local. So I leapt once again into the unknown, took a deep breath and began cultivating relationships from the ground up. Within one week of arriving in Canada, I sent a cold-call message to a Toronto-based EY partner via LinkedIn. The response? A heartwarming welcome and an instant invitation to come in for a meeting.

It was so much more than I had imagined. That first conversation at EY Canada opened my eyes to a world of tech consulting possibility. It also spoke right to me on a personal level: this was the kind of culture, and the type of leader, I wanted to work with every day. At EY, they saw me for me. They were ready to help. They recognized the unique perspective I could bring.

I joined as an intern in the Consulting practice where, just a few years later, I now manage teams of my own. My experiences and insights are respected and valued every single day and that inspires me to develop and grow further.

Emerging technology felt like a blank canvas of possibility. At our core, consultants are problem solvers. If you’re into creating new solutions, this is the role for you. With that passion as my purpose, I leapt into emerging technology and I’ve never looked back. Now, every day is an opportunity to understand the challenges our clients face. Together, we explore the legacy and disparate systems that are holding businesses and organizations back. We talk about real problems affecting real people. And then? We build and implement end-to-end plans that use emerging tech tools to alleviate those pain points.

My work fascinates and challenges me. When I think of the kinds of issues we helped solve during the pandemic, I’m amazed at the progress achieved. Health organizations struggling under unimaginable strain. Consumer businesses balancing the need to help customers while keeping employees safe. We worked on all kinds of pressing questions to find answers that could help our clients – and their stakeholders, too. That’s purposeful. It means something to me.

Tech consulting is a space for problem solvers and variety seekers. It’s a chance to connect people and technology in ways that help the world work better. We build relationships, explore technology and learn continuously, moving between industries and sectors. For all these reasons, I love my work. Will there be other leaps of faith? Absolutely. Do I know what that next leap will be? Not yet. But the not knowing is half the fun.

I’m building a rewarding career in a place where I see women in senior leadership roles. This motivates me to think big about my own development goals. I make an impact at an organization that enables me to learn, and lets me define my own path. I have excellent mentors and I’m working to become one myself. All this possibility was born of my willingness to boldly and bravely take one step, and then another after that. If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that amazing growth unfolds if we’re willing to trust ourselves, think big and take a leap of faith.