There’s a reason so many people want to be consultants—especially right out of college. You get to become a trusted advisor and subject matter expert to clients of all different sizes. Not only is it exciting, challenging work that usually involves lots of training and diverse customers, but you’ll almost never get bored.
Veeva is a software company that helps some of the world’s brightest minds and most cutting-edge companies develop critical medicine, products, and services in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. Their Consultant Development Program (CDP) takes recent graduates of all backgrounds—from engineering to economics—and trains them to be valuable business partners to Veeva’s customers. It’s an opportunity to make a positive impact both in business and on the world around you.
Here’s how these four people turned this opportunity into their dream jobs.
1. Erica Never Stops Evolving (She Even Got Her MBA On The Side)
For Erica, CDP at Veeva, was an opportunity not only to get the type of role she wanted, but to work in the type of culture she wanted. Erica was looking to work somewhere that would not only train her, but also give her the opportunity to learn by doing.
That’s exactly what Veeva gave her.
“There was never a shortage of exciting challenges in CDP,” Erica says. “You’re thrown into the fire—with support—but that’s my favorite part. I was constantly asking, ‘Hey, I haven’t done this before. Can I do it?’ And they let me do that every time. Veeva found opportunities for me.”
That means Erica was never just sitting around and watching. Every new engagement was an opportunity to get the kind of experience she wanted. Now, all of that experience is serving her very well, as she’s a full-fledged consultant.
“CDP prepares you so well for what you’re going to be doing as a consultant,” Erica says. “You only notice the difference because they’re celebrating you and congratulating you for moving up.”
A promotion wasn’t the only thing Erica was able to achieve during the program, either.
“l like to learn. I like to constantly be challenged. When I started this job, on the side, I was going to get my MBA. And I did,” she says.
Now, as a Veeva consultant with an MBA, she’s ready to take on even more challenges. And Veeva’s clients are ready to provide them.
2. Abby Figured Out Her Career Goals—And Veeva Is Helping Her Get There
Abby studied engineering in college but wasn’t sure if she wanted to be stuck in a lab all day. She also wasn’t sure what her long-term career goals were. That’s why Veeva’s CDP—which combines Veeva’s science-supporting products with the problem-solving challenges of a consulting role—was the perfect place for her to figure it out.
“The main goal of the role is learning,” Abby explains. “You’re learning about the products that we make and the needs of our customers.”
As a member of the Clinical team, Abby learned a lot about the specific tools that scientists and researchers use in the testing and development of new medicines—and how to best pair professionals with the right Veeva offerings to maximize their success. This business-meets-tech learning helped her realize the possibilities of combining her two primary skill sets.
“I have social skills and I love interacting with people. But I also loved the problem-solving aspect of engineering,” Abby says.
So, what does that mean for her professional goals?
“I know I want to lead a team of people and I know that I love solving problems. Helping people grow and helping people learn are Veeva values, and now they’re my values, too,” she says.
3. Mike Broke Into Consulting (And Found A Great Use For His Solar/Pharma/Business Background)
In just a short time, Mike had gotten a wide variety of professional experiences under his belt. During college, he worked in business operations in the solar power industry. He later had a sales job in the pharmaceutical world working with vaccines. Add some brand ambassador work on the side, and Mike’s resume was very interesting, but what he really wanted to do was consulting.
Being a life science company with a need for business-savvy grads, Veeva saw Mike as a great candidate for CDP. When he found Veeva’s CDP, he almost couldn’t believe the opportunity.
“There really is no misdirection about the program itself,” Mike says. “What we say it is, that’s how it’s going to be. There’s no fluff.”
And it wasn’t just any old consulting gig, Mike tells us, the program was designed to make him into the consultant he always wanted to be.
“Your managers drive your development to where you want to go. And the flexibility is there. If I’m not enjoying what I’m working on, my managers will help transition me to where I am interested so that I can grow. Everyone wants to help you through your journey,” he says.
This journey doesn’t end with CDP, either, Mike notes. He’s building the kind of skills that will help him achieve even beyond his time in the program.
“I’d love to build a strong foundational skill set in CDP and maybe even start my own company one day. In CDP, you can get a sense of how to interact with customers, develop a product, and understand so much of what it takes to run a business,” he says.
Mike’s story is a great example of how Veeva takes people of all educational and professional backgrounds—from sales to solar energy—and nurtures their common passions for solving business problems in CDP so they can get what they really want: a rewarding career.
4. Betul Got The Job She Wanted (And Found A Company For Life)
Betul has a strong personality—and an equally strong background in business. She knew she wanted a role that would challenge her to be the best. But she also wanted the opportunity to be herself at work and that meant making a positive difference in the world. Veeva—a people-focused company with values that actually mean something—gave her just what she was looking for.
“I look at Veeva as this huge support system,” Betul tells us. “Our culture is one that ensures you learn enough and develop skills so that you can handle each new phase of your job. When it comes time for you to take on leading a project, you’re comfortable doing that. And the goal is to become a mentor just like the people who mentored you.”
Teaching and communicating are essential parts of the consultant’s skill set, after all. At Veeva, these are core values that every member of the team incorporates into their working style. These values—plus the focus on outward-looking beneficence—were what really sealed the deal for Betul.
“When I was looking for a job, I had very specific criteria. I needed to be a position that my work fed back into society. One of our values is literally ‘do the right thing.’ It’s not something that is just put on the website and nobody thinks about. It’s front and center for everything we do,” Betul.
This combination of positive impact, personal growth, and support mean a lot to Betul. In fact, she tells us, she can see a long future at the company.
“I’m probably going to retire here. That’s something I learned during my interview. The Chief People Officer told me there might come a time when you don’t want to travel anymore, and that’s when we start looking at other areas of the business. She wasn’t just thinking about what I could do for them in the next one or two years,” Betul says. “She was thinking what they could do for me in the next five to ten or twenty years.”
Now, Betul is thinking the same way.
Ready For Your Dream Job? You Could Be Next
Whether you’re looking for the long term (like Betul) or just looking for your first job, Veeva is a place that takes your career journey seriously—from CDP to the C-suite.
To learn more about joining Veeva’s team of enthusiastic, entrepreneurial CDPers, check out Veeva on WayUp! More
