Navigant Consulting, Inc. provides global management services to Fortune 100 companies, government agencies, legal counsels, and regulated and network industries. My field is primarily in litigation support for lawsuits that pertain to financial or economic issues. I assist with economic, statistical, and financial research and analysis. I collect data and manage spreadsheets, and provide some database management in order to prepare litigation support materials.

I also do any market research and background information that the senior consultants need.

"Couple your work experience with your best academic performance."
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Internships Are the Way to Go
I started as an intern working part time while I was in school. After seven months, I started full time as a paraprofessional and finished my undergraduate degree at night. I think that while you're in school you should take the opportunity to use your campus career center. It's an excellent opportunity to make contact with employers, because employers recruit heavily on college campuses. If you don't know what you want to do when you get out of school I think an internship is a good way to start figuring it out. I lucked out with this job because this field was something I was interested in and I had the opportunity to learn about it before I graduated and before I would have had to enter the job market.

I had an offer here a few months before I graduated.

 
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"I already had a year's worth of experience when I graduated."

The Road to Success
Doing well in high school and earning your way into a top-notch college is probably the best way to get on the road to success. If you get a degree in an area that is in high demand and you are at a higher level college, the company is going to be coming to you.

In this job market, with unemployment being as low as it's been in 30 years, employers are searching for college graduates.

But if you aren't in a top tier school, which is true for most, including myself, then I think an internship can really help a great deal. For me, it gave me a year's worth of experience by the time I graduated, which made me more marketable.

The Importance of Mentors
I'd love to be as successful as the Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan. He's at the pinnacle of economic policy-making in the world. On a personal level, I have a mentor who is a lawyer involved in finance at a high level. He has helped me make some decisions about my career path and he helped me make some educational decisions as well. Having a mentor is very important.

And of Course the Salary Question…
I think somewhere in the thirties is reasonable. And I think the chance for salary growth is very good in financial services. But there is only so far you can go with an undergraduate degree. With a master's, you can make from about 60K to six figures.

Future Plans
I want to be involved in economic policy issues on an international scale, possibly working for the World Bank, or IMF or the Inter-American Development Bank. To make that happen, I would need some sort of higher degree, whether it be an MBA or even better, a Ph.D. in Economics.