PA employee cameos
Meet our people
| Name: |
Karl |
| Location: |
London, UK |
| Background: |
BA (Hons) Oxford. |
| Joined PA as: |
Analyst |
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What attracted you to PA and why did you choose to join? |
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PA has offered me a huge variety of work for a range of challenging clients, often in very different cultural environments. I have worked with colleagues who each bring new perspectives to the work environment, given the variation in backgrounds and experience. |
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What assignments have you worked on since joining PA? |
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As well as developing detailed cost models for government bodies and national telecoms operators, I led an assignment for a leading investment bank to develop a published view of the worldwide market for telecoms equipment vendors over the next five years.
For a leading mobile operator, I helped the client manage its portfolio of new mobile data services. I also developed and delivered project management training courses for the same company.
I have assisted more than 30 clients on strategic and marketing issues through the development of approaches to forecasting product take-up, defining products and services and helping companies determine distribution channel strategies.
I have been responsible for the review of more than 20 business cases and marketing strategies prior to financing. I have worked for most of the major investment banks on due diligence work since 1998. |
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Describe your ‘typical day’ at PA |
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There hasn't been a typical day since I joined. Some assignments require very close working and regular discussion with a client team, whereas others rely upon close-working of PA teams and monthly review points or workshops with the client. Similarly, the nature of the work varies from facilitation work and information gathering to detailed model building and financial analysis. |
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How would you describe your career at PA? |
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My career so far at PA has been varied and challenging. I have worked extensively for global companies, financial institutions and government clients in Europe and Asia. In particular, I have focused on working with regulators, telecoms operators and other related technology companies, where I have developed a detailed understanding of technology and related service issues through working continuously with Board-level management.
The work has taken me to the Caribbean, Asia, Eastern and central Europe, Scandinavia and North Africa, as well as some far-flung corners of the UK. |
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What are your interests/needs outside work and how does PA support you in this area? |
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Sports and travel. I have completed several marathons and Ironman events and play sevens rugby from time to time. On the travel front, as well as travelling regularly with PA for assignments, I have cycled across Europe to Istanbul and spent my six-month sabbatical exploring China, Nepal and Tibet.
After seven years with a company everyone could do with a breather. I had worked in PA's London office for four years and from a European office for three, so it was time for another change and PA's sabbatical policy gave me the possibility of a six-month leave of absence.
My PA work had been fairly packed with challenges working for big name clients in the telecoms sector and investment community and in some ways the challenges of my six months hiking in Tibet, cycling through China and across the UK were a continuation of that. In many ways, of course, it was a complete break.
It is six months since I have been back in the office and the images are still clear in my head: from below sea-level in the wide open expanses of North China's Taklimakan desert up to the thin air of Everest Base Camp, from the rugged lines on the faces of workers in rice fields to the chiselled features of Buddhas lost in mountain caves, from the snow-crusted tops of Tibetan foothills to the humid hazy peaks of Guilin.
I spent time with students on a tree-planting day and spent most evenings teaching English over dinner with a hundred and one drawings of trees, flowers and dogs. I also raised some money for charity cycling the length of the UK. I'd say it has been a great opportunity to do something completely different, but since I have come back to PA, I have had assignments back in Asia, as well as in North Africa and Central Europe. It's been a rewarding year all round. |
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