Culture & Inclusion: Building a Career at Deloitte

When it comes to choosing a firm to work for, culture consistently comes up as a major factor among the employees that we survey. In this post, Carlos Robles, an AERS Advisory Senior Consultant in Deloitte & Touche LLP's San Jose office, discusses how the firm's culture and inclusion policies have helped him to build a career there—and how that started during his internship with the firm in college. 

Name: Carlos Robles 

Title: AERS Advisory Senior Consultant, San Jose office 

Company: Deloitte & Touche LLP 

Education

I received my Bachelor of Science in Accounting & Information Systems from Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California. While I was at school, I was an officer for the Operations and Management Information Systems (OMIS) Student Network where I focused on corporate relations. In my free time, I taught music at various high schools in the area and took flying lessons. 

Prior to joining Deloitte full time, I had the opportunity to intern with the organization during my junior year of college. I gained a great deal of experience during my eight-week internship traveling with my client team to New Orleans, Boulder, and Scottsdale. These experiences allowed me to be much better prepared when joining Deloitte full time the following fall.

Explain your role within the AERS Advisory practice

I am currently part of a team that provides software compliance services to a large technology client. I help project manage and/or lead software license reviews across numerous industries to ensure that the software that our client’s customers purchased is under compliance. In addition, I’m a product specialist for our client’s products, which means that I’m in constant communication with our global team to answer any of their product-specific questions. 

One of my favorite aspects of my job is the client interaction and responsibility. While leading software license reviews, I maintain relationships with the client’s customers as a result of working closely with them. For every review I lead or manage, I meet with chief information officers and IT directors for large organizations.

Why did you choose Deloitte for your career?

I chose Deloitte for two simple reasons: the people and opportunities. Every day, I am surrounded by an amazing team that has become like a second family. Deloitte has an incredible asset with its people. I believe that we have a very unique culture at Deloitte. From the recruiting process to now two years being employed by Deloitte, everyone is always there with a smile and ready to help with your development. I consider myself lucky to be in an organization with such a great culture. 

The opportunities that are provided at Deloitte are also fantastic. As a first year professional, I was immediately given a lot of responsibility, which challenged me from the get go. I learned to be a project manager and how to manage people, which is a crucial skill in career development. As soon as I get comfortable with my responsibilities, I am given more and I’m always challenged to contribute to the best of my abilities. As mentioned earlier, I have also had the opportunity to meet and form strong relationships with C-level executives, which has allowed me to really increase my network.

Explain some of the inclusion programs and efforts Deloitte has in place

Deloitte has many programs in place to help foster a diverse and inclusive culture. One of our most important programs is Deloitte’s Business Resource Groups or BRGs. These groups help bring together professionals with similar backgrounds and experiences so they can network, innovate, and make an organization as large as Deloitte seem a little smaller. And I can tell you that after having visited more than 100 of my client’s customers, Deloitte is definitely in the forefront when it comes to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace.

What’s been your biggest opportunity since joining Deloitte?

One of the best things about working at Deloitte is that opportunities are plentiful. One of my biggest opportunities was when I was asked to help one of our first teams in our Software Asset Management group. This team was tasked to help identify and save approximately $20 million in mismanaged software assets for one of our clients. Our team had high visibility to Deloitte partners and all of us were recognized when we were successful in delivering services to one of Deloitte’s first clients in this space.

What’s been your biggest challenge since joining Deloitte?

One of my favorite things about Deloitte is also one of the things that can be a bit challenging: travel. Flight delays, canceled flights, and long hours on an airplane can take a toll on anyone. But I focus on the benefits that come with traveling, such as accumulating hotel and flight miles that are great to use for personal travel, and you never run out of a good travel story to tell.

Words of wisdom

From my experience, Deloitte is a great place to launch your career. You will have a lot of great experiences and exposure to numerous industries and various roles. If there is something you are interested in, Deloitte will likely have a position for you. You will work very hard at Deloitte, but you will have great people to support you through every step of the way. 

This post was sponsored by Deloitte & Touche LLP.

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