Learn more about the role of an associate here at Parthenon by following Cory, an associate and a 2008 Duke graduate, through a day in his life.

A Day in the Life of a Parthenon Associate

7:30 a.m.

I’m not exactly a morning person, so I’ve got it down to a science. I can roll out of bed around 8:15 and still make it to work between 8:30 and 9:00.

8:00 a.m.

I hop on the subway to work. By this point I’ve usually run into another Parthenon associate. We tend to stick together—a bunch of us live in the same part of town and end up on the same train to work.

8:30 a.m.

I usually arrive at the office between 8:30 and 9:00 unless something requires my presence earlier. I try to spend a few minutes reading the news before settling in and thinking through a plan for the first part of the day. I have been hard at work on a regression for a corporate strategy case, and I want to make sure I’m prepared for a meeting with Roger, our chief economist.

9:15 a.m.

I have some lingering questions from the night before about how different data series were collected, so I reach out to various government organizations to see if they might know the answer. When I really need to make phone calls or send emails without interruptions, the morning is usually the best time of day.

9:30 a.m.

Roger and I talk through the regression that I created for one of our clients. I put together some slides yesterday in preparation for the meeting that will help us gauge if the model needs improvements. Based on our discussion there are a few final tweaks to the equation, and we spend several minutes talking through next steps. Not only will I be creating an industry forecast, but I also plan to show the client what this projection will mean when applied to their particular business model.

10:00 a.m.

I head back to my desk to finish up some of the edits that Roger suggested in our meeting. On the way, I stop by my case team leader’s office so that I can give him a quick update on my progress. I want to make sure to keep him in the loop so that he knows when he can realistically expect the regression to be finished.

11:00 a.m.

After I work out the kinks in the regression it is time to switch gears to my other case. I have been working on a due diligence for one of our private equity clients and I’m in the process of launching a survey to gauge the satisfaction of customers at the target company. I feel like I have a good draft, but I want to run it by another team member before meeting with my case team leader later this afternoon.

12:00 p.m.

Time for lunch. I blast out a mass email to other associates, hoping some people aren’t too busy to take a break and are in the mood for a sandwich from Al’s, a Parthenon lunch hotspot. A few of us meet up and grab food, and then head up to the lunch room to eat with others from the firm. Everyone’s talking about the big Celtics win last night, and I was lucky enough to see it person last night thanks to Parthenon’s awesome box tickets!

1:00 p.m.

Back from lunch and time to hit the ground running. I know that my case team leader will want to discuss how I am approaching the due diligence customer survey, and I spend the next two hours blanking out slides that I expect to produce with the data once the survey is completed.

3:00 p.m.

I print out a copy of the presentation and meet with the case team leader on my case to make sure everything is ready to go. Now that we take a look at the slides together, we agree that there are a couple more questions that we need to add to the survey so that we really target the key issues that we’ve been asked to examine.

4:00 p.m.

Time to switch gears again to start to analyze some company data from my corporate client to understand how we can apply our regression to their business. I’m quickly realize that I need a few more pieces of data from the client, so I spend some time chatting with a contact in their research department and she agrees to make the data pull I need. This data is more for my personal understanding of how the company fits into the bigger industry picture, but it will be helpful context so that I feel comfortable when I have to present the regression later this week to the client in New York.

5:30 p.m.

Time for a quick coffee break to clear my mind. Each experienced associate at Parthenon has an informal principal mentor and today we’re taking a quick walk to a coffee shop nearby. Parthenon encourages professional development through both informal and formal mentors, and I always look forward to these conversations to bounce ideas off each other.

6:00 p.m.

Before we launch our survey I want to make sure we are asking all the relevant questions, so I spend some time reading a few analyst reports on the some other companies in the same industry to verify that all the issues that are facing the client and the industry are addressed in our survey. I also make market slides that will provide an industry overview and serve as context to many of the questions in the survey.

7:15 p.m.

I quickly chat with the associate I am working with on the due diligence to make sure that we are on the same page. I’ll probably do some work later on tonight from home and I want to make sure I don’t replicate any of the analysis that she has already done.

8:00 p.m.

Satisfied with the progress I made today I pack up my laptop and hop in a cab home in time to catch the tipoff of the Duke basketball game.