Chloe O'Shea: Senior Consultant at Deloitte

"I think the person I am today is massively shaped by my experience at Brentwood and the people I met."

Current Job Title & Employer:

Senior Consultant, Deloitte

OB Years:

2008-2015

Brief description of your path after Brentwood:

I left Brentwood with A Levels in Economics, Geography and History, and went on to the University of Nottingham to study Politics. Although, I quickly realised that university wasn't the best path for me at the time. After taking a step back, I was very fortunate to discover the opportunities that apprenticeship schemes now offer, and joined Deloitte on their BrightStart Apprenticeship Scheme. 

How has your career path led you to where you are now?

Deloitte is a professional services firm that offers Consulting, Audit, Tax and Financial Advisory expertise. I joined the Consulting practice which, simply put, provides services to all types of organisations across every sector to help solve their most complex problems. I have now been with Deloitte for over seven years and feel very fortunate to have somewhat fallen into this career pathway, as it has enabled me to experience so many different projects working with every kind of client you can imagine. Working for such a large organisation has enabled me to travel extensively and allowed me to continually adapt my skills both to what the market demands and to my developing interests. I first started with technology strategy roles that involve advising clients on what new technologies they can adopt to improve their ways of working, then as the popularity of Cloud technology has risen I have focused on delivering Cloud technology solutions to enable businesses to scale and enhance productivity, and more recently am developing my skills in Sustainability & Climate and Artificial Intelligence capabilities as they become the key client focus areas. I have mostly worked with public sector clients as I like the idea of creating a positive social impact. With my favourite engagement to date being my work with the NHS during Covid on the Test & Trace project where we created and supported the platforms that enabled the British public to order and register their tests, hopefully in a small way helping to save lives.

Did you develop any particular skills or attributes at Brentwood that have helped your career?

I think the person I am today is massively shaped by my experience at Brentwood and the people I met. Not just from an academic point of view, but from all the extra opportunities we had available to us. In my first interview at Deloitte every question asked related to something Brentwood has provided that not all schools offer, "When have you demonstrated being a key team player?"; every House competition; "When have you led a team to success?" being an Army Colour Sergeant in the CCF; "When have you overcome a difficult challenge?" completing the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award. In my career, being able to work as part of a team but also take ownership for your work are the key skills required, and Brentwood absolutely prepares you for that!

Favourite Brentwood memory?

My best friends still today are from Brentwood, so it goes without saying that the best memories I have of Brentwood are of us growing up together! I think we all still miss the school lunches, with Chickwich always being a firm favourite!

Any words of advice for those graduating this year?

You don't have to have your path already figured out, so don't feel pressured into following the crowd. There are always alternative options. Make sure you do what feels right for you and ultimately doing what makes you happy is what is most important and in doing so you will always succeed. Also always take the opportunity to travel if you can! Since I started at Deloitte I have been lucky enough to take two career breaks, one where I travelled the US, Asia and Australia and another to become a qualified ski instructor in Whistler - travelling has been the best thing I have ever done, and it is never too late to do so!