Internship Description:
First Quartile Consulting is looking for qualified business analysts/consultants with experience in the area of business analysis, consulting, with some exposure or interest in working with utilities. The Intern will focus on supporting our client benchmarking assignments, client meetings, presentations, and social media/web needs as follows:

1.     1QC benchmarks operational and customer service performance. Each year as part of our benchmarking programs we conduct research in interest areas that our clients (usually larger Investor Owned Utilities, like Southern California Gas, PSEG, etc.) have. We rotate topics annually. Last year we conducted research on Smart Metering (or Grid), as an example of operational-type research, and on First Contact Resolution, as well as, Credit as examples in the Customer Service area. This year our topics are expanding and we are looking for support in research as well as in industry-related and client interviews, etc. Work entails both primary and secondary research, developing presentations after the research and doing directed analysis. We also do more technical work in the areas of Power Transmission, Distribution, etc. in case there are suitable backgrounds to meet these needs.

2.     1QC has client needs that could require supporting assignments in the form of analysis, spreadsheet, DB/MS Excel-type work. Some of this work could entail travel to our client sites, interfacing with our clients, and preparation of working documents.

3.     1QC has internal needs to support our annual benchmarking programs in the form of data analysis (typically spreadsheet and or database) and presentation development (typically MS PowerPoint, charting and graphing using MS Excel).

4.     1QC is also evolving our use of both social networking and the web. Work would entail evolving our business presence on such sites as LinkedIn as well as expanding our marketing via enhanced web site organization, development and presentation.

Qualifications & Experience:

o   Undergraduate degree in liberal arts, business, finance, accounting, engineering, or a related discipline is required

o   Pursuit of a Graduate degree (i.e., MBA)

o   Excellent proficiency in Microsoft Office applications – particularly Excel and PowerPoint

o   Good knowledge and ability to work with social networking sites

o   Web site organization and development experience very helpful (enhancing web sites, marketing, etc.)

o   Excellent verbal and written communication skills

o   Experience in Microsoft Visio and Access

o   Flexibility to travel as needed (currently East Coast)

o   Prior consulting work and/or work in the public utility sector is helpful but not a must

Time Frame

o   April 15 through August 31

Location Requirements

o   Our team is located in Bethesda, Maryland and in the greater Los Angeles and San Francisco areas.

o   The Internship Position would best be suited near these locations, with a preference toward either Bethesda or Los Angeles

o   Client work as appropriate could entail travel to the Northeast, currently the Philadelphia, Newark, New York areas. We have several additional client meetings that would entail a trip of several days in the Central Midwest as needed

o   For most of the time, the Intern would only be required to work from home with weekly interaction (in person preferred) with a Director from our consulting team. Depending on need, travel to the client location could be needed, at most a 2-3 day period at a time.