Matthew Bonfante Horrox, Senior Consultant – Atkins Management Consultants
I joined Atkins as a graduate consultant in 2000 at the age of 22. As a young management consultant it’s sometimes tricky to convince prospective clients and colleagues that you have experience and skills to make a difference on a consulting project. Just working towards the CMC changed that for me. Not over-night, but steadily and over a relatively short space of time.
The range of competences and criteria required for CMC accreditation are well articulated by the IC . I used these criteria as aides to assist in my personal development and training over four years. From the start I was careful to document evidence (of training, project experience, learning points, lessons etc) as I went and was able to use this body of evidence at my regular performance appraisals to get approval for training where weaknesses were evident.
I was also able to gain promotion much more easily than some of my peers because I was able to present “hard” evidence in support of my assertions that I was exceeding the required competences for my grade, and that I possessed the necessary skills to take on more responsibility.
Working toward the CMC gave me confidence and provided my superiors and clients the assurance they sought to allow me to take on more challenging tasks.
Since gaining accreditation from the then Institute of Management Consultants in 2004, I’m sure that it’s been a real asset on my résumé . The CMC has clearly demonstrated my commitment to continuous development (in support of the other qualifications that I’ve gained over the years). It has helped to ensure that I am always in demand from clients and peers to work on their projects. And while it may be difficult to give all the credit for this to the CMC “kite mark”, it has certainly played a pivotal role in my career progression thus far.
