What's your job about?

Argon & Co specialises in consulting for industries like retail, manufacturing, and logistics to assist in improving their supply chains, operations, and overall efficiency. Put simply, we solve business problems.

On my first project, I worked with a large food manufacturer to reduce costs by improving efficiency. For example, I spent a week assisting trials on changing ingredient ratios in a product. This involved creating a trial plan, calculating potential savings if the trial succeeded, and presenting the proposal to the factory management for approval. Once approved, we gathered baseline and trial data by measuring product weight and size and taking photos to ensure quality standards were maintained. After the trials, we analysed the data to confirm savings and quality goals were met, then took the results back to management for final approval.

This kind of hands-on work is typical for our manufacturing service line, whether it’s adjusting machine settings or layouts, changing labour and production schedules, or creating visual tools for workers. When I started at Argon, I was surprised by how much these small changes could reduce costs and waste. However, every project is different—some are hands-on like this, while others are more technical, involving deep data analysis and cleansing, and much more in between.

What's your background?

I was born and raised in Melbourne and completed a double degree in Commerce and Science at Monash University, majoring in Finance and Physiology. Unsure of my career path, I explored various interests during university, which led me to a sustainable development course. This snowballed into a covid waste reduction consulting project and me subsequently joining a student-led working group. These opportunities gave me connections and skills to start an internship at a boutique sustainable fund manager, where I later worked as a financial analyst. During my time in this role, I discovered that the work I most enjoyed involved solving miscellaneous problems creatively and working on unique challenges.

This love of problem-solving, combined with the opportunity to use scientific thinking I developed in my science degree and the analytical and technical skills I gained from commerce, inspired me to pursue a career in consulting. For me, each opportunity led to another and giving new things a try helped me find my passions.

I’ve just finished my first year at Argon & Co, and it’s been a steep but rewarding learning curve. The variety of work has been challenging and fulfilling, and I’m excited to continue developing my skills as I begin my second year in the graduate program.

Could someone with a different background do your job?

Of course! What I love about Argon is that everyone has a different story and background. You don’t need to have done a certain degree or have a certain upbringing to thrive. Consulting to me is more about the way that you think. If you’re someone who loves to solve problems, come up with out the box ideas and sink your teeth into varied and niche subjects this might be the field for you. Strong analytical and critical thinking skills would be valuable to highlight in your application.

What's the coolest thing about your job?

Opportunities to sink your teeth into different issues. It’s so engaging and fulfilling to have the opportunity to spend time truly understanding and investigating different issues, learning about aspects you may have never considered.  Not all projects will allow enough time to do this in depth but there is something very satisfying about seeking knowledge across multiple teams in an organisation, mapping complex processes and using data to explain a problem back to a client in a way they did not comprehend.

What are the limitations of your job?

Agility – you need to be comfortable to move quickly between teams and learn new and complicated concepts. Whilst a lot of us enjoy this aspect of the job it isn’t something everyone likes so it’s important to be aware of. As part of this, the job can contain travel interstate or too remote areas for extended periods and include varied working conditions from all kinds of factories and warehouses to pure office work.  It’s important to be aware that these aspects can change quickly as you move from project to project, so agility is key!

3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...

• Try out different student groups while studying. It’s a great way to learn your interests while gaining experiences that add lots of value to your resume.
• Make agile interview prep. For behavioural questions, the STAR method is best. Instead of memorising for specific questions, I wrote down the skills I wanted to highlight in an interview and thought up 2-3 anecdotal situations to use in various answers.
• Go to networking and careers events. Go with a purpose and open mind, to learn about new career paths and get a more realistic view of a company’s culture than you’ll find online.