This show originally broadcast over the KALX airwaves on May 3, 2024. Below is the transcript.
Katie Han: [00:00:00] You’re listening to KALX Berkeley 90.7 FM, University of California and community-supported radio, and this is Berkeley Brainwaves, a 30-minute public affairs show dedicated to sharing stories from the Cal experience. I’m your host Katie Han. In this episode, we’ll be centered around the topic of student consulting clubs.
For listeners who don’t know what student consulting clubs are, they are typically student-run groups where their members utilize specialized skills and knowledge to advise real-world organizations in improving and solving their business problems. If you’ve ever stepped foot on UC Berkeley’s campus, it is likely that you’ve seen tents filled with consulting club members flyering near the Memorial Glade or on the sidelines of Sather Road, reaching out to potential undergraduate student members. These student consulting [00:01:00] groups garnered a reputation as professional, competitive, and opportunity-rich, as they typically receive multiple sponsorships, connections, and funding.
Interestingly, it’s a running joke among Berkeley students that it’s harder to get into student business consulting clubs than to get into the university itself, but this perception could easily be attributed to the fact that not many people know much about the student consulting club’s application process and goals. Today, we’ll be diving deep into the inner workings of student consulting groups with Brandon Bui, a current junior student studying political economy and computer science at UC Berkeley. He is also an incoming internal vice president of The Berkeley Group, the first and only student organization dedicated to offering consulting services to nonprofit organizations.
Welcome to the show, Brandon.
Brandon Bui: Yeah, thank you, Katie.
Katie Han: Yeah, how are you feeling today?
Brandon Bui: I’m good, how are you?
Katie Han: I’m doing okay as well.
Um, I already gave a rundown of what student consulting clubs are, but is there anything you might want to add or clarify?
Brandon Bui: Yeah, no, I think you hit it right on the head. [00:02:00]
Katie Han: Okay, okay.
So what is the Berkeley Group’s mission, and feel free to explain how it might stand out from other consulting clubs on campus.
Brandon Bui: Yeah, yeah, so as you mentioned before, TBG, as we call it, the Berkeley Group, is very old. I think, you know, we started in 2003, so it is all pretty crazy in terms of all the tradition and the quality level that is expected year after year, but we focus solely on nonprofit work in the kind of social sector. So we do pro bono work for nonprofits, um, again, you know, doing that kind of work in service expansion, audit, things like that, um, and so, yeah.
Katie Han: I did take a look at your website, you have a lot of organizations that you work with or are partnered with for these projects. Um, so, uh, I think I remember you worked on a project last semester as a student, um, what was the project exactly?
Brandon Bui: Yeah, yeah, we have, because we started in 2003, I think [00:03:00] we’ve worked with over 200 nonprofits, um, and so the way we operate is every project leader, which I was this semester, gets to kind of choose their own project or nonprofit that they want to work with, and it’s, you know, it’s very aligned with the social sector passion that you have.
So, you know, I came in working a lot with legislation, um, but I’m also from San Francisco, and I understand kind of the different organizations that really helped me–going to a public school–and how those kind of intersections worked, and so for me, I always really wanted to give back, and so I worked with SFJAZZ.
So, they are obviously a jazz nonprofit located in San Francisco, and so, I just remember when I was little going on field trips to the Jazz Center, and I think it’s a music genre and a medium that, you know, should be appreciated a lot more, and so we worked on product strategy on their SFJAZZ at home video-on-demand and streaming service, and I thought that was super special to be able to work on a product, a SaaS [00:04:00] product, which is super tech and super financial, right? But at the same time, we’re emphasizing accessibility. How can we get this product to more people? How can we, you know, teach students, teach older people about jazz, and, you know, how can we make them more accessible if they can’t go to the SFJAZZ Center?
Katie Han: Wow, is the whole club, basically–do they brand themselves on working very closely with public-oriented organizations?
Brandon Bui: Yeah, of course. So every semester we have five projects, um, and so these are always going to be nonprofits focused on the social sector, whether that’s
ranging from education equity or maybe even back to jazz, right? And, there’s always a social aspect of it, um, and that’s what kind of sets us apart in terms of the consulting club scene.
We actually attract a lot of non-business majors, and I think that’s a, a question we get often and a question that I’m always willing to answer as someone who is not traditionally a business major who is studying, you know, liberal arts, political economy, um, as well as computer science. So, [00:05:00] yeah, we always have a focus on the social sector, um, that’s been our DNA since the beginning, and that’s always going to be what TBG is.
Katie Han: All right, um, was there any valuable experiences or skills you gained from this particular project?
Brandon Bui: Oh, yeah. I think…I think when you ask a lot of people, you know, in, in the finance industry or even any industry, right, they, they always emphasize learning and growth, but now I kind of understand, you know, how to interact with people, how to encourage people, how to motivate your team.
But at the same time, this was the first opportunity that, for me, I make a decision and that decision is clear and cut, um, so it is a little nerve-wracking to, you know, talk to a client, talk to someone who has been in the industry for so long, um, and for them to just trust whatever you say. Um, it is a little scary, but I, I definitely learned a lot from that.
Katie Han: You mentioned it’s very team-oriented as well. So do you often have a lot of good input from team members and [00:06:00] overall work together as a team?
Brandon Bui: Yeah. So, I guess I can go over the team structure a bit.
So, we have four consultants for each team, and so that’s going to be when you first join is that your first semester, we call it your newbie semester, and then your second semester following that is your return semester. And so these are the consultants who are going to be doing the bulk of the work.
Then, next on this, I guess, hierarchy or project structure that we have is a senior consultant who really aids a project leader in formulating the overall strategy, the client interactions, and the direction that the project needs to go in. And so it’s very collaborative. Every week we meet for two hours at the very minimum just to go over our different project aspects, and so…there’s a set number of deliverables that the consultants have to deliver. Those are all going to be combined for the client.
Katie Han: What would be in these–these deliverables?
Brandon Bui: Yeah, I think what I can say for that–because we do sign contracts–is that [00:07:00] these are going to be direct responses to the maybe issue areas that clients come to us with, um, and so these are going to address, you know, issues like service expansion. How can we, or how can the client, as an organization, reach more communities, and how can they reach specific communities, and where should they do it? It’s kind of a lot of the work that I’ve done in TBG over the past couple semesters, you know, I’ve–we’ve created models, like market sizing models, you know, really honed in on very specific communities, um, because of the service that is being offered.
So, my first newbie semester, I worked on a project with Athlete Ally, which is a nonprofit aimed on ending homophobia and transphobia in sports, and so as my work stream, as a consultant, I focused on the specific colleges and communities to target, um, with a step-by-step plan. And so, I think over last summer, I was scrolling LinkedIn to see that they are [00:08:00] enacting that strategy step-by-step at the exact school I recommended with the exact kind of queer leaders and queer athletes that I put forward. So that was at Louisville, um, and Iko Jones on the volleyball team, uh, are very staunch leaders in the queer space in sports. And so, that was something I focused on.
But then, in TBG you also get to work on something very different the next semester. So that next semester, I worked on a nonprofit called PATH, which is global health care or global, you know, health support in regions that my family’s from. So, focusing on Southeast Asia, how do we get more support to there? Um, and so we looked at carbon tracking, air pollution tracking. And I think, like, an overview would be like how can we install, you know, different clean energy solutions? And I think, obviously, that can be really broad. But TBG’s mindset is: we’re going to go down to, to the very minute detail [00:09:00] and how to enact that step-by-step. So, we looked at the local policy of Vietnam, you know, what, what policies are there in place to support things like solar panels already and, you know, what are the nonprofits PATH should work with to, you know, create these kind of new systems. And on top of that, you know, we try to input as much as possible of the client desire or, you know, their preferences. So we also put forward the best carbon neutral data platforms, um, that the air pollution tracking system can work off of. And so, even from there, we have a layered approach to understanding the client’s needs and to putting that forward.
Katie Han: This is Berkeley Brainwaves on KALX Berkeley, and we’re talking about student consulting clubs with Brandon Bui, vice president of the student consulting club called The Berkeley Group.
That’s really great that all of you have the opportunity to kind of, um, jump onto these projects that personally [00:10:00] resonate with you. Would these…solutions be presented in like a presentation, a PowerPoint, or on a Zoom call?
Brandon Bui: Yeah, so it definitely varies.
So we work with local, national, and international nonprofits. So my first semester I worked with, again, Athlete Ally, so that was a nonprofit based in New York. Uh, we decided just to do Zoom call. I think that was easiest, um, and so we presented our slide deck deliverables on top of the different white papers we had, um, to them for PATH. Obviously, they’re an international, huge nonprofit working in, you know, Africa and Southeast Asia and very rural areas, and so, again, we needed to do it remotely.
But for SFJAZZ, because we are close, because it’s a local nonprofit for both our middle of the semester midpoint deliverable and our final deliverable, we…went out to SF and we presented in person. And that’s been super rewarding for me. I think, you know, when you’re face-to-face with the client you’re working with directly, you can just feel how [00:11:00] much trust and how much respect they have for you, even if you’re just an undergraduate student. I had two freshmen on my team and the other two were sophomores, and so, that never played a role or a distinction to the client. Um, and so we ended up spending, you know, two hours just discussing back and forth, you know, our different opinions and recommendations on their product and, you know, how they function as an organization. And, they take it in word for word and they respect you. And it doesn’t matter that you’re an undergraduate student or it doesn’t matter that this is your first time “quote on quote” consulting. They understand that we did the work. We showed how we did the work. And so, that leads to just a very impactful project and deliverable at the end of the day.
Katie Han: So, I guess one particular question I have about these consulting clubs is that these are mostly focused on undergraduate students. Is this more focused on training undergraduate students in these, uh, kind of real-world [00:12:00] business, um, situations or real-life examples that they might encounter after they graduate and go into the field? Or, are they trained beforehand and they help these organizations or startups even?
Brandon Bui: Yeah, it’s definitely twofold.
So, we have a newbie curriculum. So when you first join, there’s professional development every week. It’s on top of an introductory kind of boot camp that we call it just to go over kind of the more technical aspects, right? But there’s nothing that can compare to real-world experience.
And so, as you progress through different projects, of course, you pick up those skill sets, whether it’s just like, you know, client hands, knowing how to interact with people who…are very staunchly in the role who are very accomplished, right? We’re–you know, when you’re working with nonprofits, at least for TBG, we work directly with CEOs and, you know, very big officers within sometimes huge organizations. And so you understand how you’re supposed to interact. And I think that’s something, you know, you can’t get in any other circumstance.
Katie Han: I think…[00:13:00] it’s interesting how these companies, they look more towards postgraduates–
Brandon Bui: Mm-hm.
Katie Han: –for advice or consulting services.
Brandon Bui: Right.
Katie Han: Why are they now looking more towards younger minds, um, specifically undergraduate students?
Brandon Bui: Right. I think I can only really talk about TBG.
So, our approach and I guess the approach that a lot of nonprofit organizations come to us with is because we’re pro bono, because we’re willing to put in as many hours to emphasize impact as possible, that this is going to be a worthwhile experience for both parties, right? While our consultants and, you know, even me as a project leader is able to learn a lot from the experience, at the end of the day, there are set deliverables and impact for these organizations. So, for us, it’s a mutually beneficial kind of exchange with the market where…it’s at now that it’s actually, I think in my mind, also a recruiting tool, right? To understand, you know, there is a lot of self-filtering [00:14:00] and self-selection that the consulting…community goes through. And so, maybe for these companies, for these startups, it’s an easy way to, you know, get past that kind of initial round.
Um, even for us, I can only talk for TBG. Um, a fellow project leader this semester, Tom Wickline, he’s working and interning at the nonprofit he’s currently leading the project for. And so I, I think maybe that could be translated over to other clubs, right? Maybe they’re also offering roles and positions, because they can see how you work, um, at a much lower stake than just hiring someone through the interview process.
Katie Han: I see. I see. I guess it’s–this kind of leads me to my next question. Since you just mentioned about the application process of these con–student consulting groups, –
Brandon Bui: Mm-hm.
Katie Han: –how does a typical recruitment slash application process work?
Brandon Bui: Yeah. Um…you know, if you’ve ever been on campus, you know, the first two weeks of every semester are just insane, right, to get through Sproul. There’s so many tents left and right. I think so many people flyering, just, [00:15:00] you know, advertising, blank blank consulting, um, and things like that. For TBG, we follow the structures pretty similarly to other clubs.
So, when I was a sophomore was–I think I only really wanted TBG. And so at the end of the day, you know, I did talk to a lot of people at other clubs. We offer coffee chats. So do other clubs. There’s info sessions, case workshops.
Our process was that…your first round, I guess, is going to be an essay portion and your resume and, and kind of just your general information. But where we differ, in my mind, is that we look at everything blind. So, we ask for resumes without names, without GPA, without your high school, um, and so we’re all blind to that when we’re reviewing an application. And so we’re purely looking at your experiences within the social sector. Um, and obviously, we’re not looking for people who necessarily have consulting experience. I think that, you know, in my own personal, like, [00:16:00] opinion, you know, if you’re coming from high school with consulting experience, that’s pretty crazy because I don’t think I even knew what consulting was, uh, my first few semesters.
And we’re also looking at, you know, how have you impacted your community? As Berkeley students, we have all impacted our communities in certain ways, um, but we’re just seeing like, you know, what is your drive? What is your motivation for joining TBG? I think, you know, a lot of people…look at our connections and our alumni, but at the end of the day, you’re putting a lot of hours into the club for nonprofits. Um, and that’s going to have to be fueled by…your motivation and your understanding of the impact. In our mind, everything can be teachable. So, especially, the technical maybe consulting aspects of slide-decking, you know, Excel, things like that can always be teachable. But what you can’t instill in someone is, you know, the drive to work with a nonprofit, right? And so that’s what we look for in the essay and the resumes round.
And so our, [00:17:00] our essays are pretty straightforward, um, maybe some curveballs just to get to know you as a person. Um, maybe, I think, an essay prompt that we’ve had in the past is, you know, what are you most proud of? And I wrote about my siblings. I’m an older brother to a lot of younger siblings. And so, that’s what I talked about, as well as, you know, what are your motivations to join TBG? And so, from there it happens very quickly. Um, the next day, you know, you are updated on the next round.
And so the next round is going to be a group case. So, if you’re unaware, consulting clubs and consulting firms use the casing style of interviewing, so it’s a business problem, business issue. Um, you’re given exhibits and different information to try to figure out, kind of, a range of different business problems that you have to solve. And so in this first group round, we test, you know, we’re looking at your collaboration, right? We just talked about, you know, how a team structure is for consultants. And so in that group interview, you’re with [00:18:00] three other applicants. And so we’re looking to see, you know, how do you collaborate? How do you build off each other? Um, and also, like, what are your problem-solving skills?
From there, we go on to…the next day, which, so this is now Sunday, group interviews are Saturday. So it happens very quickly. And, um, all the consulting clubs are operating at the same schedule. So everyone is doing group–or for us, we do our first interview round on Saturday, and then there’s another one Sunday. And so Sunday is going to be, uh, an, an individual case, as well as a behavioral interview to get to know you more. Um, we use a recruiting term called “social sector passion.” Uh, we just want to see, you know, why you are so interested in this one main area. Um, and, you know, how do you want to build off from there?
Katie Han: I see. I see. So that’s kind of the whole, um, rundown of what an applicant might experience or have to go through.
Brandon Bui: Yeah, well…there are actually more rounds after that.
So, we do do a [00:19:00] take-home, kind of, you know, assessment, um, that is very in line with the actual work you’re going to be doing. Obviously, casing for both consulting clubs and for firms, it’s not going to be like the interview case that you just did, right? And so, we want to see, you know, what kind of quality of work, what kind of…structure are you, are you bringing to your methodology.
And so we have a take-home assignment, as well as, what we call meet-and-greet, just an opportunity to, you know, see if TBG is actually the right fit for you.
Katie Han: Since you just described the whole process that an applicant will go through, what are these clubs typically looking for in the applicants that they sift through?
Brandon Bui: Yeah, yeah, I touched on it a lot, because I just can’t talk on other clubs and their methodology. But of course, for us, it’s going to be that drive and that wanting to be in the social sector, right?
Yes, there are so many great connections and networking into different industries. But, at [00:20:00] the end of the day, what you’re going to spend the most time on is figuring out how nonprofit X is going to be able to stay afloat until maybe the next fiscal year, or how can they expand their services to maybe underprivileged communities.
Katie Han: This is Berkeley Brainwaves on KALX Berkeley, and we’re talking about student consulting clubs with Brandon Bui, vice president of the student consulting club called the Berkeley Group.
So now I kind of want to shift the focus to the sponsorships and the connections and even the funding that a lot of these student consulting groups, including the Berkeley Group, receive.
The Berkeley Group is, um, associated with UC Berkeley, the campus, but there are some other clubs that are not affiliated with the campus at all, um, or maybe other clubs would be sponsored by the ASUC. Are those typically later down the line after the club is formed, or do people within the club reach out and kind of form connections early on?
Brandon Bui: Yeah, so as a registered student organization, TBG is sponsored by the ASUC, so we do get, I think, you know, [00:21:00] some amount of stipends from the ASUC in terms of our operation, so recruiting and different kind of travel tasks we have to do for clients. But what we emphasize and what we need funding for is for our equity fund, right? So because consultants are putting in, you know, very similarly to a part-time job level of hours worked, because they’re sacrificing their time to be able to work with TBG to work for a non-profit, that we want to be able to at least support them for the time missed that they could have been working a job.
And so, that’s where we call in alumni to support us, um, and so that’s how we directly support the consultants who have this proven need to be, I guess, supported financially through the club. And so, you know, we want to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to do the same work that another person can, and so that shouldn’t be limited just because, you know, of financial needs or because you have to miss an opportunity cost to work.
Katie Han: I see, um, and I think a lot of [00:22:00] people who have heard of these clubs know that the alumni network is extensive and very closely tied with the current members of these clubs.
Brandon Bui: Mm-hm, yeah, because we are, you know, 20 years old, there’s 20 years of tradition, um, 20-plus actually, so, there is the sense of…connection that you have to, you know, alumni who you’ve never met and who, you know, you would have never even met. Um, for TBG, you know, there’s TBG couples who’ve gotten married, you
know, uh, there’s TBG kids running around, and I think that’s super special. Um, but they’re always willing to, to, you know, set 15 minutes of their time to talk to you about maybe the different industry or different role that they’re in.
Um, and honestly, it is pretty daunting as, not even just as a new member, but as, you know, as me going into my internal vice president role that…I have to talk to a lot of these alumni who are very important people, very accomplished people, and their different industries, and so, they don’t blink an eye to your request. [00:23:00]
Um, and we’re, we’re all over. I think when you come in, your whole newbie class, they’re all very driven, motivated people. And so even, from my class, Medina Danish is someone who is in my newbie class of the spring, um, and so she is now the number-one most-voted senator doing great work. And so I think, you know, you look around and you understand how good everyone is at, you know, their interests and how passionate they are. And it just like motivates you to–to do whatever you can, um, to kind of reach their level, and I think it’s super inspiring.
Katie Han: Yeah, especially since they receive a lot of invaluable memories and experiences from being in those clubs or being affiliated with those–
Brandon Bui: Yeah.
Katie Han: –um, sectors.
Brandon Bui: Yeah. On top of the work, there’s also, of course, you know, work hard, play hard. We, we love to spend time with each other, and I think that’s the connection that, you know, is bonding the older alumni to us. Um, a lot of the older alumni still hang out with their same TBG group as, you know, [00:24:00] as I, I guess like, you know, translating to ours now. And so that’s really special.
Um, and I think, you know, TBG has made my college experience. My best friends are in my consulting club. Um…but I think for me, it’s, it’s always been that way since I’ve joined, um, I’ve bought in pretty early. And so now I have my best friends for life from it.
Katie Han: And that’s good for you.
Brandon Bui: Yeah.
Katie Han: Yeah, um. But hey, let’s get into kind of the more fun side of The Berkeley Group. You know, just like any other club, you guys probably go on to bonding events as well, right?
Brandon Bui: Mm-hm, yeah. So, what I’ll say about, you know, how we kind of socialize is that we’re a very diverse club, both, you know, in interest and passion and in background. And so this is a college campus, maybe a lot of people kind of do the things associated with college life. But at the same time, you know, we have people who are practicing, you know, kind of different lifestyles, and we’re still able to find avenues in which, you know, we can socialize [00:25:00] and, and grow closer as a club together.
We can, you know, plan a day to, you know, paint birdhouses is something actually we did really recently, um, and that was super fun. I think for us, we have, like, a house that a lot of TBG lives in. So, we are getting a lot of hummingbirds and a lot of sparrows, so we wanted to make birdhouses for them.
But at the same time, it could also be, you know, pretty in line with what a lot of other consulting clubs are doing. So, you know, we love, you know, our boat trips around the Bay. You know, it’s a great reward for the end of the semester after a pretty long and strenuous time of, you know, working and, and problem-solving.
Katie Han: How much of the work in The Berkeley Group or being involved in The Berkeley Group kind of, um, take up your time as a Berkeley student studying on campus?
Brandon Bui: Oh, man. Um…I think it’s hard to put a number on it for sure…um, the way I operate in my team is I always wanted them to put a number on the hours worked so I can adjust, kind of, the [00:26:00] workload that they’re getting, um…
But, you know, we say 8 to 10 hours just for purely the work, um, but there’s also, on top of that, all the social aspects of it. Then we also study together, so, for our classes and, you know, I think that’s why we emphasize this meet-and-greet round because you’re going to have to spend so much time with us that we wanted to make it a mutually beneficial experience. How we operate, we try to, you know, just let people know, like, kind of the experience. And so early on they can make that decision instead of being kind of landlocked into certain clubs already.
Katie Han: Yeah, eat, breathe, sleep, this club, right?
Brandon Bui: Yeah, but, I love it. And everyone has a kind of a different level of interaction with the club. But we’re all very close. We all know each other very well. Um, and you have to be, right, to be able to just spend so much time, to sacrifice so much.
And, you know, it does emulate a lot of kind of traditional consulting work where, you know, unfortunately you are going to spend, you know, maybe [00:27:00] some long nights working on different deliverables, especially when it’s crunch time. Um, we do
one midpoint deliverable for a client and then the final deliverable, um, that I just did yesterday. So, we try to plan ahead for that.
Katie Han: So to kind of cap this off, do you have any favorite memories from the club at all?
Brandon Bui: Oh, man. Um…
Katie Han: Probably a lot, right?
Brandon Bui: Yeah, definitely a lot. I think we’re the kind of club where, you know, things happen and they’re an inside joke, they’re talked about for a long time.
Um, but I think, you know, the special moments are when you’re able to connect with maybe new members who are still adjusting to the environment or are maybe not necessarily people you would even get to meet at UC Berkeley if you weren’t all kind of collected by this desire to consult for nonprofits at the end of the day. That’s what it is. And so the special moments in which you’re caught just, you know, with someone else and you’re really able to connect, get to know people that, you know, are outside your social circle necessarily. And so moments like those moments, [00:28:00] they’re just wholesome, and you understand that at the end of the day, we all are individuals with our own passions and desires. And it’s just so amazing to be able to watch people, you know, build off of those and to work towards their dream.
Katie Han: All right. Well, thank you so much for coming on to the show to kind of give us a little bit more of an insight on the inner workings of, of student consulting clubs, specifically The Berkeley Group.
Do you have any socials or a website that–
Brandon Bui: Yeah, yeah.
Katie Han: –people who are interested can go to?
Brandon Bui: Yeah, so definitely how we operate is our website. So that’s going to be the berkeleygroup.org. And then also, you know, we are students as well, so we all use Instagram, and so that’s going to be The Berkeley Group on Instagram.
And so that’s where you can find not only our recruitment materials, but also, you know, who we are as a club, as a wider whole. We, you know, we post our philanthropy events and different kind of activities that we do to bond or to outreach in our communities. Um, you know, a big one that a lot of clubs do is The Berkeley Project, but we also do a lot of fun philo-donation and auction [00:29:00] events to raise for different various charities.
On top of that, you know, we do show the five products we have, but we also do community consults where a lot of the nonprofits that we can’t necessarily consult for because we don’t have the capacity, we bring down their scope that they applied with down to a lower level. And so we are able to consult maybe for a couple weeks instead of the whole semester. And we showcase those, um, working with different nonprofits and different political issues.
Katie Han: Thank you again. This has been really insightful.
So everyone, this was Berkeley Brainwaves, a 30-minute show dedicated to telling stories from the Cal campus. I’m your host, Katie Han, and you’re listening to KALX Berkeley 90.7 FM. Thanks for listening, everyone.
