At ZS, you are involved in all parts of the process, from analyzing issues to implementing solutions, in partnership with clients. You'll combine your own analysis and research with our client's judgment and experience. As an ally, we help them evaluate the benefits and risks of strategic options. 

To address the increasingly diverse nature of our business, work is delivered in three broad capability areas to coordinate and develop people and expertise, and processes and tools that maximize efficiency and effectiveness. Employees see success in building a portfolio of skills. Certain skill patterns are likely to emerge, but no two ZSers need be exactly alike.

Additionally, ZS Associates has a dedicated internal corporate support organization that operates the ZS business and supports our client-facing professionals and other functions. Positions can be focused regionally, nationally or globally, and often involve close interaction with ZS leadership.

ZS realizes that our employees are juggling work commitments with efforts to create fulfilling personal lives. To help maintain a balance between employees' personal and professional lives, we encourage:

Travel for the Right Reasons

In our North American offices, our intelligent-travel philosophy encourages travel to the client site when our presence will add value or help our analysis. Travel varies by industry and project; depending on an individual's situation and the firm's needs, project staffing with less travel can be arranged.

In our European offices, more of the work is international, so more travel should be expected.

In Asia, our Shanghai and Tokyo offices serve local clients, and our intelligent-travel philosophy also applies. 

Our offices in India serve as delivery centers working with global teams, so most travel is to a ZS office to interact with colleagues and clients.

Recognizing Unique Situations

ZS has worked proactively with successful individuals to arrange part-time schedules and flexible office hours. Consulting is an industry in which clients pay a premium for our immediate attention and time. Therefore, it is difficult to accommodate arrangements that limit people’s availability—either in terms of proximity or time. However, we recognize that circumstances sometimes arise for individuals when such accommodation is necessary. At ZS, these arrangements are more often temporary in nature, rather than a permanent change in position or career path.

Consulting is a great industry to work in if you aspire toward continual learning and growth. Because each project requires a unique solution, the best training comes from hands-on experience and learning from every assignment. ZS makes a commitment to our people by providing many opportunities for growth and development across our capability groups (business consulting, business operations, business technology).

Within each group there are types of expertise that our associates aim to build. At ZS, expertise centers—small teams of experts focused on defining core skills, building firm-wide expertise delivery modules and ensuring relevant training—provide those building blocks.

At ZS, we think of consulting as an apprenticeship. You learn from more experienced team members who have more expertise in a specific industry or type of analysis or technology. Associates grow by building skills and expertise that make their contributions valuable to clients—skills such as project delivery coordination, client management, methodology development or system design.

All of our practice areas need deep content experts and strong delivery teams. Our varied practice areas and industries lead many types of projects. Each project experience provides an opportunity to gather deeper skills and add breadth to sales and marketing knowledge. Some people will focus on and be an expert in one area, while others will be strong in a few areas and conversant in others.

ZS provides project-related and structured training throughout your career to prepare you for greater responsibility and to develop your career.

New Employee Orientation (NEO): Initially, employees participate in a NEO session that provides information on basic tools, resources and key ZS practice areas.

Following NEO, there are several ongoing interactive courses offered, covering a range of topics. Some of the learning and development sessions include:

Just-in-Time Training: Interactive, informal meetings are offered just before you start a new type of project, so you can immediately put the concepts into use.

Brown-Bag Presentation Series: Short, informative and educational, these lunchtime presentations provide a forum for idea sharing and learning.

Skill-Building Courses: Interactive, hands-on training sessions are offered periodically to enhance your skills and show you how to perform your job more effectively.

Expert Sessions: Principals, Managers and Consultants from all of our offices share their expertise in training sessions designed to help you learn and apply the latest ZS strategies and practices.

Summits: Interactive workshops designed to disseminate the latest expertise and developments within an industry or practice area.

In addition to group training, ZS works with you to determine individual learning and development needs. You may benefit from participating in an industry conference, completing a college-level course or polishing your presentation skills. Each of those opportunities can be tailored to an individual's situation.