Experience Details
POSITION: Analyst, Thought Leadership
WORK PLACEMENT: Deloitte's Future of Canada Centre (FCC)
INDUSTRY: Public Policy & Research
Key Achievements
- Drafted policy recommendations on topics including data privacy, transparency and algorithmic bias for an in-progress public sector data policy brief.
- Created policy summaries on ongoing technology and internet legislation reform in Canada for firm-wide circulation
- Conducted literature reviews on topics like cloud adoption, data portability, and data sovereignty for two digital equity research reports
- Executed policy whitespace scanning (e.g., economic & geopolitical trends) for FY23 research agenda strategic development by leading desk research, helping organize interviews/internal consultations, and building briefing decks for senior executive meetings
- Supported a pro bono strategy consulting project for a leading Canadian public policy hub by helping generate materials (e.g., presentation slides) for client workshops
Experience Reflection
My last four months at the FCC have been filled with incredible professional development experienced both through on-the-job doing and formal skills development sessions. Through the two research papers and one policy brief I contributed to as part of the digital equity series, I refined my literature review, desk research, and policy development skills. The digital equity projects also allowed me to deepen my knowledge in technology policy and regulation. Ultimately, I was given the opportunity to apply my knowledge when I authored policy summaries on the evolving technology regulation landscape in Canada, which was posted on a firm-wide bulletin.
I also learned new skillsets like stakeholder management, whitespace scanning, and briefing deck building by supporting the development of the FCC's FY23 research agenda. Outside the FCC, I also volunteered to support a pro bono strategy consulting project for a leading Canadian public policy hub. Through my work helping create materials for client workshops, I gained insight into the client-facing side of Deloitte. This project was very useful in helping me decide that I wanted to focus future career efforts in the policy development industry rather than in management consulting.
Aside from on-the-job skills development, I was also given the opportunity to pursue professional development through peer learning sessions on quantitative and qualitative research. I most notably was also sponsored to attend the CanStudyUS program at TMU's Leadership Lab (formerly the Ryerson Leadership Lab) and learn about U.S. public policy and politics.
Skills Tracker
- New Topics Learned: Cloud adoption | Data portability | Data sovereignty | Data privacy & transparency | Algorithmic bias | Internet/technology legislation & regulatory reform
- Skills Utilized & Polished: Literature review | Desk research | Legislation research & analysis | Policy development | Research agenda strategic planning | Presentation deck building | Stakeholder management (interviews/internal consultations organization)
- Professional Development Gains: U.S. public policy & politics | Quantitative research (e.g., Excel, data visualization) | Qualitative research (e.g., interviews, qualitative data coding)
Team Performance Feedback
What does Sofia do really well?
Overall
- Sofia provided invaluable assistance on the Digital Equity reports
- Sofia develops quickly. Takes feedback extremely well, and makes sure she shows development
- She brings such a sunny attitude and bright disposition to work. This is under-rated in its importance
Research and analytical skills
- Sofia is always eager to tackle any research question and she is not put off by ambiguity or complexity; in fact, she embraces new, emerging, and challenging research topics
- Sofia is an excellent qualitative researcher and has demonstrated strong research instincts across a range of projects
- Sofia is able to get to the crux of sometimes-ambiguous research questions and distill the most important information in a very clear, organized way
- Sofia does a good job at organizing her thoughts and is able to pursue a topic really well and in good detail
Communication
- Sofia is able to clearly communicate her research findings and always provides complete and helpful answers to follow-up questions
- Sofia possess excellent professional writing and communication skills
- Sofia’s ability to put her research and thinking into her writing is very strong, and it’s grown and improved throughout her co-op term
How did you find working with Sofia, and would you want her on your team again?
- I would absolutely love to work with Sofia again in the future. She is good-natured, down-to-earth, funny, and incredibly smart. Any organization, including Deloitte, would be very lucky to have her
- I would absolutely want Sofia on my team again—she has been a friendly, engaged, and enthusiastic team member and her research and critical thinking skills have been very valuable to the team
- It was great! She was always very helpful and someone I felt comfortable going to for support on various projects. We were lucky to have her on the team for a long co-op term. Would definitely have her back on the team