Introduction and Statement of Purpose For my final product, I plan to create a consulting guide tailored to high school students. This will enable me to showcase the skills I have researched and developed this year in a product that can aid other students. I would be analyzing the data and information from my research and my mentor to compile what I find to be the most important steps and tips. My purpose is to utilize my knowledge to explain what consulting involves and teach others a few skills which are encompassed in such a career. My plan is to use what I have learned from my original work case study analysis and what my mentor has shared about her journey thus far to create a mini consulting guide, including job descriptions, the recruitment process, and specifically needed training for case studies and presentations. This will be beneficial to me and my audience because one of the best ways to improve understanding is to teach. It will be tailored to high school students with everyday vocabulary, concise bodies of text, and visuals wherever applicable, I will also focus on giving examples to further develop my point. My broader hope is to discover more valuable information that can assist me in my journey to becoming a management consultant. Review of Skills and Research A majority of my research so far has been focused on techniques and skills used by management consultants on a day to day basis. Using this information, I will synthesize what I have found to be the most helpful content into a concise guide. I have also completed a few research papers on the principal skills and techniques utilized by consultants, such as information analysis, problem solving, and effective communication, so I can keep those in my mind as I work through the guide. Other research about soft skills and conveying the message well to the clients are going to be beneficial to potential consultants as well. Some important skills I have read about involve active listening, being concise, and having a structured and organized approach. A couple of sections of the articles I have covered give specific example suggestions which I could also use as a basis for parts of my plan. Some examples of these include conducting surveys on existing clients, speaking to store managers, and then looking to past successful strategies when crafting solutions. Recently, I have had the privilege of conducting multiple interviews with real management consultants. They were also able to give me further insight on how to go about consulting with a client, which I can include in the “life of a consultant” section of my guide. I have applied similar skills during my original work with the case study so I can speak a little bit from personal experience as well. Methodology Participants: For my methodology, I do not plan to use any participants, since my idea only involves me and my consulting guide. Materials: The materials I expect to use are my research papers, notes from my interviews, Google Docs, and Canva. Description of Process and Procedures: My first step would be to compile a list or outline of what I would like to emphasize in my guide. I will look through the data I have collected and begin grouping it into each category of the guide. Then, I will format it in paragraphs within different sections. Once I have created the actual content, I will create a professionally formatted packet with Canva, including the key bullet points of my research and action steps that I would advise students interested in consulting to take. I will also definitely be reviewing this guide with my mentor periodically to get her expert feedback. I can modify my information or the manner in which it is presented to be perceived more clearly or efficiently based on viewer feedback. In terms of a timeline, I would like to have figured out the main components I will include by around February 10, 2025. Next, I will work on analyzing the data and looking through my research to fill content into each of these sections until March 10, 2025. Towards the end of March and into April, I will likely start putting the guide together in Canva and considering the format and aesthetic elements. Utilization of High-Level Thinking Skills I will need to focus on several high level thinking skills throughout my original work timeline, including analyzing data, synthesizing research, problem-solving, and effective communication and summarization. With typical case studies related to consulting, some quantitative or qualitative data is given. I would need to explain how to pick apart this data to identify a few key issues to address. I will have to emphasize how to select keywords or data points which are relevant to the problems at hand and then reflect on potential causes and solutions for these issues. Then, I would utilize the significant parts of my research and apply them to a specific case, as I did with my original work, to illustrate how to synthesize researched information. I can affirm my own presentation techniques by sharing soft skills needed to summarize the content into a digestible presentation for my hypothetical client. I have learned that some important parts of communication are being concise but thorough, modulating the voice to maintain audience engagement, and ending with action steps, so the client knows what they should directly do to follow my recommendations and improve their situation. Thus, I will be utilizing multiple thinking skills and explain their significance to my future audience as I have detailed above. All of these skills will continue to serve me as I enter the business consulting industry. Results/Conclusions To conclude, I will have gained an even clearer idea of how to consult by applying the techniques by thoroughly explaining them within this guide. I am excited to be creating some kind of guide that might help future high schoolers understand consulting better and contains information that would have been helpful to me when I did not know much about consulting. This would enable me to create an impact on other students in the long run, while furthering my own knowledge at the same time. This idea differs from what already is available because there are not many resources which support high school students in understanding case studies. Most resources are targeted at college graduates and industry professionals, therefore they are too complex for a beginner to fully comprehend. My goal is to compile my learnings into a guide which is simple but thorough, and can help high school students understand how to approach and solve case studies. Overall, I am pleased with how my first attempt at addressing a case study has turned out within my original work, and I am looking forward to deepening my knowledge through the development of this consulting guide.