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Internal Structure Within A Consulting Firm

Throughout the past two months of my remote marketing internship at Cavi Consulting, I have learned an immense amount about its organization and internal structure. The organization of the PR firm that I interned for last summer was much more structured, much more formal, and relied upon a more hierarchical internal structure. However, at Cavi, the organizational culture places more emphasis on teamwork and relationships within the organization, resulting in a more casual yet professional culture.

Each month, my supervisors conduct a training session about various topics related to the workplace in order to prepare the interns for post-graduation work life. Our most recent training was about the different structures of companies and which ones are successful and which are not. We discussed companies such as Ben and Jerry’s, which is a more “horizontal” structure in which the employees have more influence, say, and impact within the company. My supervisors discussed how they are emulating specific aspects of this structure within Cavi, and I really enjoyed learning about the purposeful structure of the company I’m working for. We also engage in a monthly book club in which we read books relating to the operations and structures of various businesses and entrepreneurs. Desite the fact that this internship is remote, there is a strong emphasis on open and honest communication, as well as on those who are higher up in the company intentionally teaching those working under them the “why”s and “how”s of each task.

In terms of our day-to-day structure, the norm is to work independently on your assigned project (or with the other interns), then connect with your supervisor/mentor throughout the day if you have questions, concerns, and to keep them updated about the status of your work. Our internal communication itself is casual and primarily conducted through channels such as Slack or Zoom. One of my favorite aspects of the organizational structure is that Cavi is a pretty small company, with only about three main supervisors. This allows me to have much more responsibility as an intern. For example, I have been working on producing the content for their business courses sold on Teachable.com, and this has allowed me to gain valuable firsthand experience that will serve me in my future jobs. Although Cavi is a consulting company, it operates more like a smaller, boutique firm that is able to give a lot of time and energy to its clients as well as its interns, something that I have appreciated while working entirely from home!