At a university with over 1,300 student organizations, TASK aspires to be the premier one people think of when it comes to consulting.
Typically, consulting organizations work with other student groups, non-profits or charities, but TASK is different in that it offers pro-bono consulting services to for-profit businesses.
A typical semester has four to five projects divided amongst the 30 members. Clients are found through cold emailing, word of mouth and even door-to-door knocking.
Each job gets a team lead with four to five members, all dedicating an average of 450 hours to completing their task over the course of 10 weeks. At the end of the semester, the business receives a final deliverable in the form of a report and slides.
Biomedical engineering sophomore Sarah Jacob described the process as gratifying.
“A really cool thing I did in my project last semester was developing good customer profiles,” Jacob said. “I got a chance to completely rebrand their social media, we really improved the reach they could get. It was cool using my existing marketing and graphic design skills and kind of turning into a real improvement in a company and help them see a lot more profit.”
Some of the services available include financial analysis and accounting, marketing and brand strategy, operations and process improvement, business strategy and planning, customer experience and sales optimization.
“I went to go talk with a past client, and they still reference the final deliverable we gave them when they post on social media,” management information systems junior and executive director Arianna Baag said. “It’s nice to know that our clients are using our recommendations.”
While TASK does place an emphasis on the professional development of its members, they make sure to balance it out with casual hangouts as well. Through socials and events like their annual trip — a two-day outing to meet and network with consulting firms — Jacob found a tight-knit and well-connected community. She said everyone is motivated and hard-working.
“It feels like an org that has everything for me,” finance junior Minh Duong said. “You have the social aspect, then you have the career aspect and then you also have all the professional development stuff that go with it.”
When TASK was first founded in 2020, it operated only in Bryan-College Station before eventually partnering with the Bryan-College Station Chamber of Commerce. Five years later, its reach has expanded to the point that they needed to leave the partnership.
The group has added 57 projects to its portfolio, with clients as far as Brenham and Austin under its belt.
“Our clients are awesome,” Baag said. “I was part of the project in Brenham, Texas, last semester, and our client was a farm and so they actually had horses and donkeys, like on their property. When we went to go visit them, we actually got to feed and pet their horses and donkeys. It was a really cool experience.”
While gaining consulting experience, members are exposed to events and industries they may not have otherwise gotten a chance to. During his freshman year, Duong was tasked to work with a real estate client.
“I had to learn everything basically from the ground up,” Duong said. “From that project, I have that confidence in me that I can learn new things quick.”
Baag was inspired to join TASK by her sister, who works as a consultant. Over the past three years, she has found she improved her interpersonal and technical skills. Baag learned how to use data analytics regarding Downtown Bryan’s economy in two weeks.
“I think that is the most exciting thing about consulting,” Baag said. “You keep learning about new industries, about new things and then learning new skills.”
