Hilary Schwartz - Spotlight Interview

Please tell us about your career journey so far.

My career path has had its share of twists and turns. I knew early on that I loved growth strategy and business operations- but I had no idea what that meant for a career. I ran a boutique in Los Angeles for 2 years before getting my MBA from Indiana University.

I connected with Bain & Company early on and really drank the Kool-Aid, I was drawn to the generalist model, the collaborative, data-driven approach, and the type of questions I’d get to tackle on a daily basis. I truly loved my time at Bain but wanted to work with more early-stage, mission-driven organisations.

Over the next 5 years, I worked in the start-up space and set up my own consulting business, focused at that intersection of strategy and impact. Towards the end, I realised mission-driven work was only about 50% of what I was working on but 100% of what I was interested in. I was happy with what I was doing but hungry to find a role where I could invest more of my time and energy on organisations truly driving impact. As part of the Jasmine team, I’m able to do all of that and more.

Can you walk us through the key factors that led you to choose Jasmine Social Investments as the next step in your career?

I like to say it was a bit of a happy accident. I was in a great place with my own consulting work but I wanted to do more with mission-driven organisations. I came across the job posting for Jasmine on Movemeon and was immediately drawn to it- the focus on impact data, the small team size, and the portfolio of incredible social entrepreneurs.

Once I met the team, it was a no-brainer. They are smart and humble and have truly created a culture where I can both make an impact and continue to learn and grow along the way.

In your opinion, how can the skills developed in management consulting be leveraged to drive meaningful change in the social sector?

There’s so much value the consulting toolkit can bring to any role, in my very biased opinion. I’ve always had an eye for the social sector throughout my career, so I think this question of “what can the for-profit strategy inform in the non-profit sector?” has always been top of mind.

During my MBA, I worked on projects with social entrepreneurs in Kenya, Botswana, Vietnam, and the US. At Bain, I was a part of multiple projects, partnering with Acumen entrepreneurs on questions of operations and growth. I also got to work with Bain’s education practice on a project standing up Washington’s Career-Connected Education. I’ve spent the last 5 years really at that intersection of strategy and impact- partnering with mission-driven start-ups, working on pro-bono projects with non-profits, and helping global organisations drive more sustainable practices.

I think strategy and operations best practices are, often, industry-agnostic. Customer best practices can really be applied across customer organisations. Supply chain best practices are helpful to most but especially organisations focused on the last mile– getting services and products to rural communities. I especially love to see the way digital tools and iterative, agile ways of working have truly become a critical pillar across social organisations. Learnings across these are very transferable across for-profit and non-profit sectors.

That said, now that I’ve switched to a social organization, I can confirm there are many parts of this world that are fundamentally different from the for-profit space. There is absolutely a lot to learn but that’s what consulting prepares you to do- learn on the job and ask the right questions along the way.

What advice do you have for fellow consultants looking to expand their careers globally? And how can they effectively utilise a platform like Movemeon to enhance their career prospects globally?

Just go for it! A lot of folks found their way into consulting through deep networking and intensive case practices. As a result, we are generally biased towards only applying to companies where we know someone or can at least get an informational interview set up. That’s not a bad strategy but platforms like Movemeon can help us move beyond that. I didn’t know anyone at Jasmine when I applied. I saw a role that seemed interesting, in a company doing really exciting work. Don’t count yourself out too soon- the worst thing that can happen is you don’t get the interview. But who knows- you might just end up on your next big adventure!

Could you describe how Movemeon played a role in your successful journey to securing the role with Jasmine Investments?

Movemeon played such a big role in getting me connected to and finalising my offer with Jasmine. With other platforms, you send in your resume and never hear anything or run through 5 rounds of interviews before learning the role isn’t at all what you thought it would be.

After I applied for this role, Naveen reached out to me and asked for a very targeted introduction to send over to the team but also gave me an overview of the role, the team, and the starting salary. They gave me honest updates on what the team was excited about but also what I was missing, so I could address their concerns head-on throughout our early conversations. It really felt like I had a partner and coach heading into my calls with Jasmine, and they stayed connected through my move from Los Angeles to Auckland.

I’m so thankful for their help in both connecting me to Jasmine to start and keeping the process moving so I could focus on what was important- learning about the role and getting to know the team.