Kendall Wu: My Journey With Expert360

Your elevator pitch

After completing a degree in engineering and commerce in New Zealand and dipping my toes into the Strategy space with EY and KPMG for a few months, I moved to Melbourne and kicked off my career at Kearney. I spent 18 months at Kearney involved in a range of commercial due-diligence, procurement and growth strategy projects.

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More recently, I have entered the freelancing space which acted as a bridge between permanent roles and I have now completed two projects. One project was via my own network and the second project was via the Expert360 network.

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What attracted you to freelancing?

After I resigned from Kearney this year, I decided to test the freelancing space for a few months between roles. Freelancing was very much an ‘in between’ solution for me and to be honest, I entered and exited the space very quickly. Since I had already secured my next permanent role, I knew it wasn’t going to be a long term career - but that’s the beauty of it right!?

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However, it was a lucrative opportunity that enabled me to enjoy superior flexibility (including working remotely from overseas) and work life balance, compared to my previous roles. I was also able to keep my consulting toolkit sharp in preparation for my next role.

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I’ve now got a taste of what it’s like to “Go out on your own” and I’ve also added another layer to my portfolio career.

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"The freelancing space acted as a bridge between permanent roles and I have now completed two projects."

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Why Expert360?

I actually joined the Expert360 network while I was still in my full-time role at Kearney which enabled me to understand the demand, types of roles and day rates.

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This gave me the security that there were a variety of interesting roles and clients were demanding my consulting skill set and level of experience. Although I also reached out to my own network about contracting opportunities, it was great to know I always had the support of the Expert360 team and community.

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From a practical perspective, Expert360 also took care of the contract, insurance and payments for my project, which saved me quite the admin burden. It’s fun being your own boss, but there are a few logistical things to think about.

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"I've now got a taste of what it's like to 'Go out on your own' and I've also added another layer to my portfolio career."

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Walk us through what a day in the life of ‘Kendall the Strategy Freelancer’ looks like.

Through Expert360, I was engaged on a 3 month project for a boutique consulting firm. I supported the Partners in the implementation of various business strategies and execution of the business plan, helped drive the implementation of operational plans and procedures and assisted in the evaluation of performance. The roles and responsibilities were nearly identical to my previous role at Kearney.

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I was able to work fully remotely from Melbourne most of the time and I was also able to travel back to see my family in New Zealand and work from there for a couple of weeks. This was a big plus for me as I was also able to attend my extremely delayed university graduation (thanks COVID!).

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What advice would you give someone looking to make the leap into freelancing?

Depending on how long you’re looking to step into the space for, I would be focusing on building your network - connect with old colleagues, managers and join a network like Expert360 where you not only have a team supporting you in finding projects, but also the admin is taken care of.

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"It was a lucrative opportunity that enabled me to enjoy superior flexibility (including working remotely from overseas) and work life balance, compared to my previous roles."

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What’s next on your career & personal agenda?

I’m really excited to share that I have just joined Boston Consulting Group and I’m looking forward to working on challenging and impactful projects and further developing my consulting toolkit. I joined BCG because of the exposure I would have to a wide variety of projects, the people I had spoken to in my network had spoken very highly of the firm and the mentorship and career development opportunities.

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I’m also keen to travel to Japan next year once travel restrictions ease up - watch this space.