First, Congratulations!

ERP is an industry with expanding possibilities. I wish I had known about ERP when I was younger - I only stumbled into the industry after several less successful attempts to establish a career elsewhere. ERP can be a rewarding vocation for people with the right skills and temperament. Reflecting on my years here, I'm glad I finally found my niche. I'm glad you've made it here as well.

I wish I'd found ERP earlier, and there are lessons I wish I'd learned earlier. I think these are valuable to Young ERP Consultant of any age - meaning anyone starting out in the industry.

As a young ERP consultant, you are a paradox. You are an elite member of the knowledge economy. You're customers will look to you for advice. Also, you don't know anything. So how can you add value?

Advice Part 1: Take Notes

Compensate for your lack of experience with tenacity. Take notes during any meeting you attend.

Are your meetings recorded? Listen back to them at 2x and see if there are parts you missed or don't understand. Ping more experienced members of your team about things that are unclear to you. Why did they ask that question a certain way? What did the customer mean in their response?

Then, as the young ERP consultant, share your meeting notes with the customer. Probably nobody will re-watch the recording...the customer will likely skim your notes. This is an opportunity to get your name in front of the customer's ERP project team in a positive way. Good notes add value.

Another tip: ERP is full of acryonyms - ERP, GL, AP, AR, TB, WBS, SOW, FDD, TDD, KPI...keep a list of the ones you don't know and build a personal dictionary.