In April 2016, I started the job of a junior consultant at h,c as a graduate. My extensive experience abroad, in internships and in student organisations supplemented my business management study programme that focused on corporate development and international management. Before that I completed a commercial vocational training.

As part of its recruiting strategy, h,c takes actions such as building on intensive contact with students and young professionals and promotes continuous interaction with universities. In this context, the position of junior consultant was advertised on the website of one of the academic chairs that I was familiar with at my university, and I applied for the job.

Overall, I had a positive experience throughout. The very pleasant and dependable support through the application and selection process gave evidence of consistent corporate communication to me from the beginning. It was and still is important to them for new hires to get to know the company as well as possible. This is completely aligned with the saying: “We are also applying to get you as an employee”.

The entry concept at h,c lays an important foundation for smooth new employee integration. The work flows, processes and structures of the organisation are thoroughly conveyed at the beginning during the internal training sessions that take place. The beginning of my employment turned out to be very pleasant because of the helpful documents and tools. The mentor at my side facilitated technical and social integration.

It was very positive for me that the strategy weekend that includes all employees was right in my first month at h,c. This particularly enabled great interaction about professional and personal issues with co-workers at all levels.

As a junior consultant, I primarily have task responsibility within the project team. This specifically includes help with concept development, procuring and analysing data, establishing and maintaining financial performance and planning, preparing and helping with conducting workshops and professional interaction with existing clients, which ensures trust. There are regular meetings in close coordination with the project manager regarding the status and open work packages. 

There are some challenges since the work at h,c varies widely in many ways. The industries that we operate in with our clients are as different as the companies that we assist. One of my current challenges is to develop the right intuition to derive the quintessence from each one of our projects and at the same time to build up detailed industry knowledge.

In general, I would like to say that a special characteristic of working at h,c is that juniors not only work behind the scenes but are directly included in projects. Right at the beginning, I even received the opportunity to be included in a comprehensive project. As part of a IDW S6 restructuring concept, the opportunity came up for me to work on evaluating a company’s restructuring capability. During this project, I worked on all important topics from the areas of the market, service performance and finances. Consequently, intensive interaction and close collaboration with the company’s management level took place.  Measures that were successfully approved laid the foundation for further serving the client with measure implementation, and I continue to work together on the entire range of services of active company development with my co-workers and the client.

Internal training sessions and specialist presentations are the basis for promoting continual transfer of knowledge within the company. There is a fixed training budget in addition to the on-the-job training concept, which supplements individual further development. In line with the goal of organic growth, h,c has a personal development or action development diagram that is jointly filled with content at semi-annual and annual meetings and is then documented on an ongoing basis. This is particularly helpful for me as a junior to become awareof my own strengths, development potential and goals in a structured way. I am very grateful for this distinct culture of feedback and lively interaction with the management and executive level.

The composition and structure of the h,c team is very diverse. However, or precisely for that reason, there is a mindset of togetherness that is actively lived at the company. Respectful, honest, open interaction takes priority. h,c not only sees itself as a competent partner with our clients but also puts great value on transparency, interdisciplinary project work and cohesion within the organisation. We are far removed from rigid structures and ideas of a strict hierarchy. At monthly employee discussion rounds, everyone comes together, discusses current topics and promotes continual interaction even beyond the various locations. The reserved table for “young” h,c employees provides many benefits for technical and social skills.

For me personally, the cohesion of this company is also characterised by the fact that even in phases that are very work intensive fun always plays an important role. In my opinion, the perfect mix of seriousness, professionalism and humour is shown, which impressed me from the beginning. It is unbelievable how much I like to come to work and collectively solve complex problems, create new things and benefit from the harmonious atmosphere for my own performance.

I like to play tennis in my spare time. In addition to getting a good workout, I also enjoy the social life of the association, team training and championship games in the summer and winter. In addition to this, I also relax with yoga and gain new thoughts and ideas. Last but not least, my best way to manage my work-life balance is to spend time with my friends and family doing a wide variety of activities in Cologne.