A career in consultancy can be a great first step for graduates who haven’t yet figured out what they want to. More than that, a career as a consultant is an ideal long-term plan for professionals who enjoy variety. Tommy Kraak falls under both categories. “I love working with people, and I love working with content. But if I had to do either of those things for too long, I would get bored. I love the combination.”
Like many students, Tommy Kraak wasn’t sure what he wanted to be when he ‘grew up’. “When you make a choice for one job or field, you close the door on several others – at least for a while. That choice was rather daunting for me,” says Tommy. Luckily, a solution to this problem presented itself to him rather quickly.
During Tommy’s bachelor’s programme in Management and Organisational Science at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, he had his first encounter with the world of consulting. “We’d have guest lectures from big consultancies like Deloitte or Capgemini. The speakers drove up in a Porsche or a Tesla, stood in front of the class dressed in a snazzy suit, and talked about all the cool projects they did,” Tommy recalls. “I must admit, like many boys that age, I was quite susceptible to this enticing image. So, the seed of going into consulting was planted. Not as much for the cars and the fashion as for the variety of projects that these consultancies promised.”
A diverse array of projects
Looking at his career so far, this has worked out well for Tommy. “I’ve worked on a diverse array of projects so far. I’ve held a business analyst role at a large Dutch bank, I’ve worked on a new customer experience management tool and I’ve worked as an implementation manager for a new CRM system. Currently, I’m simultaneously doing two projects relating to the New Pensions Law,” Tommy says.
The pension system in the Netherlands is currently undergoing a complete transformation. There are a lot of steps that need to be taken in order to comply with the new requirements. Tommy is working on two different projects for two different clients at the same time. “For one client, I’m a project manager for the transition to the New Pensions Law, which means that I keep the overview, map out action points, chase status reports, and so on. For another client, I’m a project manager for the data quality part of the transformation. The regulators demand that the quality of data reaches a certain standard before organisations are allowed to complete their transformation. Many organisations have a long way to go to reach that level of data quality. I’m advising one of our clients on this process,” says Tommy.
The perfect combination
What Tommy enjoys most about these projects is that they all take place at the intersection of business and data/IT. “I like the combination of the human aspect on the one hand – working with people, change management – and working on content on the other hand, where you need to really know what you’re talking about and get a bit technical. If I was only working with people and processes, I’d get bored after a while. Similarly, only writing policy documents and executing IT controls would get boring, too. It’s the combination that I like.”
I like the combination of the human aspect on the one hand – working with people, change management – and working on content on the other hand.
It’s clear that Tommy enjoys this balance, because that’s what characterised his studies too. After his bachelor’s degree in Management and Organisational Science, he continued at VU Amsterdam for a master’s in Business Administration, particularly the Leadership and Change Management track. “I liked that my studies looked at organisations differently. I learned to view organisations as a collection of relationships between people, which provides valuable insights that you don’t get from studies that are more focused on numbers,” Tommy says.
Parting advice
For graduates or students on the fence about becoming a consultant, Tommy has a few words of advice: “If you’re not sure what you want to do yet, or you’re a person who likes variety, consultancy is an ideal starting point to your career. As a consultant, you get to taste a lot of different types of jobs, of industries, of companies. At Projective Group, for example, you have various practices that you can try out. Within each practice, you have different clients, different roles that you can sample. If this sounds good to you, then I wouldn’t hesitate any longer.”
Conclusion
On the fence about becoming a consultant? If you like variety, or you’re not sure yet what you want to do, then joining Projective Group is definitely a good move. Our practices let you get acquainted with different fields, roles and responsibilities, while our extensive training programmes let you level up your skills at the same time. Inspired by his story? Join our team!
About Projective Group
Established in 2006, Projective Group is a leading Financial Services change specialist.
We are recognised within the industry as a complete solutions provider, partnering with clients in Financial Services to provide resolutions that are both holistic and pragmatic. We have evolved to become a trusted partner for companies that want to thrive and prosper in an ever-changing Financial Services landscape.
