Meet Vincent. A young, hard working and highly motivated Client Consultant who strives for personal growth, complex challenges and has an open mind with a positive attitude. His proactive mentality confirms that it is a good idea to seek for chances and take them whenever they come up.
Vincent, what do you love most about your job?
Vincent: Many things! One of them is definitely working with great people, colleagues and friends on interesting client projects, which gives me the opportunity to learn something new every day about myself and about project-related matters. I do also appreciate the high degree of freedom I have. I get to decide what I work on and how I do it, bringing my own ideas and concepts to the table.
What do you do to develop and grow as an expert?
Vincent: I have regular reflection and feedback conversations with both my supervisors and peers to identify what went well, what progress I made and possible areas for improvement. Based on all this, I create personal development actions and goals. I’m also very focused on choosing projects that will help me achieve my development goals. This involves challenging my skills and knowledge and getting me out of my comfort zone.
One of the opportunities I seized to develop myself was a new MBA program I started this year. It’s a dedicated study program at ESMT Berlin, designed for approx. 50 Deutsche Telekom employees across the whole group. Best of all, it’s a part-time MBA over two years, and 90% of the tuition fee is covered by Deutsche Telekom. The whole MBA program takes place in English and in a blended format, so it combines remote working in learning groups with regular on-site training.
“Stay curios and grow” is part of our company culture. How do you stay curious and what advice would you give to other experts?
Vincent: Interact with as many colleagues as possible from different projects, communities or programs like job shadowing, and increase your network. You never know what benefits this may have in the future – not only could it lead to new career options, but you’ll learn a lot and encounter new perspectives just by listening and talking to others who are in similar situations but are working in a slightly different context. For me personally, job shadowing really helps me broaden my horizons: I get to learn how other people work and gain new insights into how our company operates, all while growing my network.
You gain new perspectives on a topic, learn a lot and connect with new people who you may end up having a beer with at the end. 😉
Do you prefer working alone or in a team? Why?
Vincent: 100% in a team. Sure, some tasks are designed to be completed by individuals, but working in a team creates a really high degree of synergy for the client, the company and everyone else involved.