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Employee Spotlight: Max Schülting
How did you become part of the grosse-hornke team?
I was first introduced through a social network, and realized that grosse-hornke’s mix of IT and transformation management fit very well with my background. I liked the fact that it is a medium-sized consultancy where I am not just a number. I noticed that right from the start: I was invited to the team day and could decide afterwards whether I wanted to join. The atmosphere was super cool. So I accepted – even though I also had an offer from a large consulting firm, grosse-hornke felt like the right fit.
What is your role on your team?
I work as a Consultant, primarily on IT projects, at the interface between business and IT.
What do you enjoy about working here?
We have direct customer contact and, as younger consultants, don’t have to work in the background for years, as is often the case in larger consultancies. You learn a lot through the project responsibility.
Any fun projects on the horizon? What are you and your team up to next?
One of the current topics is to control the test management for a new piece of software. I’m doing this as part of a larger project for a client in the financial sector.
What are some of the common challenges facing your clients at the moment?
What I notice in particular is that there is often a lack of internal know-how and resources when it comes to IT issues, as well as many vacancies. Apart from that, the issue of communication is a constant challenge: IT and business speak different languages and often talk past each other. One of our tasks as consultants is to draw attention to this and to translate.
What was your dream job as a child and what has your journey been like to arrive where you are today?
When I was a teenager, I wanted to be a policeman. I did an internship at school and had the impression that it was a challenging job with a lot of variety. However, I was unlucky at the health check because I didn’t meet the strict admission criteria. In retrospect, I’m not sad about that because it led me to the field of consulting during the course of my studies. Some of my fellow students told me about their internships and it all sounded very interesting. I was also able to combine different subjects during my studies because I wanted a job where I didn’t do the same thing every day.
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What did you study at university and how has it been relevant to your role at grosse-hornke?
I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with a focus on IT topics and a Master’s Degree in Innovation & Change Management. This mix of IT and business expertise is very useful for my work. Change management in particular is an important topic for our project work, because people have to work with new systems and usually don’t like to do so, so we can help make the transition easier.
What piece of advice would you give to an aspiring management consultant?
In the beginning, it’s important to talk a lot with people from the job, especially before you decide to join a team. Otherwise you won’t get a real picture of the profession. While you’re at it, stay open to challenges. Don’t approach unknown topics with fear, but stay enthusiastic about the opportunity.
How do you like to spend your free time/unwind?
I like to go to the gym, and I recently took up my old hobby again, playing soccer. I also read quite a lot. At home, I even have my own armchair so I can spend some time with a book in peace and quiet. In college, I once set myself the goal of reading a book every week. That’s impossible to achieve in my day-to-day work, but it’s still fun.
What good books have you read lately?
It’s hard for me to settle on one book. “Why We Sleep” by Matthew Walker is very exciting. The importance of healthy sleep is totally underrated. Then “The Black Swan” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a critical view of how to deal with unlikely events. “Flow” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is about the psychology behind the optimal experience, the flow state. In addition to nonfiction, I like to read biographies for relaxation. For example, I found Barack Obama’s very exciting, and Mike Tyson’s. As a novel, I can recommend “Dune” by Frank Herbert, the model for the science fiction film of the same name.
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2022-10-16, grosse-hornke
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