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Employee Spotlight: Tim Bischof
How did get to work at grosse-hornke?
grosse hornke approached me as they thought I’d be a good fit and, after two interviews, I got an invitation to a team event where I had the opportunity to meet my future colleagues. They were super cool and told me a lot about the company and their projects. I particularly liked their openness. They provided me a realistic picture of the requirements right from the start. That gave me a feeling of security.
What is your function in the team?
I’m a Consultant, focusing on IT project management.
What do you enjoy about working here?
I really like that I get a lot of responsibility. Recently, for example, I managed a major IT hardware project. We equipped a good 6,000 employees from our client’s company with new laptops, replaced the desktop computers and equipped the offices with docking stations to support more flexible, open plan working practices. My job was to manage all the tasks with a service provider and the logistics and the communication with the department heads. Despite careful planning, with most projects there are challenges that arise. Currently, for example, there are delivery problems due to the no-covid policy in China which makes things challenging. But it always works out in the end, and the joy that everything worked out in the end will prevail and we’ll have made a lot of people happy.
Any fun projects on the horizon? What are you and your team up to next?
The next big topic for me is privileged access management. Very roughly, it’s about giving admins exclusive permissions to access databases and servers. This process is associated with compliance issues, among other things. All in all, this will be another multifaceted, interesting project.
What are some of the common challenges facing your clients at the moment?
I think the main challenge is that many employees cling to the things they are used to. They want as little change as possible. Take the laptops example from above – we first had to convince many users of the advantages because they were so used to working on desktops.
What was your dream job as a child and what has your journey been like to arrive where you are today?
I wanted to be a soccer manager. I knew early on that I wouldn’t make it as a professional player. But it was fun to put together my dream team in my mind. I thought about studying sports management. However, it would have been difficult to make a career in a club without a professional career. I then decided to study economics and wavered between two career goals: investment banking or consulting. During my internships, I realized that I wasn’t keen on working in the same place all the time, always repeating the same tasks. Consulting is more versatile. Every project, every client is different.
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What did you study at university and how has it been relevant to your role at grosse-hornke?
The most important thing I took away from my studies: You learn to familiarize yourself with new topics quickly. My learning speed increased significantly from the first to the last semester. As a consultant, I benefit a lot from this. In our job, a week for familiarization with a new project is a lot.
What piece of advice would you give to an aspiring management consultant?
No matter how big the challenge seems, you must never think, “This is too big for me.” With enough ambition and with helpful colleagues, you can do anything.
Tim on a hiking tour in the Alps on the mountain Hochgrat in 2021
At Lake Lucerne, between two mountain stages on the way to Italy in spring 2022
How do you like to spend your free time/unwind?
After work, I like to go cycling or hiking. In the spring, I cycled from Lake Constance (in Southern Germany) to Italy.
A good book you’ve read lately?
“How to Win Friends” by Dale Carnegie. A fantastic book from which really everyone can take away something.
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2022-08-22, grosse-hornke
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